Legend true blue entertainer one of kind who for seventy years performed and made us laugh put us in stitches at times with his raw wit humour in all the characters he was has sadly died at 89 years.
Humphries was born in Kew, in Melbourne’s east, on 17 February 1934 to parents Eric and Louisa Humphries.
He studied at Melbourne Grammar School, where he detested sport and maths and dodged school cadets “on the basis of conscientious objection”.
He excelled in literature and the arts, and spent many hours playing dress-ups in the back garden of his house.
“Disguising myself as different characters, and I had a whole box of dressing up clothes and I was very spoilt in that way,” he said.
“I also found entertaining people gave me a great feeling of release, making people laugh was a very good way of befriending them. People couldn’t hit you if they were laughing.”
Amoung all he did he had many film credits and began with Side by Side (1975) and The Getting of Wisdom (1977). The same year, he had a cameo as Edna in the Robert Stigwood musical film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (which became infamous as one of the biggest film flops of the decade), followed in 1981 by his part as the fake-blind TV-show host Bert Schnick in Shock Treatment, the sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He had various rolls and Americans were delighted with him in the series Ali MacBeal,to being a voice as the shark Bruce in the Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, using an exaggerated baritone Australian accent to lots of other camo roles to his charactors he portrayed over his amazing career.
He was endless talent who was a genius who lived for stage and to entertain and he loved the applause. He was to tour agin and this will rock the world today to his passing and that we never see anyone like him again.
Humphries died following complications from hip surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney on 22 April 2023.
His family’s ask for privacy during this very difficult time.
“He is survived by his wife Lizzie, his children Tessa, Emily, Oscar and Rupert, and 10 beloved grandchildren.”
