Dame Edna star Barry Humphries' tragic struggles from addiction to failed marriages The pillar box red diamante-encrusted spectacles and bejewelled frocks could only belong to one person, possums - the late, great Dame Edna Everage.
His marriage to first wife Brenda Wright at 21 lasted less than two years; he had two daughters Tessa and Emily with second wife Rosalin Tong; two sons, Oscar and Rupert, with his third wife Diane Millstead, and then married Elizabeth Spender, a former actress, his fourth and final wife, who he stayed with from 1990 until his 2023 death.
Shortly after debuting Edna, Barry married Brenda Wright - divorcing her two years later and meeting and marrying Rosalind Tong, with whom he moved to London in 1959 - where he became our adopted national treasure.
But he jokes that his “first starring role” came on a holiday afterwards in Cornwall, where he went to work on developing Edna - only to fall down a 50 metre slope onto rocks, while out hiking, and be airlifted to hospital with a broken arm and dislocated shoulder, all of which was caught on camera by a TV news crew.
Around 250 items from Barry Humphries' personal Dame Edna collection will be auctioned by Christies on Thursday (February 13) - with each lot evoking colourful memories of the inimitable star.
