'Famous' crossdressers... Who, are they for you?

[XDW Nathan-Natasha]

I was just thinking - Were there any other cross-dressers - famous or not - that you look/have looked up to - whether in real life or in the media (movies, tv, videogames, etc.)?

For me the first I can think of is oddly enough a character named 'Flea' from the Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross videogame series (on the Super Nintendo/Playstation respectively). I remember how I balked and lauged when I saw this pink haired, gloved, dress wearing 'man' (sure didn't look like it...) break onto the screen and the big reveal when he was outed. ("Beauty is power and I have beauty so I have power." - Flea; I just loved it!) That always seems to comfort me about my own dressing, just thinking about her.

Another is more recent - I purchased and watched the Twin Peaks (by my ulitmate director hero - David Lynch! :notworthy: ) t.v. series and was shocked and very pleased for them to have a recurring cross-dressing character on the show, an F.B.I. investigator no less (played by David Duchoveny of X-files fame, oddly enough). I mean, not only was he a CD but he was not crazy. He/she was cool, level headed, and hilarious ("I may wear women's clothes, but I still put my panties on one leg at a time - if you know what I mean." Cooper replies: "Um...I don't..."). Usually cross-dressers in tv and movies are a little nuts.

Other then those I really don't know of any other 'famous' cross-dressers, except for like Roo Paul and I've never really been to big on her. She was big when I was younger and I didn't really think much about dressing then.

How about for the rest of you?

[michelleupnorth]

First one I can remember was on a show called M.A.S.H.

[joperinal]

Ru Paul :)

[Marcie Sexton]

Max Klinger is my hero...

how 'bout TG/TS's

Christine Jergerson...any one remember her...

[Billijo49504]

karen....bj

[XDW Nathan-Natasha]

Max Klinger is my hero...

how 'bout TG/TS's

Christine Jergerson...any one remember her...

I FORGOT COMPLETELY ABOUT KLINGER! OH MY GOSH, I'M AN IDIOT! I loved him!
As for TG/TS's, sure - why not?
Who's Christine Jergerson? I never heard of her.

[Butterfly Bill]

Christine Jergerson...any one remember her...

I remember Christine Jorgensen, the first person to have a sex change operation in 1952. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Jorgensen

When a stand-up comic made a joke about "taking a trip to Denmark", that's what he was referring to.

[janetcd2]

Ed Wood

[Sam-antha]

Stanley Baxter

[DeeInGeorgia]

Ed Wood, Wendy Carlos, Renee Richards, and then there was Geraldine and Capt. Kirk when he switched bodies in one episode.

Dee

[Deborah_UK]

Not for me - I didn't know that other people crossdressed until I was well into my teens - I just knew at an early age that my body didn't match my mind - I should have been the one wearing dresses not shorts.

And that to me indicates that being TS/CD is not influenced by media images, we didn't have a television set until I was 8 or 9 years old and I had already discovered the fact I felt wrong as a boy. I had no society influences either - therefore I consider it be nature rather than nurture.

i cannot remember the first time I saw crossdressing or TS portrayed in the media - although living in the Uk we always had pantomime - but I never looked at the "dame" as any sort of crossdressing influence - I always identified with the "principal boy" who was always a girl portraying being a boy.

[Leslie Foxx]

Actually, Christine wasn't the first to undergo reasignment surgery. She was the first to get widespread press about it. I was totally fascinated by it.

A friend recently bought a book about the first TS. She is going to let me read it when she finishes it. I can't remember the title right now. Her operation predated Christine Jorgnesen by about three years.

I just phoned my friend with the book, but got her machine. I will post when she calls back with the details.

[SherriePall]

I remember all of the above famous CD'ers. Or, at least those who dressed to entertain us. However, I must add Divine to the list. Years ago my daughter got hold of "Hairspray" the movie and my wife watched the whole thing and never knew about Divine being CD. I have never told her either. One of these days I will when she starts her "I can tell" rants.

