Australian entertainer Barry Humphries, best known for his comic character Dame Edna Everage, has died aged 89.
The star had been in hospital in Sydney after suffering complications following hip surgery in March. He had a fall in February.
Humphries’ most famous creation became a hit in the UK in the 1970s and landed her own TV chat show, the Dame Edna Everage Experience, in the late 1980s.
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His other personas included the lecherous drunk Sir Les Patterson.
Tributes for Humphries poured in as the news of his death broke, including from the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift.” Mr Albanese said.
In a statement, his family remembered him as “completely himself until the very end, never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit”.
They said Humphries’ fans were “precious to him”, and said his characters, “which brought laughter to millions, will live on”.
Melbourne-born Humphries moved to London in 1959, appearing in West End shows such as Maggie May and Oliver!
Inspired by the absurdist, avant-garde art movement dada, he became a leading figure of the British comedy scene alongside contemporaries like Alan Bennett, Dudley Moore and Spike Milligan.
Journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil said he visited Humphries in hospital two weeks ago: “His spirits and wit were as acute as ever,” he said.
“I count myself lucky and privileged I got to see him one more time.”
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Humphries even wrote an autobiography, My Gorgeous Life, as the character.
His other popular characters on stage and screen included the more grandfatherly Sandy Stone.
He said of Stone in 2016 that he could “finally feel myself turning into him”.
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