10 Occasions When Barry Humphries WASN'T Playing Dame Edna

Today we mourn the passing of actor/comedian Barry Humphries, who made millions upon millions of people laugh as the delightful Dame Edna. That wasn’t Humphries’ only role, however, and in the wake of his passing, it seemed like a good opportunity to spotlight a few of them…

1. “Envy,” Bedazzled (1967)

Sadly, there are some folks who may not even remember this Stanley Donen flick from the swinging ‘60s, what with the subsequent Harold Ramis remake starring Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley having basically overwritten the existence of the original for the casual movie viewer. Fans of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, however, swear by it, as well they should, since it also features Raquel Welch as the living embodiment of lust and none other than Mr. Humphries as Envy.

2. “Rodney,” Side by Side (1975)

I’ll be honest, I knew nothing about this movie before I stumbled upon it on Humphries’ filmography, but I thought, “Oh, it was directed by Bruce Beresford, it’s probably pretty good.” Then I saw that Beresford himself called it “awful” and declared that it had “the worst script I’ve ever read.” Oops. But it’s fine, because in addition to the fact that it stars Terry-Thomas playing Humphries’ uncle, it also features music by the Rubettes, Mud, and Desmond Dekker, among others. So maybe it is terrible, but dig those tunes!

3. “Bert Schnick,” Shock Treatment (1981)

This might well be the most important non-Edna role of Humphries’ career, since—as you may well already know—this film was the sort-of-but-not-really sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t, but it’s definitely built a cult over the years, albeit one that’s far smaller than the one surrounding the film that spawned it.

4. “Les Patterson,” Les Patterson Saves the World (1986)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this in the mix, since Les Patterson is unquestionably the second most popular character of Humphries’ comedy career. His popularity doesn’t even come close to rivaling that of Dame Edna, of course, but when you consider the competition, how could it?

5. “Klemens von Metternich,” Immortal Beloved (1994)

I couldn’t find a clip or even a photo that specifically spotlighted Humphries’ character in this Beethoven bio-pic starring Gary Oldman, but suffice it to say that he’s in the film and delivers a solid dramatic—not comedic—performance.

6. “Bert / Lady Shopper / Manager,” Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills (1996)

While this is in no way a substantial appearance by Humphries, it’s always worth mentioning a Troma film when the opportunity presents itself, so that’s what I decided to include it. And, yes, it’s clear from Humphries’ appearance in the trailer that this is somewhat of a cheat, since the “Lady Shopper” who pops up is quite clearly Dame Edna, but to my way of thinking, he’s not actually credited as Dame Edna and the other two roles definitely aren’t Dame Edna, so majority rules.

7. “Kevin McMaxford,” Spice World (1999)

There would seem to be little doubt that Humphries was putting a spin on Rupert Murdoch with this tabloid newspaper mogul. If anything, I’m surprised that he didn’t turn up in the film as Dame Edna, who would’ve been perfect for a cameo in a Spice Girls movie, but so it goes.

8. “Mrs. Crummles,” Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

Yes, it’s an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, one which starred Heath Ledger, but for Humphries’ fans, the real draw was seeing him teamed with Nathan Lane.

9. “Bruce,” Finding Nemo (2003)

Humphries did a lot of voiceover work throughout the later years of his career, playing this shark—a double-edged joke that touches on his Australian origins and the name of a notoriously-temperamental mechanical shark—was the most high-profile and successful of his animated work.

10. “Great Goblin,” The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

This was obviously another high-profile voice gig for Humphries, but while it was an animated character, it wasn’t for an animated film. Still, any time you find your way into a J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation, it’s a pretty bad-ass accomplishment…and that checks out, because Barry Humphries was absolutely a bad-ass, no matter what guise he might’ve utilized.