Character Story
While Dame Edna is a fictitious character whose life story has been entirely created by Barry Humphries, so complete is her identity as an individual that Macmillan published My Gorgeous Life, Edna's "autobiography" (written by Humphries but credited to Edna herself) on its non-fiction list. Humphries has also written an "Unauthorised Biography" of his life as Edna's manager: Handling Edna, published in 2010.
According to My Gorgeous Life, and statements Edna has made over the years, she was born Edna May Beazley in the city of Wagga Wagga, with a sibling who would give birth to Barry McKenzie. Everage started her stage career on 19 December 1955 as Mrs. Norm Everage, an "average Australian housewife" from Moonee Ponds, a Melbourne suburb. She spends her time visiting world leaders and jet-setting between her homes in Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Switzerland and Martha's Vineyard. She is a friend and confidante of the Queen, and has advised prime ministers and presidents. Edna once took an on-air phone call from President Ronald Reagan to assure him that he was, indeed, still the president and at recent stageshows the character has claimed to be giving Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, elocution lessons.
The character has three adult children, Bruce, Kenny, and Valmai. Her first daughter, Lois, when still an infant, went missing and was believed to have been abducted by a "rogue koala" during a family camp-out in the outback, à la Azaria Chamberlain. In Handling Edna, the Unauthorised Biography, Humphries absolves the koala of any role in the affair and reveals the true fate of Lois, who in fact survived abduction to become a Catholic nun. Edna's surviving daughter, Valmai, has assisted Dame Edna on her recent programme for ITV1, including The Dame Edna Treatment and has assisted on her live tour shows. Edna takes great pride in her two sons: Bruce, who is married to Joylene, and her youngest, Kenneth (or Kenny), who designs all of her frocks. Dame Edna refers often to him and his partner, Clifford Smale, both of whom Edna believes are searching for "Miss Right," although she admits they are looking "in some very strange places". Kenny appeared in Sir Les Patterson's documentary Les Patterson and the Great Chinese Takeaway as a boutique owner in Hong Kong. Dame Edna's mother is incarcerated in a "maximum-security twilight home for the bewildered". Valmai and Kenny are the only family members (so far) who have appeared on stage or screen with their mother. Her husband, Sir Norman Everage, died in 1988 after many years in hospital suffering from prostate problems and a "testicular murmur"; Edna founded the non-profit "Friends of the Prostate" in his honour. Dame Edna was not with Norm when he died and due to his insistence that all his organs be donated, by the time she reached his bedside Norm had been "globally recycled" and all that remained was "a dent in the pillow". As a result, Dame Edna almost believed that Norm's cremation was a "waste of money".
In recent years, Edna has demonstrated her social conscience and sensitivity, telling audiences of her intention to adopt an African child from "that country where Madonna does her shopping" for loved ones.
Dame Edna spent many years accompanied by her bridesmaid and constant companion Madge Allsop (played by Emily Perry), a New Zealander from Palmerston North who assisted Dame Edna with her appearances and television shows. (Perry died at the age of 100 in 2008 and now Dame Edna's daughter Valmai has replaced her on stage). Madge never spoke a public word (although she sang on Comic Relief), and while she was often the butt of Dame Edna's jokes, the two were devoted. In Handling Edna, the Unauthorised Biography, Humphries gives Madge a voice and explains the sad loss of her own husband in New Zealand's boiling mud, whilst the couple were on their honeymoon.
Dame Edna is praised for her insights into her homeland. When asked why Australians are so good at sport she commented "Good food and diet; open air life; juicy steaks; sunshine — and the total absence of any kind of intellectual distraction."
Dame Edna launched a campaign to be appointed as a BBC newscaster in 2009 after the corporation announced it wished to seek a female newsreader over 50 years old.
Read more about this topic: Dame Edna Everage
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