In Dame Edna Everage, Australian actor and comedian Barry Humphries created a cultural icon whose international fame would rapidly outstrip his own.
Later in life, Humphries — who has died, aged 89 — would appear on stage as himself, but it was the fictitious Melbourne housewife in a wisteria-pink wig who most often soaked up the limelight.
In interviews, Humphries would refer to Dame Edna as a separate person.
"She's up there with Judi Dench and Diana Rigg and Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett, of course," Humphries said in 2009.
"She used to say quite early on her career, 'The secret of my success is that I've put my family last.'
"'If you put your family first, they'll never thank you, which is probably why Edna's family is rather spectacularly dysfunctional."
Humphries was also well known for his alternate character, Sir Les Patterson, a lecherous drunk and Australia's "cultural attaché" to the United Kingdom.
In 2018, Humphries toured a solo show, where he performed as himself for the first time in his more than 60-year-long career.
He described it as playing his "last character", but said he never planned to retire.
Humphries's latter years were not without controversy. The actor was criticised for making anti-trans statements, including that being transgender was "a fashion".
The fallout resulted in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival stripping his name from its biggest award.
First Moonee Ponds, then the world
Born in Melbourne, in 1934, John Barry Humphries was the son of a builder and on the path to becoming a lawyer before he switched to acting.
"Although I was one of four, I had a rather lonely childhood. Or, rather, I felt different," Humphries told the ABC's then-7:30 Report host Kerry O'Brien in 2009.
"I felt that I was destined for something mysterious that would not please my parents if I did it — it turned out to be the theatre."
The character of Dame Edna made her stage debut in Melbourne in 1955, a mirror of the Country Women's Association members who attended Humphries's shows.
Humphries later admitted he drew inspiration from his mother.
"In those days, Edna was, well, a frump," Humphries said.
"She stood at her kitchen sink, like so many other women in 1955, wrist-deep in grey water, peas and mutton fat floating thereon.
"She looked out through cracked venetian blinds at a dismal backyard, littered with broken plastic toys. 'Is this all there is?' she might have said to herself."
Over time, Edna morphed into a pink-haired superstar, donning her iconic jewel-encrusted glasses and her signature gladioli as she performed around the world.
Her fanbase was strongest at home in Australia and in the United Kingdom, where her 1989 autobiography, My Gorgeous Life, became a non-fiction best seller.
She eventually broke into the United States and found her footing in global pop culture, even getting a mention in three episodes of The Simpsons.
Humphries said the key to Edna's longevity was due to her always changing, although she never gave in to age.
"She's proud of her crow's feet," he said.
"The double chin she's hinted at might have been added because she felt she was too classically beautiful."
Edna's career highlights included receiving the Key to the City of Melbourne in 2006, and her own collection with international make-up brand MAC.
She was also one of the final guests on the last show hosted by English broadcaster Michael Parkinson, who described her in his autobiography as one of the only artists who could be "truly conversational" in character.
In 2012, Dame Edna retired because she was "weary of touring", but she returned to stage the following year, performing for Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles at the 2013 Royal Variety show.
Sir Les, Australia's best-known knight
Humphries's other well-known character started out as the entertainments officer at a club in Sydney and went on to hold a number of impressive jobs.
Chairman of the Australian Cheese Board, Sir Les Patterson was everything Dame Edna was not.
He was a crude, unrefined, sexist, drunkard who, in Humphries's own words, put his hand on so many knees it would cause a "stampede" in the #MeToo era.
As Australia's "cultural attaché" to the Court of St James, Sir Les spruiked the best of Down Under, although he remained deeply suspicious of the arts, or "Yartz", as he called them.
"We've got more culture than a penicillin factory," he said in 1982.
A portrait of Sir Les won the Archibald Packing Room Prize in 2014.
Humphries 'always in the background'
Rarely fronting the spotlight as himself, Humphries instead lent his voice talents to characters such as Bruce the shark in Finding Nemo, and the Goblin King in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
He received an Order of Australia in 1982 and an Order of the British Empire in 2007 for services to the theatre and entertainment.
In his later years, Humphries faced criticism for a series of statements against transgender people, including that gender affirmation surgery was "self-mutilation".
Humphries later claimed in The Sunday Times Magazine that those comments had been "grotesquely interpreted", adding: "I don't think I'm right to pontificate. I'm really an actor."
In 2018, Humphries performed as himself for the first time in more than 60 years, in a solo show.
"I've always been in the background," he told the ABC's 7.30.
"I've read a few bad reviews in my time, but I don't read the good ones. If they're too good, I feel embarrassed.
"I love what I do. My show is really an experiment, more than that, an expression of my gratitude to my Australian public."
Humphries is survived by his fourth wife, Lizzie Spender, and he was father to four talented children who followed him into the arts: actor Tessa, studio owner Emily, fine art and design dealer and journalist Oscar, and screenwriter and games developer Rupert.
