Candy Darling
Candy Darling | |
---|---|
Born | [1] Queens, New York City, U.S. | November 24, 1944
Died | March 21, 1974 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. | (aged 29)
Resting place | Cherry Valley Cemetery, Cherry Valley, New York, U.S. |
Occupation | Actress |
Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American transgender actress, best known as a Warhol superstar.[2][3] She starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971), and was a muse of the Velvet Underground.
Early life
Candy Darling was born in
Darling's early years were spent in
In 1961, she signed up for a course at the DeVern School of Cosmetology in
After coming out publicly, Darling would take a short cab ride to the Long Island Rail Road station, avoiding the attention of neighbors she would receive by walking to the train. From there, she would take the train to Manhattan, often sitting across from Long Island starlet Joey Heatherton.[2] In Manhattan, she would refer to her family home at 79 First Avenue in Massapequa Park as her "country house", and spent time in Greenwich Village, meeting people through Seymour Levy on Bleecker Street.
Darling met Jeremiah Newton in the summer of 1966, when Newton was on his first trip to Greenwich Village from his home in Flushing, Queens. The two became friends and roommates, living together in Manhattan and Brooklyn until the time of Darling's death in 1974.[7]
Darling first took the name Hope Slattery. According to
Warhol years
Before they met, in 1967, Darling saw Andy Warhol at The Tenth of Always, an after-hours club. Darling was with Jackie Curtis, who invited Warhol to a play that she had written and directed, called Glamour, Glory and Gold, starring Darling as "Nona Noonan" and a young Robert De Niro, who played six parts in the play.[9]
Warhol cast Darling in a short comedic scene in Flesh (1968) with Jackie Curtis and Joe Dallesandro. After Flesh, Darling was cast in a central role in Women in Revolt (1971).
Women in Revolt was first shown at the first Los Angeles Filmex as Sex. It was later shown as Andy Warhol's Women.
The day after the celebrity preview, a group of women carrying protest signs demonstrated outside the cinema against the film, which they thought was anti-women's liberation. When Darling heard about this, she said, "Who do these dykes think they are anyway? Well, I just hope they all read Vincent Canby's review in today's Times. He said I look like a cross between Kim Novak and Pat Nixon. It's true – I do have Pat Nixon's nose."[10]
Darling worked for a short time as a barmaid at Slugger Ann's, the bar owned by Jackie Curtis's grandmother.[11]
After Warhol
Darling went on to appear in other independent films, including Silent Night, Bloody Night, Wynn Chamberlain's Brand X, and a co-starring role in Some of My Best Friends Are...[12] She appeared in Klute with Jane Fonda and Lady Liberty with Sophia Loren. In 1971, she went to Vienna to make two films with director Werner Schroeter: The Death of Maria Malibran, and another film that was never released. Darling's attempt at breaking into mainstream movies, by campaigning for the leading role in Myra Breckinridge (1970), led to rejection and bitterness.
Her theatre credits include two Jackie Curtis plays, Glamour, Glory and Gold (1967) and Vain Victory: The Vicissitudes of the Damned (1971). Vain Victory was directed by Curtis at
Darling was in the original 1972 production of Tennessee Williams' play Small Craft Warnings, cast at Williams' request. She starred in the 1973 revival of The White Whore and the Bit Player, a 1964 play by Tom Eyen, at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. The production was bilingual, called The White Whore and the Bit Player/La Estrelle y La Monja, and directed by Manuel Martin Jr. Darling's character, a Hollywood actress known only as "the Whore", was based on Marilyn Monroe. She performed in the English version opposite Hortensia Colorado, and the Spanish version was performed by Magaly Alabau and Graciela Mas.[14] As a review of the play stated, "With her teased platinum hair and practiced pouts, Miss Darling looks like her character and resolutely keeps her acting little-girl-lost. The role-playing aspect works to her advantage. She could, after all, be a male lunatic pretending to be the White Whore."[15]
Illness and death
Darling died of
Her funeral, held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, was attended by huge crowds. Julie Newmar read the eulogy.[19] Darling's birth name was never spoken by the minister or any of the eulogizers. Faith Dane played a piano piece, and Gloria Swanson saluted Darling's coffin.[20]
Darling was cremated, and her ashes were interred by Jeremiah Newton in the Cherry Valley Cemetery in Cherry Valley, New York, a village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains.
Legacy
2010 documentary
A feature-length documentary on Darling, titled
Portrayals
Film
- Darling was first portrayed on film by Stephen Dorff in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996).[12]
- Darling is portrayed by Cinema Verite.[12]
Stage
- Darling was portrayed by Brian Charles Rooney in Pop!, a musical written by Anna K. Jacobs and Maggie-Kate Coleman and directed by Mark Brokaw at Yale Repertory Theatre in November–December 2009.[22]
- Darling was portrayed by actor Vince Gatton in the off-Broadway production of David Johnston'sofay Candy and Dorothy, for which Gatton received a Drama Desk award nomination.[23]
Music
- Darling and her friend Taffy are mentioned in the chorus of the 1967 Citadel".[24]
- Darling is the subject of the song "Candy Says", the opening track on the Velvet Underground's self-titled album in 1969, written by Lou Reed and sung by Doug Yule.[25]
- The second verse of Lou Reed's 1972 "Walk on the Wild Side" is devoted to Darling.[26]
- A still of Darling in the Andy Warhol movie "Women in Revolt" is featured on the cover of The Smiths' single "Sheila Take a Bow".
- American musician St. Vincent named a song after Darling in her album Daddy's Home, and undertakes a persona inspired by Darling for the album visuals.
- Darling's name is referenced in the chorus of the Saint Motel song "For Elise."
