Darcelle XV.Photo: Sarah Mirk/Flickr
Walter Cole, who dazzled audiences in Portland for over 50 years as Darcelle XV, earning the distinction of being theworld’s oldest drag performer, has died. He was 92.
Cole, who was also an Army veteran and champion of the LGBTQ community,died on March 23at a hospital in his hometown, reportedThe New York Times. Hedied of natural causes, according to a tribute from Darcelle XV Showplace, the nightclub he opened in 1967, which will continue to hold performances as “per Darcelle’s wishes.”
“The family of Darcelle XV along with her cast and crew are heartbroken,” read their statement. “We ask for privacy and patience as everyone processes and grieves in their own way and at their own pace.”
One year before he was drafted, he married his high school sweetheart, reportedThe New York Times.
After being discharged in the 1950s, he lived a “conventional” life back home with his wife and two children, per the club. Using funds he received from the military, he was able to buy a coffeehouse, a business that later expanded to include a jazz club.
Around this same time, Cole met Roxy LeRoy Neuhardt, who had once worked in Las Vegas as a dancer, and the pair fell in love, keeping their relationship a secret, according toThe Oregonian.
Life changed dramatically for Cole after 1967, when he purchased the Demas Tavern, which would eventually become Darcelle XV Showplace in 1974.
“If I hadn’t admitted who I was, I’d probably be dead now,” he told the newspaper back in 2010.
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The idea for Darcelle came from a dancer Neuhardt had once worked with, according toThe Oregonian.
“When I was working in Las Vegas (in 1959), I danced with a French woman on stage named Denise Darcel,” Neuhardt said in 1989, per the newspaper. “Walter needed a name, and I thought Darcelle was a sexy name. He used the name, it worked, and he hasn’t changed it since.”
According toThe New York Times, the numbers were added back in the 1970s, after Darcelle was crowned the 15th “Empress” of Oregon’s Imperial Sovereign Rose Court, an LGBTQ organization.
“I’m an entertainer with a capital E,” Cole previously said, per the Associated Press. “Darcelle is a character — like in a play — and I work very hard at her.”
“Darcelle was known to say she hoped she’d die onstage and simply dissolve into glitter,” Susan Stanley, who wrote what’s considered to be Darcelle’s first profile, said in theWillamette Weekfollowing Cole’s death, per theTimes.
“Darcellecarved out an unforgettable chapterin Portland’s history, and will forever be remembered as a legendary entertainer who graced our city with a generosity of spirit & pioneering courage,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden wrote on social media in another tribute.
source: people.com
