Barry Humphries, the Australian entertainer whose gladioli-waving alter ego Dame Edna charmed and roasted celebrities, all with a Cheshire grin, outrageous eyewear, a “Hello, Possums!” greeting and a flurry of caustic wit, died Saturday. He was 89.
Humphries died at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney of complications from hip surgery, his family announced.
“He was completely himself until the very end, never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit,” they said. “With over 70 years on the stage, he was an entertainer to his core, touring up until the last year of his life and planning more shows that will sadly never be.”
He portrayed Dame Edna Everage — whom he called a “gauche, garrulous Melbourne housewife with a very shrill voice who was obsessed with interior decoration” — for more than six decades across cabarets, clubs, stage and screen as one of the world’s oldest continual comic creations.
Humphries died at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney of complications from hip surgery, his family announced.
“He was completely himself until the very end, never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit,” they said. “With over 70 years on the stage, he was an entertainer to his core, touring up until the last year of his life and planning more shows that will sadly never be.”
He portrayed Dame Edna Everage — whom he called a “gauche, garrulous Melbourne housewife with a very shrill voice who was obsessed with interior decoration” — for more than six decades across cabarets, clubs, stage and screen as one of the world’s oldest continual comic creations.
- 4/22/2023
- by Rhett Bartlett
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Graeme Mason.
Graeme Mason has warned there will be permanent job losses in the entertainment industry once the coronavirus pandemic has passed.
The Screen Australia CEO said some employees “will not be here on the other side of this crisis,” highlighting widespread stand-downs as TV drama productions halted, the loss of 17,000 jobs after cinemas closed and mass lay-offs at Fox Studios Australia-based firms.
“There were a lot of people in screen businesses who were already hurting. It would be unrealistic to think, come 2021, that everyone will be shining and happy,” he said.
“Our job is to figure out how to make the best of what this might be coming out the other end, by working as collaboratively as we can.”
Mason was speaking online last Friday via Zoom with Screen Producers Australia CEO Matt Deaner, who said 79 screen productions have been halted or delayed.
However, Mason forecast that if self-isolation...
Graeme Mason has warned there will be permanent job losses in the entertainment industry once the coronavirus pandemic has passed.
The Screen Australia CEO said some employees “will not be here on the other side of this crisis,” highlighting widespread stand-downs as TV drama productions halted, the loss of 17,000 jobs after cinemas closed and mass lay-offs at Fox Studios Australia-based firms.
“There were a lot of people in screen businesses who were already hurting. It would be unrealistic to think, come 2021, that everyone will be shining and happy,” he said.
“Our job is to figure out how to make the best of what this might be coming out the other end, by working as collaboratively as we can.”
Mason was speaking online last Friday via Zoom with Screen Producers Australia CEO Matt Deaner, who said 79 screen productions have been halted or delayed.
However, Mason forecast that if self-isolation...
- 3/29/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
David Cairns, writing for Criterion: "You can consider gags as decoration—little nuggets of entertainment dispensed on the way through a story—or you can view them as architecture, structural elements that tell the story using action. Or you can see them as Jacques Tati did, which has very little to do with story at all." Also in today's roundup of news and views: Cate Blanchett remembers former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam; the CIA and Animal Farm; Thomas Heise's Städtebewohner; remembering Renee Asherson; a discussion Fritz Lang's The Big Heat; and Jamie Foxx will join Benicio del Toro in Harmony Korine's The Trap. » - David Hudson...
- 11/5/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
David Cairns, writing for Criterion: "You can consider gags as decoration—little nuggets of entertainment dispensed on the way through a story—or you can view them as architecture, structural elements that tell the story using action. Or you can see them as Jacques Tati did, which has very little to do with story at all." Also in today's roundup of news and views: Cate Blanchett remembers former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam; the CIA and Animal Farm; Thomas Heise's Städtebewohner; remembering Renee Asherson; a discussion Fritz Lang's The Big Heat; and Jamie Foxx will join Benicio del Toro in Harmony Korine's The Trap. » - David Hudson...
- 11/5/2014
- Keyframe
Phillip Adams will deliver. the Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture at the Screen Forever conference at Melbourne.s Crown Conference Centre on Monday November 17..
