Barry Humphries, the legendary Australian comedian and actor, has passed away at the age of 89. Humphries was best known for performing as the characters of Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. According to the BBC, Humphries was hospitalized in Sydney, Australia. Humphries had been suffering from complications after a hip surgery that happened earlier this March.
Humphries’ family issued a statement, writing that he will be remembered as “completely himself until the very end, never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke about his passing, saying, “A great wit, satirist, writer, and an absolute one-of-a-kind, he was both gifted and a gift.” Sympathies were even offered by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who wrote on Twitter, “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.”
Barry Humphries had many credited roles and cameos to his name, famously voicing the role of Bruce in Finding Nemo. His character, Dame Edna Everage, found success in film and television. Humphries even won a Special Tony Award for his one-woman show, Dame Edna: The Royal Tour, when it ran on Broadway in 2000.
Humphries is survived by his wife, Lizzie Spender, and his four children.
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