Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp | |
---|---|
Born | Denis Charles Pratt 25 December 1908 Sutton, Surrey, England |
Died | 21 November 1999 Manchester, England | (aged 90)
Occupation | Writer, illustrator, actor, artist's model |
Notable works | The Naked Civil Servant |
Signature | |
Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt;
25 December 1908 – 21 November 1999) was an EnglishDuring his teen years, he worked briefly as a
His one-man stage show was a long-running hit both in Britain and America, and he also appeared in films and on television. Crisp defied convention by criticising both gay liberation and Diana, Princess of Wales.[1][4]
Biography
Early life
Denis Charles Pratt was born in Sutton, Surrey, on 25 December 1908, the fourth child of solicitor Spencer Charles Pratt (1871–1931) and former governess Frances Marion Pratt (née Phillips; 1873–1960).[5] His elder siblings were Katherine (1901–1976), Gerald (1902–1983) and Lewis (1907–1968). He changed his name to Quentin Crisp in his twenties after leaving home, and expressed a feminine appearance to a degree that shocked contemporary Londoners and provoked gay-bashing assaults.[1]
By his own account, Crisp was "effeminate" from an early age, resulting in his being teased while at
Around this time, Crisp began visiting the cafés of
Crisp left home to move to the centre of London at the end of 1930, and after dwelling in a succession of flats, found a bed-sitting room in Denbigh Street, Pimlico, where he "held court with London's brightest and roughest characters."[citation needed] His 'outlandish' appearance—he wore bright make-up, dyed his long hair crimson, painted his fingernails and wore sandals to display his painted toe-nails—brought admiration and curiosity from some quarters, but generally attracted hostility and violence from strangers passing him in the streets.
Middle years
Crisp attempted to join the
Crisp left his job as an
Fame
In 1975, the television version of The Naked Civil Servant was broadcast on British and US television, making actor John Hurt, and Crisp, into stars. This success launched Crisp in a new direction: that of performer and tutor. He devised a one-man show and began touring the country with it. The first half of the show was an entertaining monologue loosely based on his memoirs, while the second half was a question-and-answer session with Crisp picking the audience's written questions at random and answering them in an amusing manner.
After the success of the film, his autobiography was reprinted;
By now Crisp was a theatre-filling humourist; in 1978, his one-man show sold out London's Duke of York's Theatre. He then took the show to New York. His first stay in the Hotel Chelsea coincided with a fire, a robbery, and the death of Nancy Spungen. Crisp decided to move to New York permanently and, in 1981, found a small apartment at 46 East 3rd Street in Manhattan's East Village.[12]
As he had done in London, Crisp allowed his telephone number to be listed in the telephone directory. He saw it as his duty to converse with anyone who called him, saying "If you don't have your name in the phone book, you're stuck with your friends. How will you ever enlarge your horizons?"[13] He answered the phone with the phrase: "Yes, Lord?", or "Oh yes?", in a querulous tone of voice.[citation needed] His openness to strangers extended to accepting dinner invitations from almost anyone. While he expected that the host would pay for dinner, Crisp did his best to "sing for his supper" by regaling his host with wonderful stories and yarns, much as he did in his theatrical performances.[citation needed]
Crisp continued to perform his one-man show, published books on the importance of contemporary manners as a means of social inclusion (as opposed to etiquette, which he claimed is socially exclusive), and supported himself by accepting social invitations and writing film reviews and columns for UK and US magazines and newspapers. He said that provided one could exist on peanuts and champagne, one could quite easily live by going to every cocktail party, premiere and first night to which one was invited.[14]
Crisp also acted on television and in films. He made his debut as a film actor in the
The 1990s were his most prolific decade as an actor, as more and more directors offered him roles. In 1992 he was persuaded by
Last years
Crisp remained fiercely independent and unpredictable into old age. He caused controversy and confusion in the gay community by jokingly calling AIDS "a fad", and homosexuality "a terrible disease".[1] He was continually in demand from journalists requiring a sound-bite, and throughout the 1990s his commentary was sought on any number of topics.
Crisp was a stern critic of
In 1995 he was among the many people interviewed for The Celluloid Closet, a historical documentary addressing how Hollywood films have depicted homosexuality. In his third volume of memoirs, Resident Alien, published in the same year, Crisp stated that he was close to the end of his life, though he continued to make public appearances, and in June of that year he was one of the guest entertainers at the second Pride Scotland festival in Glasgow.
In 1997 Crisp was crowned king of the Beaux-Arts Ball run by the Beaux Arts Society. He presided alongside Queen Audrey Kargere, Prince George Bettinger and Princess Annette Hunt.[17]
In December 1998 he celebrated his ninetieth birthday, performing the opening night of his one-man show, An Evening with Quentin Crisp, at The Intar Theatre on Forty-Second Street in New York City (produced by John Glines of The Glines organisation).