[Sasha Anne Meadows]

I was so jealous of Klinger on MASH and he did not evern try to pass. But remember he was trying for a Section 8 discharge which he never received. Still spending a day in girl clothes seemed sooooo nice to me and I always wished I could to that. Now I can. Yaaaaaa.

[cindychan]

This book I read called How sex changed featured alot of them like Jorgenson, Tamara (from GI paratrooper to Burlesque queen), and Coccinelle, a french m to f nightclub performer. great people and pioneers for us.

[Z. Teoni]

Milton Berle was the first crossdresser I remember. Also Peter Pan had a very androngous look to me. Mary Martin played Peter Pan on TV and I remember asking my Mom why a woman was playing a boy. She said because Peter Pan is a fairy. Little Richard was another and the whole mid-to-late Sixties era when men let their hair grow long and experimented with flamboyant clothing. A lot of rock groups were pushing the crossdressing envelope at that time.

[Ammdi]

Um, Eddie Izzard, anyone?
Love his nonchalant attitude.

AND, Ru Paul, AND does anyone know exactly how many of them Vegas showgirls aren't girls?

[CheekyAnge GG]

I'm a little disapointed that the uk people haven mention Grayson Perry. He won the turner prize (art prize in uk) in 2003. He's quite famous in Britain.


Ange xx

[Mona]

For me it was the policeman in a Nash Bridges episode who had to dress and appear in a CD beauty contest. I couldn't get over how feminine and pretty he looked!

[Leslie Foxx]

I have the book info now.
The First Man-Made Man:
The Story of Two Sex Changes, One Love Affair, and a Twentieth-Century Medical Revolution
by Pagan Kennedy

I believe the book was released a couple weeks ago. My friend learned of it from the NY Times Book Review.

Here's the link to a review published in the Washington Blade.
http://www.washblade.com/2007/3-9/arts/books/10175.cfm

[Wenda]

Milton Berle, Red Skelton, my aunt Irene, Geraldine, Tootsie, Mrs Doubtfire. Then there was the Vietnam vet thriller about the guy who had been wounded left behind by his company, and abused for the amusement of the villagers. He ended up back in the US, as a cop, and dressed to kill the guys who had left him behind.

[Alice Torn]

Flip's Geraldine! Sometimes the three stooges dressed as ladies, in some episodes, Curley, in "Uncivil Warriors".

[marissa_darling]

Rickard Engfors and Ru Paul:o

[chris80]

the first 'sex-change' was in the 30's in Germany on a Dane. wikipedia 'lili elbe'. she died after an operation in 1931. Book written in 1933. More info via Google.

[Angela E.]

Coccinelle,April Ashley,Hedy Jo Starr,Christine Jorgenson,Divine etc.We also had someone locally that transitioned.I didn`t know her personally,but I knew relatives of hers.-Angela. :bunny: :bunny: :bunny: :GE: :bunny: :bunny: :bunny:

[cindychan]

Well there were some German sex-change operations in the 1920's and "self" sex change operations before that as well, but it really became publizied in 1937.

[Tina B.]

Laurel and hardy, among other of the early film comics. They did it for laughs, but to a small boy that was doing it, they where great!
I never missed uncle Milty, you just knew he would show up in a dress somewhere on tuesday nights!
And for you from the UK, why has no one mentioned Benny Hill, or the gang from Monty Pyton?
Some times a good laugh is the best way to take the scare out of something!
Tina B.

[lil red]

[size="4"]karen

You took the name right out of my mind!

[marie354]

What about the "Kids In The Hall"?

