TV star and comedian Barry Humphries is being treated in hospital after being readmitted following treatment for a fall, according to media reports.
The 89-year-old Australian star, who is best known for portraying his purple-haired alter-ego Dame Edna Everage, is said to have suffered complications after tripping earlier in the year and having a hip replacement.
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald from a rehabilitation centre in March, Humphries said he had been in “agony” following the incident.
“It was the most ridiculous thing, like all domestic incidents are,” the entertainer told the newspaper.
“I was reaching for a book, my foot got caught on a rug or something, and down I went.”
He added that he was determined to get back on his feet.
“The result of my broken hip means I now have a titanium hip… you can call me ‘Bionic Bazza’,” he joked.
Reports from Australia say he is back in hospital in Sydney, although with differing accounts of his condition.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Humphries answered a call from the newspaper, before friends and family took the phone. “He’s fine,” his wife Lizzie Spender is quoted as saying.
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In a statement sent to the newspaper, his family said: “Barry Humphries is currently in hospital receiving treatment for health issues. Barry would like to thank everybody for the support and good wishes he has received but would like more and more. He would also like to thank the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff at St Vincent’s Hospital.”
However, showbiz reporter Peter Ford told Australian breakfast show Sunrise that Humphries’ health had “worsened in the last week”.
“At this moment Barry is [in] a serious condition but being kept comfortable. He’s surrounded by family,” he tweeted.
Speaking on Sunrise, Ford said: “Barry won’t give up easily. Barry has something marked on his calendar, and that is to say he’ll be back on stage before the end of this year…
“Things are tough and all we can do at this point in time is to basically give a big shout out to Barry Humphries and say, ‘Australia loves you and we will always be grateful for everything you have given us’. And I reckon Barry has a fighting spirit and he’s not going to give up easily.”
Humphries is known for characters including Sir Les Patterson, Sandy Stone and Barry McKenzie, and for starring in films and appearing in the West End.
Last year, he toured his show, The Man Behind The Mask, an “intimate” performance in which Humphries himself was the “principal character”.
He is best known and loved as Dame Edna, the household favourite with the cat-eye glasses, the love of gladioli, and the famous catchphrase: “Hello, possums!”
Her shows have included The Dame Edna Experience and Dame Edna’s Neighbourhood Watch, and she has also appeared on Broadway.
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
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Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Sam Moore, who sang Soul Man and other 1960s hits in the legendary Sam & Dave duo, has died aged 89.
Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, died on Friday in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications while recovering from surgery, his publicist Jeremy Westby said.
No additional details were immediately available.
Moore was inducted with Dave Prater into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”