Gender identity
In an interview with CBC in 1977, upon being queried about whether he desired to be a woman, Crisp stated: "Well, I suppose when I was a child, when I lived almost entirely in a dreamworld, I suppose I thought of myself as a woman. But, later on, you realise that you have to live in the real world, and that you are not a woman. You are only in some senses 'effeminate,' or 'feminine,' and you must learn to make this compromise - to live in a world where, statistically, you are a man, whatever you may think about yourself."[18]
At the age of 90 Crisp regailed in the book The Last Word that he had come to the conclusion that he's transgender.
"Having labelled myself homosexual and having been labelled as such by the wider world, I have effectively lived a 'gay' life for most of my years. Consequently, I can relate to gay men because I have more or less been one for so long in spite of my actual fate being that of a woman trapped in a man's body. I refer to myself as homosexual without thinking because of how I have lived my life. If you are reading this and are gay, think of me as one of your own even though you now know the truth. If it's confusing for you, think how confusing it has been for me these past ninety years."
"The only thing in my life I have wanted and didn't get was to be a woman. It will be my life's biggest regret. If the operation had been available and cheap when I was young, say when I was twenty-five or twenty-six, I would have jumped at the chance. My life would have been much simpler as a result. I would have told nobody. Instead, I would have gone to live in a distant town and run a knitting wool shop and no one would ever have known my secret. I would have joined the real world and it would have been wonderful."[19]
Death
Crisp died of a heart attack on 21 November 1999, at age 90, while staying at the home of a friend in
He bequeathed his rights in three books to his respective collaborators: Phillip Ward for Crisp's final book The Last Word and the book And One More Thing (formerly titled Dusty Answers); Guy Kettelhack for The Wit and Wisdom of Quentin Crisp and John Hofsess for Manners from Heaven. From his remaining literary estate (including The Naked Civil Servant), he bequeathed all future UK-only income (but not the copyrights, which are managed by Ward, and belong to Ward, literary agent Stedman Mays, and writer Mary Tahan) to the two men he considered to have had the greatest influence on his career: his long-time agent Richard Gollner, and his first agent Donald Carroll.
Posthumously published works
In the two years before his death (1997–1999), Crisp had been compiling a work that was initially to be titled The Dusty Answers with Philip Ward. Crisp and Ward developed material for this book through many hours of recorded interviews, which was necessary because Crisp had lost the use of his left hand and he was unable to use a typewriter or computer. The resulting manuscript remained unpublished for eighteen years after Crisp's death, because Ward found it emotionally difficult to transcribe Crisp's words. A chance meeting with Laurence Watts, who interviewed Ward for
On 21 November 2017, MB Books published The Last Word: An Autobiography, written by Crisp's friend, Philip Ward, on the basis of tape recordings made of Crisp's dictations, and edited by Ward and Watts. Whereas The Naked Civil Servant made Crisp famous, and How To Become A Virgin detailed that fame and his life in New York, The Last Word was written as a goodbye to the world, with Crisp knowing the end was near. In it he recounts several previously untold stories from his life, walks the reader through his journey from obscurity, reflects on his philosophy and gender identity. [19]
In January 2019, MB Books published And One More Thing, a companion book to The Last Word: An Autobiography, again edited by Ward and Watts. This book contains material that the editors believed did not fit into The Last Word. In And One More Thing, Crisp primarily shares his views on other people, their lives and their opinions, from
Influence and legacy
Sting dedicated his song "Englishman in New York" (1987) to Crisp, who had jokingly remarked "that he looked forward to receiving his naturalisation papers so that he could commit a crime and not be deported." In late 1986 Sting visited Crisp in his apartment and was told over dinner, and over the next three days, what life had been like for a homosexual man in the largely homophobic Great Britain of the 1920s to the 1960s. Sting was both shocked and fascinated and decided to write the song. It includes the lines:
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile,
Be yourself no matter what they say.
Sting says, "Well, it's partly about me and partly about Quentin. Again, I was looking for a metaphor. Quentin is a hero of mine, someone I know very well. He is gay and he was gay at a time in history when it was dangerous to be so. He had people beating up on him on a daily basis, largely with the consent of the public."[23]
Crisp was the subject of a photographic portrait by Herb Ritts and was also chronicled in Andy Warhol's diaries.
In his 1995 autobiography Take It Like a Man, singer Boy George discusses how he had felt an affinity towards Crisp during his childhood, as they faced similar problems as young homosexual people living in homophobic surroundings.
In 1991, a documentary about Crisp, Resident Alien, was released by Greycat Films.
The 1981
In 2009 a television sequel to The Naked Civil Servant was broadcast. Entitled
That same year, Crisp's great-nephew, academic and film-maker Adrian Goycoolea, premiered a short documentary, Uncle Denis?,, New York City, which recreated Crisp's New York apartment using his personal effects and included home video footage.