For half a century Adams has been an imposing figure as a broadcaster, filmmaker, social commentator, satirist and author of more than 20 books.
Gough Whitlam once described him as Australia.s .most perceptive social critic... Some regard him as a godfather of the Australian film industry for his contributions to the renaissance of the industry in the 1970s and 80s.
His producing credits include The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, Don.s Party,. The Getting of Wisdom and Abra Cadabra, and he was Ep on Lonely Hearts and We of the Never Never.
Recognising Adams. 21 years as presenter of Radio National.s Late Night Live, Professor Robert Manne described him as .perhaps the most remarkable broadcaster in the history of this country..
Screen Producers Australia exec director Matt...
For half a century Adams has been an imposing figure as a broadcaster, filmmaker, social commentator, satirist and author of more than 20 books.
Gough Whitlam once described him as Australia.s .most perceptive social critic... Some regard him as a godfather of the Australian film industry for his contributions to the renaissance of the industry in the 1970s and 80s.
His producing credits include The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, Don.s Party,. The Getting of Wisdom and Abra Cadabra, and he was Ep on Lonely Hearts and We of the Never Never.
Recognising Adams. 21 years as presenter of Radio National.s Late Night Live, Professor Robert Manne described him as .perhaps the most remarkable broadcaster in the history of this country..
Screen Producers Australia exec director Matt...
- 10/29/2014
- by Staff writer
- IF.com.au
Filmmakers and audiences . indeed Australian arts and screen culture more broadly . owe a deep debt of gratitude to Gough Whitlam and the government he led.
Although the foundations had been laid by Whitlam.s predecessors John Gorton and Billy McMahon, the Australian film revival of the 1970s only really took shape after Whitlam became Prime Minister in 1972. Whitlam.s government established the Australian Film and Television School (Aftrs) in 1973; included a Film and Television Board as one of the initial specialist panels in the new Australia Council for the Arts; and replaced Gorton.s film support agency, the Australian Film Development Corporation (Afdc), with the Australian Film Commission (Afc) in 1975.
In contrast to the Afdc, the new Commission prioritised cultural and artistic merit over the prospect of economic success in their funding decisions. For the first time, filmmakers were provided with substantial financial backing. In keeping with Whitlam.s broader embrace of the arts,...
Although the foundations had been laid by Whitlam.s predecessors John Gorton and Billy McMahon, the Australian film revival of the 1970s only really took shape after Whitlam became Prime Minister in 1972. Whitlam.s government established the Australian Film and Television School (Aftrs) in 1973; included a Film and Television Board as one of the initial specialist panels in the new Australia Council for the Arts; and replaced Gorton.s film support agency, the Australian Film Development Corporation (Afdc), with the Australian Film Commission (Afc) in 1975.
In contrast to the Afdc, the new Commission prioritised cultural and artistic merit over the prospect of economic success in their funding decisions. For the first time, filmmakers were provided with substantial financial backing. In keeping with Whitlam.s broader embrace of the arts,...
- 10/21/2014
- by Ben Goldsmith, QUT
- IF.com.au
A schoolteacher's stopover in an outback town turns into an alcoholic bender in this infamous movie
Once in a while, a long-lost movie will resurface and completely realign one's understanding of an entire national cinema. Such a film is Canadian Ted Kotcheff's 1971 Australian outback-set Wake In Fright, a box-office flop, mauled by a critical establishment in thrall to the cultural cringe, then almost entirely forgotten and thought lost for 40 years. And no wonder: Wake In Fright is among the most excoriating demolitions of the cult of masculinity ever put on film – its Australian variant in particular – and it must have been troubling indeed to gaze into that mirror.
John Grant (Gary Bond), a cultured schoolteacher travelling from his isolated bush schoolhouse to Sydney, gets trapped on a stopover that turns into a never-ending alcoholic bender in a wild outback mining town populated entirely by drunken ockers who gamble, guzzle tinnies,...
Once in a while, a long-lost movie will resurface and completely realign one's understanding of an entire national cinema. Such a film is Canadian Ted Kotcheff's 1971 Australian outback-set Wake In Fright, a box-office flop, mauled by a critical establishment in thrall to the cultural cringe, then almost entirely forgotten and thought lost for 40 years. And no wonder: Wake In Fright is among the most excoriating demolitions of the cult of masculinity ever put on film – its Australian variant in particular – and it must have been troubling indeed to gaze into that mirror.