Visual arts
- Greer Lankton made a bust of Darling that was displayed at the 1995 Whitney Biennial.[27]
- Mercury Music Prize-winning album I Am a Bird Now.[28]
Poetry
- Kay Gabriel published a book of sonnet-based poetry, Elegy Department Spring, about Darling[29]
Namesakes
- In 2009, C☆NDY, which calls itself "the first transversal style magazine", debuted. It is named after Darling.[30]
- Byredo created a candle scent named after Darling.[31]
Biopic
In January 2019, a
Biography
In 2024, Cynthia Carr released Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, a biographical portrait of the queer icon and Warhol superstar.[34]
Works
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | Flesh | Candy | |
1970 | Brand X | Marlene D-Train | |
1971 | La Mortadella | Transvestite | Alternative title: Lady Liberty |
1971 | Klute | Discothèque Patron | Uncredited |
1971 | Some of My Best Friends Are... | Karen / Harry | |
1971 | Women in Revolt | Candy | |
1972 | The Death of Maria Malibran | Directed by Werner Schroeter | |
1972 | Silent Night, Bloody Night | Guest | (final film role) |
1973 | An American Family | Herself | |
1975 | Johannas Traum[35] | Directed by Werner Schroeter | |
2002 | The Cockettes | Herself | Archive footage |
2004 | Superstar in a Housedress | Herself | Archive footage |
2006 | Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film | Herself | Archive footage |
2010 | Beautiful Darling | Herself | Archive footage |
References
Citations
- ISBN 978-0-679-42372-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4804-0775-6.
- ^ Plaza, Cristina (July 1, 2017). "Candy Darling, el reverso de la primera figura transexual de la cultura pop". Vanity Fair (in Spanish). Retrieved June 29, 2018.
- ^ "Theresa Catherine P. McLean". Glens Falls Post-Star. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
- ^ Bell, Arthur (May 18, 1972). "Darling Candy, where were you the night Jean Harlow died?". The Village Voice. Retrieved June 18, 2009.[permanent dead link]
- S2CID 191455116.
- ^ a b c Moynihan, Colin (February 24, 2009). "From the Archives, a Portrait of a Pop-Art Muse". The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
- ^ Comenas, Gary. "Candy Darling". Warholstars.org. Archived from the original on February 3, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
- ^ "What is the Robert DeNiro Connection?". For Members Only: The Story of the Mob's Secret Judge. Archived from the original on February 13, 2016. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
- )
- S2CID 194047860. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
- ^ IMDb
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Vain Victory, The Vicissitudes of the Damned (1971)". Accessed April 4, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: The White Whore and the Bit Player/La Estrella y La Monja (1973a)". Accessed April 4, 2018.
- ^ Gussow, Mel (February 6, 1973). "Eyen's 'The White Whore and Bit Player' Arrives". The New York Times.
- ^ "Candy Darling Dies; Warhol 'Superstar'". The New York Times. March 22, 1974. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
- ISBN 9780300211832.
- ^ Wiegand, David (July 28, 1997). "Candy's Fairy-Tale 'Face'; Diaries Reveal Longing For Identity". SFGate.com. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-8372-5.
- ^ Donovan, Janet (May 23, 2011). ""Beautiful Darling" Candy, Born as James". NBCWashington.com. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
- ^ Beautiful Darling, retrieved October 20, 2018
- ^ Bacalzo, Dan (October 15, 2009). "Doug Kreeger, Randy Harrison, Leslie Kritzer, Brian Charles Rooney, et al. Set for Yale Rep's Pop!". TheaterMania.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
- ^ Simonson, Robert (April 27, 2006). "The Drowsy Chaperone Leads 2006 Drama Desk Nominations". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on April 28, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-85712-113-4.
- ^ DeCurtis 2017[page needed]
- ^ DeCurtis 2017, p. 123
- ^ Morton, Julia (January 26, 2007). "Greer Lankton, A Memoir". artnet. Artnet Worldwide Corporation. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
- ^ I Am a Bird Now – Credits, Allmusic.com; retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ^ Crandall, Maxe (June 24, 2017). "'Elegy Department Spring' by Kay Gabriel". Lambda Literary. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ Blanks, Tim. "Exclusive: The World's Biggest Transgender Stars Cover C☆NDY". style.com.
- ^ "Zac Posen – 15 favourite things". Vogue UK. Archived from the original on April 12, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
- ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (January 29, 2019). "'Transparent's Stephanie Kornick And Zackary Drucker Board Candy Darling Biopic". Deadline Hollywood.
- ^ "Hari Nef cast as Warhol superstar Candy Darling in new biopic". The A.V. Club. August 2, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
- ^ Noble, Barnes &. "Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar|Hardcover". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ Johannas Dream, retrieved December 29, 2020
Works cited
- DeCurtis, Anthony (2017). Lou Reed: A Life. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-37654-9.
Further reading
- Bockris, Victor (1998). The Life and Death of Andy Warhol. 4th Estate. ISBN 1-85702-805-8.
- Colacello, Bob (2000). Holy Terror: Andy Warhol close up. Cooper Square. ISBN 0-8154-1008-5.
- ISBN 1-85242-338-2.
- Darling, Candy (1992). Newton, Jeremiah (ed.). ISBN 0-945367-21-X.
- Harron, Mary; Minahan, Daniel (1996). I Shot Andy Warhol. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-7475-2995-7.
- Rasin, James. Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling Andy Warhol Superstar (film).
- Warhol, Andy (1981). Popism: the Warhol '60s. Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-144580-5.
- Woodlawn, Holly; Copeland, Jeff (1991). A Low Life in High Heels. St Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-06429-2.