Entertainer to the very end
Tribute for Australian legend
Barry Humphries was, at the very least, one of Australia’s greatest ever entertainers.
But there was always more to Humphries, who – like his greatest character – went from the suburbs of Melbourne to the highest stages in the world.
On Saturday night, his family confirmed the 89-year-old died at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Sydney, following complications from hip surgery earlier this year.
Nine Entertainment Editor Richard Wilkins said the man who created Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson spent his last days doing what he did best – making people laugh.
“Apparently in hospital he was still cracking people up. He’s saying. ‘No, I’ve got this new hip. You can call me ‘bionic Bazza,’” he said in the Today show’s coverage of Humphries’ death.
“That must have taken a lot of energy from him but he kept
people entertained, the showman.”
Wilkins also shared an anecdote of bumping into Humphries at the supermarket before a Boxing Day party, with Wilkins inviting Humphries to the event.
“He was the first to arrive, and spent the whole day meeting people. And he was eternally interested in other people,” said Wilkins. “At the end he said, ‘I’m going to go
now.’ I said, ‘Do you want me to get a car.’ And he said, ‘I’m getting a lift with one of those people over there.’
“That was Barry. He was just there. He made ordinary people feel special and special people feel pretty ordinarily.”
A close friend of Humphries and Puberty Blues co-author, Kathy Lette described him as a “loyal and loving” friend.
“The number one thing he wanted to do was make sure
the nurses were laughing and his visitors felt at ease,” she told Today.
“The last time I saw him he was making jokes about obituaries and what words one could or couldn’t use. He didn’t want the word ‘nice’ or ‘bubbly’, which meant drunk!”
In the short hours following his death, politicians, celebrities and world leaders, with King Charles confirming that he is contacting Humphries’
family. Sarah Ferguson, his sister-in-law and the Duchess of York “thanked” the comedian for his work.
“Thank you dearest Barry for giving my father so much kindness and to all my family — we will miss your amazing brilliance,” she tweeted on Sunday morning.
His biographer Anne Pende in 2010 described Humphries as “not only the most significant theatrical figure of our time … [but] the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin.”
He was born in Melbourne on February 17, 1934, the first child of Eric and Louise “Lou” Humphries. Sister Barbara and brothers Christopher and Michael followed.
He grew up in the comfortable, middle-class but very 1950s suburb of Camberwell, a background which inspired his absurdist comedy.