[PaulaMea]

Artist Marcel Duchamp (my hero)
Rrose Sélavy, the feminine alter ego created by Marcel Duchamp (http://www.answers.com/topic/marcel-duchamp) is one of the most complex and pervasive pieces in the enigmatic puzzle of the artist's oeuvre. She first emerged in portraits made by the photographer Man Ray in New York in the early 1920s, when Duchamp and Man Ray were collaborating on a number of conceptual photographic works. Rrose Sélavy lived on as the person to whom Duchamp attributed specific works of art, Readymades, puns, and writings throughout his career. By creating for himself this female persona whose attributes are beauty and eroticism, he deliberately and characteristically complicated the understanding of his ideas and motives.

The name, a pun, sounds like the French phrase "Eros, c'est la vie", which translates to English as "eros, that's life". It has also been read as "arroser la vie" ("to make a toast to life").

[Billie Jean]

Tom Hanks in Bossom Budies. Billie Jean

[Billie Jean]

Milton Berle was the first crossdresser I remember. Also Peter Pan had a very androngous look to me. Mary Martin played Peter Pan on TV and I remember asking my Mom why a woman was playing a boy. She said because Peter Pan is a fairy. Little Richard was another and the whole mid-to-late Sixties era when men let their hair grow long and experimented with flamboyant clothing. A lot of rock groups were pushing the crossdressing envelope at that time.Little Richard lives in the area and he still wears makeup and long hair, in fact it is his everyday at home look. Billie Jean

[Kimberly]

Grayson Perry for me.

Turner winning artist, who also made a documentary on Channel 4 about crossdressing.

[Kristen Marie]

While all those are great examples, it was Shannon from the TG magazines who always caught my attention. I was anything but a blonde, but she captured in photos what I felt inside. Still have a few of her magazines in my collection.

[RobertaFermina]

Dame Edna !
Jonathan Winters !

And one fringe choice: Walter Mercado.

Walter does not dress to look like a woman, yet when I first saw him cast horoscopes on Spanish Language TV, I was in AWE!
He appears masculine, feminine, and magnificent!

His use of spectacular fabrics, and capes and accessories manifests a celebration of spiritual and material beauty.
I don't know if his show is still on air, but if so, catch it once or twice. A visual treat!

:rose: Roberta :rose:

[susandrea]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/susanxo/collage.jpg

:D

[XDW Nathan-Natasha]

I guess I didn't realize that there were so many 'famous' cross-dressers out there. I'll have to look into some of the ones that you girls mentioned. It's great to hear about all of the cross-dressers who've influenced you.

If I think of any more for myself, I'll post about 'em here. I'm hoping to snag some pics of Flea (from Chrono Trigger) and David Duchovney (from Twin Peaks) and post them on here at some point.

[caroline_cd_99]

Flip's Geraldine! Sometimes the three stooges dressed as ladies, in some episodes, Curley, in "Uncivil Warriors".

I have to agree with Flip Wilson as Geraldine.

I also agree with Bugs Bunny. I know he ws a cartoon, but I remember wishing I could wear some of the girlie outfits he wore.

I remember enjoying watching the episodes of Three's Company where Jack Tripper had to dress up as a woman.

[Beth5083]

I always loved Klinger on Mash, Rupaul was pretty sexy. but check out Alexis Arquette she is very sexy supposedly a little crazy and from what I read annoying as all hell. but damn hot

[Dixie Darling]

For me it's Melanie R. As many of you are aware she is in the forefront in helping the public understand that crossdressers aren't the weird people that we are sometimes labeled as. Married to Peggy Rudd, who is the author of MANY outstanding publications about crossdressers, Just last year Melanie and her spouse worked with the Women's Entertainment Network ("WE") to produce a highly informative program "The Secret Lives Of Women - Women Who Are Married To Crossdressers" which has been aired several times.

Although this couple may not be famous by the common definition of "entertainment", they are still due our gratitude for their pioneering efforts in helping others to understand that most CDs are decent and respectable individuals.

