Barry Humphries, Finding Nemo and The Hobbit Voice Actor, Dies at 89

Barry Humphries, the Australian comedian, actor, author, and satirist who was best known for the characters Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson has passed away at age 89. According to BBC, Humphries had been hospitalized in Sydney, Australia. The comedian fell in February and has been suffering from complications following surgery that occurred in March. Humphries’ family issued a statement, remembering him as “completely himself until the very end, never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit”.

“A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after Humphries’ death was announced. “RIP Barry Humphries – one of the greatest ever Australians – and a comic genius who used his exuberant alter egos, Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, to say the otherwise unsayable. Also an infallibly brilliant Spectator contributor. What a loss,” former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter.

In addition to Humphries’s on-stage personas, he was also known for an array of films and television shows. He voiced Bruce in Finding Nemo and the Great Goblin in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. He also appeared in Bedazzled (1967), The Great MacArthy (1975), The Getting of Wisdom (1977), Shock Treatment (1981), Napoleon (1995), Spice World (1997), Ally McBeal (2001-2002), May and Max (2009), and much more. 

Humphries also appeared as Edna Everage in an array of projects, including The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) and Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974) which were directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Beresford and Humphries, and helped the character rise to fame. Edna Everage also appeared in Pleasure at Her Majesty’s (1976), Saturday Night Live (1977), The Barry Humphries Show, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), Top of the Pops (1979), The Don Lane Show (1983), Howling III (1987), and much more in addition to an array of specials. 

Humphries’ one-person show, Dame Edna: The Royal Tour, had a run on Broadway and earned Humphries a Special Tony Award for a live theatrical presentation in 2000. In 2014, Barry Humphries’ Farewell Tour – Eat, Pray, Laugh! was nominated for an Olivier Award. He was last seen playing Dame Edna onscreen in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016. He also won a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards in 1999 and the Sir Peter Ustinov Award at the Banff Television Festival in 1997.

Humphries is survived by his wife, Lizzie Spender, who he married in 1990 in addition to his two daughters from his previous marriage to Rosalind Tong, Tessa Humphries and Emily as well as two sons from his marriage to Diane Millstead, journalist Oscar Humphries and Rupert Humphries. Our thoughts go out to his family at this difficult time.