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).
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Lewis Morley Archive LLC
Recorded 1981
Accession number: 2003.67
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Lewis Morley (49 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Magda Keaney speaks with Lewis Morley about his photographic career and the major retrospective of his work on display at the NPG.
The biographical exhibition of Barry Humphries was the first display of its kind at the National Portrait Gallery.
Lewis Morley has a great eye for a shot and a sharp ear for a pun
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