Dixie -- http://www.geocities.com/senorita_cd

[Bonnie D]

Myra Breckinridge was the first I heard of regarding sex changes. Jim Bailey was a great female impersonator and there have been other great ones too. Lots of movies To Wong Foo was fun, Tootsie, Victor Victoria and as I was reading the previous posts I was thinking about Bugs Bunny and then there it was. Mash was fun and same with Busom Buddies (Tom Hanks) but like most some of the seriousness was missing or should I say they were dressing for other reasons than the enjoyment or fulfillment of dressing that crossdressers get from it.

Bonnie

[loki_uk]

I'm a little disapointed that the uk people haven mention Grayson Perry. He won the turner prize (art prize in uk) in 2003. He's quite famous in Britain.


Ange xx

One can only admire his outlook, he knows what he likes and doesn't care what the world thinks and is really quite a normal family man who just happens to have unusual hobbies

[janedoe311]

Flip's Geraldine! Sometimes the three stooges dressed as ladies, in some episodes, Curley, in "Uncivil Warriors".

In Three Stooges Meet Hercules they find themselves in a Womans bath and dress up as female slaves to escape capture. They are not very good at CD but it is funny when the women find three men in their bath.

Charlie's aunt is a famous play, do not know who did it on Broadway(if it was done on Broadway) but I believe Jack Benny did a movie. I think Milton Berle did it in skit in his 50's TV show one of the earliest CDing on TV, that I am aware off.

How about Goodbye Charlie. Not CD really but in the idea.

I am sure CDing was done on Vaudeville and stage for fun. But the first crossdresing would probably be Shakespeare plays, women were not allowed to be on stage so all parts were men. Hence the DRAG and DRAB was started, Dressed as a girl and Dressed as a Boy. Shakespeare put it in the columns of his plays.

[cindychan]

Hedwig from Headwig and the angry Inch, Drew Carrey's brother Steve from The Drew Carrey Show, and WWF wrestler GoldDust are a some others that popped in my head.

[Syuviel]

gosh... you all got it pretty easy. my first encounter with crossdressing was when one of my freinds dragged me to the midnight showing of rocky horror picture show.

Tim Curry as Frankenfurter.

[ubokvt]

There are many who blazed a path but of them all it has to be J.Edgar Hoover. Hard to believe that the first G-man was a T-man. Imagin the files and pics he had of his girls. Give anything to look at them.

[Sasha Anne Meadows]

Never was a Hoover fan but that thing about him cross dressing is a totally debunked myth. It was blackmail done by someone who was investigaged and discredited. There is a whole book on this someplace. Oliver Stone perputated this in his movie but folks it just aint so. Too bad really.

[Marissa_Black]

I thought Jaye Davidson in "The Crying Game" was hot.

[Peka TG]

Andy Warhol

[tightsgirl]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/susanxo/collage.jpg

:D

Bugs bunny makes me hot

[Peka TG]

One more Artist I almost forgot
Frida Kahlo
She was a FtM crossdresser

[battybattybats]

Maybe someone can help me find information on this one, a year or more ago I caught the end of a show on ABC (australia) about a famous Australian artwork. As best I recall the details it turns out the women in the painting was actually a crossdressing spy! At one point at a funeral she was spotted by her mother! Apparently the mother asked quietly 'Don't I know you' and she replied 'I'm your daughter... (can't recall the name)' and the mother replied 'I always wanted a beautiful daughter'!

I caught the show by accident when I was having a fair bit of trouble with my dressing and it totally bowled me over. Unfortunatly in my state of shock I was unable to remember the rest of the details even 10 minutes later. Can anyone help with more info on this? I don't recall the era, early 20th century I think.

[LaSirenaBella]

Geraldine and Capt. Kirk when he switched bodies in one episode.

Turnabout Intruder was such a bad episode, though. :(

[LaSirenaBella]

pics of Flea

I saw "Flea" and thought, "the bassist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a crossdresser?!" :heehee:

[Roxi Loh]

My first memories (dating myself) was of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon in Some Like It Hot with of all people...Marylin Monroe. I could not decide who I wanted to be more. Ultimately chose MM.

