Jackie Curtis

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Jackie Curtis dressed as a woman

Jackie Curtis (* 19th February 1947 in New York City ; † 15. May 1985 actually; ibid John Curtis Holder Jr. ) was an American playwright , actor , singer and belonged temporarily to the Andy Warhol - "Superstars" and the Factory scene.

Life

Jackie Curtis was the son of John Holder Sr. and Jenevive Uglialoro. He grew up in the East Village where his grandmother ran a corner bar called Slugger Ann’s .

Already in his youth he began to dress as a woman. In the process, he developed his unmistakable cross dress , which consisted of a mixture of trash and glamor . He mostly wore torn clothes and tights with lipstick, heavy make-up, glitter and bright red hair. However, he did not see himself as a drag queen . Andy Warhol , who cast him in some of his films, said of Curtis: “Jackie is not a drag queen. Jackie is an artist. A pioneer without limits. "

As a stage actor, Curtis made his debut at age 17 in Tom Eyens Off-Off-Broadway -Stück Miss Nefertiti Regrets . From the late 1960s he began to write his own scripts for the stage. Well-known transsexuals such as Candy Darling , Jayne County and Holly Woodlawn often appeared in the plays in which he appeared as both a man and a woman . Warhol and his film director Paul Morrissey cast Curtis and Candy Darling in the films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971).

Jackie Curtis was also a singer and poet. In 1974 he performed with Holly Woodlawn at the New York Cultural Center (Saks Fifth Avenue) on the program Cabaret in the Sky: An Evening with Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis . In the 1980s he played in two films. A drug addict for years, Curtis died of a heroin overdose in 1985 at the age of 38 .

reception

Lou Reed immortalized Jackie Curtis in his song Walk on the Wild Side from the 1972 album Transformer .

The 2004 documentary Superstar in a Housedress by Craig Highberger is based on Jackie Curtis' life.

Filmography

  • 1968: Flesh
  • 1971: WR: Mysteries of the Organism
  • 1971: Women In Revolt
  • 1971: An American Family (TV series)
  • 1973: The Corner Bar (TV series)
  • 1980: Underground USA
  • 1983: Burroughs
  • 2002: The Cockettes (posthumous, archive material)
  • 2004: Superstar in a Housedress (posthumous, archive material)
  • 2010: Beautiful Darling (posthumous, archive material)

Works

  • 1967: Glamor, Glory and Gold
  • 1968: Lucky Wonderful
  • 1968: America Cleopatra
  • 1970: Heaven Grand In Amber Orbit
  • 1970: Femme Fatale
  • 1971: Vain Victory: Vicissitudes of the Damned
  • 1979: Tyrone X
  • 1983: I Died Yesterday
  • 1985: Champagne

literature

  • Craig Highberger: Superstar in a Housedress - The Life and Legend of Jackie Curtis. Chamberlain Bros, New York 2005, ISBN 978-1-59609-079-8 (with DVD, English)

Web links

Commons : Jackie Curtis  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Bourdon : Warhol. DuMont, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3770123387 , p. 296f
  2. ↑ quoted in superstar in a House Dress , Documentary, 2004 ( Superstar in a House Dress (2004). IMDb, accessed on January 27, 2013 . )
  3. ↑ superstar in a House Dress (2004). IMDb, accessed January 27, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Curtis, Jackie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holder, John Curtis junior (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American playwright, actor, singer and "Andy Warhol superstar"
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1985
Place of death New York City