John Grant (Gary Bond), a cultured schoolteacher travelling from his isolated bush schoolhouse to Sydney, gets trapped on a stopover that turns into a never-ending alcoholic bender in a wild outback mining town populated entirely by drunken ockers who gamble, guzzle tinnies,...
- 3/3/2014
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Gough Whitlam
The story of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s time in power and the changes of the era is among five documentary projects to receive $2m of investment from Screen Australia
Whitlam, produced by Beyond Screen Productions and Bombora Film and Music Co, will be a 2×55-minute documentary written and directed by Paul Clarke with Penny Robins producing, and Robins and Mark Hamlyn executive producing.
To air on the ABC, the documentary’s synopsis reads: “Whitlam examines an era and the man when as a country we were at our most confident and flamboyant, when we took risks and went to the margins. It was a time of power, of passion… and which divided us as a nation in a way that hadn’t happened before – nor since.”
The funding is part of Screen Australia’s National Documentary Program.
The funding round also included two films in the...
The story of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s time in power and the changes of the era is among five documentary projects to receive $2m of investment from Screen Australia
Whitlam, produced by Beyond Screen Productions and Bombora Film and Music Co, will be a 2×55-minute documentary written and directed by Paul Clarke with Penny Robins producing, and Robins and Mark Hamlyn executive producing.
To air on the ABC, the documentary’s synopsis reads: “Whitlam examines an era and the man when as a country we were at our most confident and flamboyant, when we took risks and went to the margins. It was a time of power, of passion… and which divided us as a nation in a way that hadn’t happened before – nor since.”
The funding is part of Screen Australia’s National Documentary Program.
The funding round also included two films in the...
- 8/17/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Paul Clarke.s documentary Whitlam and Gregory Miller.s and Nick Bleszynkski.s two-part Breaker Morant the Retrial are among the latest documentaries to receive Screen Australia funding.
Also receiving a slice of $2 million in total funding are The Search for the Ocean.s Super Predator, Outback Coroner, and Who Do You Think You Are?
.Backed by high-calibre and experienced filmmaking these documentaries will shine a light on a broad slice of Australian life,. Screen Australia.s documentary manager Liz Stevens said in a statement. .The result will be compelling and entertaining stories..
Whitlam is a National Documentary Program funded two-part documentary focusing on the life of Gough Whitlam. Made for the ABC, the production is produced by Penny Robins and executive produced by both Penny Robins and Mark Hamlyn.
Breaker Morant the Retrial is funded through the International Documentary Program and is being made for the History Channel. Directors...
Also receiving a slice of $2 million in total funding are The Search for the Ocean.s Super Predator, Outback Coroner, and Who Do You Think You Are?
.Backed by high-calibre and experienced filmmaking these documentaries will shine a light on a broad slice of Australian life,. Screen Australia.s documentary manager Liz Stevens said in a statement. .The result will be compelling and entertaining stories..
Whitlam is a National Documentary Program funded two-part documentary focusing on the life of Gough Whitlam. Made for the ABC, the production is produced by Penny Robins and executive produced by both Penny Robins and Mark Hamlyn.
Breaker Morant the Retrial is funded through the International Documentary Program and is being made for the History Channel. Directors...
- 8/17/2012
- by Anthony Soegito
- IF.com.au
Canberra, Australia — Dame Edna Everage, the Tony Award-winning drag act known for her purple hair and oversized rhinestone eyeglasses, will soon open her final stage show tour in Australia. It comes 57 years after her debut.
Barry Humphries, the actor and satirist who created Australia's self-proclaimed housewife-superstar, wants to take the farewell show "Eat Pray Laugh!" to Britain and New York over the next two years following the two-month Australian tour that begins in Canberra on June 22, his publicist Kerry O'Brien said Tuesday.
At 78, Humphries said the time had come to retire all his various alter egos from the stage, the most famous of whom is Dame Edna.
"She's a little weary of touring and strange hotels," Humphries told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in Canberra, explaining his most enduring character's decision to retire.
Another of Humphries' characters, drunken Australian cultural attache Sir Les Patterson, will join Dame Edna on the farewell tour.
