Barry Humphries

, 1962

Barry Humphries AO (b.1934), actor, writer and artist, is the world's most successful solo theatrical performer. After studying law at Melbourne University, Humphries joined the Melbourne Theatre Company. In 1955 he created his archetypes of suburban mediocrity: Mrs Edna Everage, a Moonee Ponds mother and housewife, her longsuffering husband Norm, and the washed-out, lonely Sandy Stone. Since the late 1950s Humphries has performed in his own one-man shows in Australia, Britain, Europe and the US, and Edna Everage's vulgarity has found increasingly flamboyant expression in shows such as Housewife, Super-star; Edna, the Spectacle; and Dame Edna the Royal Tour. In 2000 Humphries won a Special Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Theatre World Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award. His many books include two autobiographies, More Please (1992) and My Life as Me (2002).