[Niki 4U2 Nite]

I think my girlfriends here have got most of them--- except for the musical references----

No one mentioned "Lola" from the "The Kinks"--a most enticing little tune.

And The Beatles had one too.... Loretta, wrapped in a sweater I believe...with her high heel shoes and her low neck sweater. Get Back!

And let us never forget Lou Reeds' immortal "Walk on the Wild Side". I saw Ms. Holly not long ago...plucked her eyebrows, shaved her legs and then he was a she. Well, she's done some more....she looks fabulous, she is very real, and HAS NEVER looked back.

[Peka TG]

another musical reference

Monty Python Lumberjack Song

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day.

Chorus:
He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea

Mounties:
He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch
He goes to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays he goes shopping and has buttered scones for tea.

Chorus:
He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I like to press wild flowers.

I put on women's clothing and hang around in bars.

Mounties:
He cuts down trees, he skips and jumps
He likes to press wild flowers.
He puts on women's clothing and hangs around in bars?!

Chorus:
He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspenders and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Papa!!

Mounties:
I cut down trees, I wear high heels?!
Suspenders...and a bra?!...

Just the Lumberjack:
I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Papa!! :devil:

:D
Peka

[Georgette]

The movie some like it hot Starring Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis also Marylyn Monroe.:2c:

[Syuviel]

My hero is and will always be Angel from RENT.

that ones from the broadway, but i thought the one from the movie was better.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b391/Shann_2004/Rent/Angel.jpg

[EllenCD]

Jonathan Winters as Aunt Maudie Frikkert and the greatest of all: J. Edgar Hoover, Dir. of the FBI.:rolleyes:

[AERIN]

Don Knotts was my favorite. He as Barney Fife posed as a cleaning woman in the bank to catch the robbers. Hilarious!

And now we have Dame Edna with a talk show...kewl!

[Lisa Golightly]

There are two for me...

The sadly departed Steffan Whitfield, and the diva of photography Leah True.

[Robin Leigh]

I've never been particularly fond of Klinger's equating CDing with being crazy. Or his body hair. :D

Nobody seems to have mentioned any Aussies yet. I've always been a fan of Dame Edna Everage, aka Barry Humphries. http://www.dame-edna.com/

When I was a teenager, and often in denial, CDing in the media often made me uncomfortable, although I did like Milton Berle & Bugs Bunny. Sort of. :)

My mother is a big Tony Curtis fan & she loves Some Like It Hot. I guess that made me feel a little bit more comfortable about myself. I was definitely uncomfortable the first time I saw that movie, but as I got older I've grown to love it. Imagine dressing up with Marilyn. Heaven! :happy:

:hugs:

Robin

[KirstyChibiMoon]

my first time exposure to cd-ing was probally benny hill :)
and monty python....
none of it seem'd right to me untill i saw pics of a lolita japanses cd named Princess Elli :)
my jaw bout dropped to the floor and i immediatly knew that i wanted dressed like hers!
When i lived in Athens Georgia i lived like 3 blocks away from the famous RuPaul :)
she sure is very tall! and very nice... though she never met me as a girl.

[tessa]

Rudy Giuliani.. Not that I like his politics particularily :straightface:

[Kerrie Sifton]

One of my favourites is Bulent Ersoy,
http://bulent_ersoy.tripod.com/resimler.htm
I was visiting turkey when one of my pals showed me a picture of this marvelous girl, he was very coy , asking me if I thought she was attractive, etc. And I did then and I still do.:D

http://bulent_ersoy.tripod.com/80-85/images/bulentersoy75_jpg.jpg

[Debbie new]

There are several, Dick Emery's character i think she was called Mandy;
her line of "ooh you are awful but i like you".
Some others, Eddie Izzard, Grayson Perry, Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon in some like it hot, they looked so good it fascinated me as a kid, the first time i saw the movie.