Barry Humphries, the actor and satirist who created Australia's self-proclaimed housewife-superstar, wants to take the farewell show "Eat Pray Laugh!" to Britain and New York over the next two years following the two-month Australian tour that begins in Canberra on June 22, his publicist Kerry O'Brien said Tuesday.
At 78, Humphries said the time had come to retire all his various alter egos from the stage, the most famous of whom is Dame Edna.
"She's a little weary of touring and strange hotels," Humphries told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in Canberra, explaining his most enduring character's decision to retire.
Another of Humphries' characters, drunken Australian cultural attache Sir Les Patterson, will join Dame Edna on the farewell tour.
- 3/20/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Foxtel’s director of policy and corporate affairs Adam Suckling is to join News Limited in the new role of director of policy, corporate affairs and community relations.
His appointment follows yesterday’s confirmation of Stephen Browning as director of communications. He will report in to Suckling.
Suckling’s move sees him reunited with former boss Kim Williams who is now CEO at News Limited. He arrives as the company makes its first moves into paywall journalism. The Australian made the leap late last year while the Sun Herald launches its paywall next week.
Suckling said: “The opportunity to be part of the team Kim is putting together at News was one I just could not miss. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into the new role and contributing to building on News Limited’s extraordinary strengths in print, on-line and digital media.”
Accoridng to the news Limited...
His appointment follows yesterday’s confirmation of Stephen Browning as director of communications. He will report in to Suckling.
Suckling’s move sees him reunited with former boss Kim Williams who is now CEO at News Limited. He arrives as the company makes its first moves into paywall journalism. The Australian made the leap late last year while the Sun Herald launches its paywall next week.
Suckling said: “The opportunity to be part of the team Kim is putting together at News was one I just could not miss. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into the new role and contributing to building on News Limited’s extraordinary strengths in print, on-line and digital media.”
Accoridng to the news Limited...
- 3/7/2012
- by mumbrella
- Encore Magazine
Four Corners today celebrates 50 years of broadcast. At the forefront of Australian current affairs for half a century ABC News 24 will air a selection of programs from each decade over the coming five weeks, starting Sunday 28 August.
To coincide, a multimedia exhibition at Ultimo’s ABC Atrium from Monday 22 August to Friday 25 November, open Monday to Friday 9am-6pm.
Highlights over the five weeks include:
The Price of Equality by reporter Frank Bennett examining the action of the Gurindji stockmen, striking over the right to equal pay at Wave Hill station in the Northern Territory which would later lead to the first return of land to Aboriginal people when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, Originally broadcast on 1 October 1966, to be aired Sunday 28 August
Kerry O’Brien follows Whitlam the Campaign Trail, while Allan Hogan follows Fraser on the Campaign Trail, Originally broadcast on 6 December 1975, to be aired Sunday 4 September
Chris Masters...
To coincide, a multimedia exhibition at Ultimo’s ABC Atrium from Monday 22 August to Friday 25 November, open Monday to Friday 9am-6pm.
Highlights over the five weeks include:
The Price of Equality by reporter Frank Bennett examining the action of the Gurindji stockmen, striking over the right to equal pay at Wave Hill station in the Northern Territory which would later lead to the first return of land to Aboriginal people when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, Originally broadcast on 1 October 1966, to be aired Sunday 28 August
Kerry O’Brien follows Whitlam the Campaign Trail, while Allan Hogan follows Fraser on the Campaign Trail, Originally broadcast on 6 December 1975, to be aired Sunday 4 September
Chris Masters...
- 8/19/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Actress Judy Davis accepted the 2011 Don Dunstan Award on the opening night of the BigPond Adelaide Film Festival yesterday for her outstanding contribution to the Australian film industry. The presentation included tributes from filmmakers Woody Allen, via video, and Fred Schepisi, who attended the Vale Ale Opening Night Gala. Davis told the audience that her career was nurtured by the Don Dunstan-Gough Whitlam era in the 1970s that generously funded the arts as well as her education at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (Nida). .I was of the generation that was made to feel that the country needed us and was prepared to give anybody that had the initiative a chance to have some sort of impact and I realise now that it really was a golden period,. she said. .It...
- 2/24/2011
- by Brendan Swift
- IF.com.au
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.