In 2013, with curator Ward, the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan staged a three-month retrospective on Crisp, entitled Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Quentin Crisp. The retrospective consisted of free screenings of interviews, one man shows, documentaries and other recorded media.[28]
In 2014 Mark Farrelly's solo performance Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope debuted at the Edinburgh Festival, before transferring to the St. James's Theatre in London and subsequently touring. It depicts Crisp at his Chelsea flat in the 1960s and performing his one-man show thirty years later.[29]
In the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, Bill Murray explicitly based the dress style of his character (Martin Heiss) on Crisp.[30]
In his 2020 autobiography Confess, Rob Halford of Judas Priest identifies Crisp as having been a hero of his.[31] When the then closeted Halford had first seen The Naked Civil Servant in 1975, he had been impressed by the film and Crisp.[32] Halford came out, in an MTV interview, on 4 February 1998.[33] In 1999, Halford attended San Diego Pride with his partner, Thomas. While there, Halford met Crisp, and got a book signed by him ('To Rob, from Quentin'). According to Halford, he continues to treasure the signed book.[34] Halford views himself as a rock version of Crisp, and refers to himself as the "stately homo of heavy metal".[31]
Works
- Lettering for Brush and Pen (1936), Quentin Crisp and A.F. Stuart, Frederick Warne Ltd. Manual on typefaces for advertising. OCLC 503850262
- Colour in Display (1938) Quentin Crisp, 131 pp., The Blandford Press. Manual on the use of colour in window displays. OCLC 557871368
- All This and Bevin Too (1943) Quentin Crisp, illustrated by ISBN 0-9506125-0-2. Parable, in verse, about an unemployed kangaroo.
- ISBN 0-00-654044-9. Crisp's account of the first half of his life.
- How to Have a Life Style (1975), Quentin Crisp, 159 pp., Cecil Woolf Publ., ISBN 0-900821-83-3. Essays on charisma and personality.
- Love Made Easy (1977) Quentin Crisp, 154 pp., Duckworth, ISBN 0-7156-1188-7. Fantastical, semi-autobiographical novel.
- Chog: A Gothic Fable (1979), Quentin Crisp, Methuen, London. Illustrated by Jo Lynch, Magnum (1981).
- How to Become a Virgin (1981) Quentin Crisp, 192 pp., HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-638798-5. The second instalment of autobiography, describing his experience of the fame that The Naked Civil Servant and its dramatisation brought.
- Doing It With Style (1981) Quentin Crisp, with Donald Carroll, illustrated by Jonathan Hills, 157 pp., Methuen, ISBN 0-413-47490-9. A guide to thoughtful and stylish living.
- The Wit and Wisdom of Quentin Crisp (1984) Quentin Crisp, edited by Guy Kettelhack, Harper & Row, 140 pp., ISBN 0-06-091178-6. Compilation of Crisp's essays and quotations.
- Manners from Heaven: a divine guide to good behaviour (1984) Quentin Crisp, with John Hofsess, Hutchinson, ISBN 0-09-155810-7. Instructions for compassionate living.
- How to Go to the Movies (1988) Quentin Crisp, 224 pp., St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-05444-0. Movie reviews and essays on film.
- Quentin Crisp's Book of Quotations, also published as The Gay and Lesbian Quotation Book: a literary companion (1989) edited by Quentin Crisp, Hale, 185 pp. ISBN 0-7090-5605-2. Anthology of gay-related quotes.
- Resident Alien: The New York Diaries (1996) Quentin Crisp, 232 pp., HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-638717-9. Diaries and recollections from 1990 to 1994.
- The Last Word: An Autobiography, (2017) Quentin Crisp, edited by Phillip Ward and Laurence Watts, MB Books, 232 pp., ISBN 978-0-692-96848-2. Quentin Crisp's final book, the third and last instalment of his autobiography, written during the last two years of his life.
- And One More Thing, (2019) Quentin Crisp, edited by Phillip Ward and Laurence Watts, MB Books, 193 pp., ISBN 978-0-692-16809-7. A companion book to Quentin Crisp's The Last Word: An Autobiography. Crisp shares his views on other people, their lives and their opinions. Included is the script for Quentin's Alternative Christmas Message, broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 in 1993, the script of his one-man show An Evening With Quentin Crisp and his collected poetry.
Filmography
- Captain Busby: the Even Tenour of Her Ways - (1967) - with Martina Mayne, as Marcella
- World in Action (documentary) (Broadcast 1971, filmed in 1968) ...himself. Directed by Denis Mitchell.
- The Naked Civil Servant (1975) (introduction)... himself
- Hamlet (1976) .... Polonius
- The Bride.... Dr. Zalhus
- The Equalizer .... Ernie Frick (episode, "First Light") (1987)
- Ballad of Reading Gaol(short) (1988) .... Narrator
- Resident Alien(1990) (autobiography) .... Himself
- Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers (1992) .... Pat the Doorman
- Orlando (1992) .... Queen Elizabeth I
- Philadelphia (1993) (uncredited) .... Guest at Party
- Red Ribbons(1994) (Video) .... Horace Nightingale III
- Aunt Fannie (1994) (Video) .... Aunt Fannie
- Natural Born Crazies (1994) .... Narrator
- To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) .... New York pageant judge
- Taylor Mead Unleashed, (documentary-1996) Himself. Sebastian Piras director
- Little Red Riding Hood (1997) (voice) .... Narrator
- Barriers (1998)
- Famous Again (1998)
Discography
- "An Evening with Quentin Crisp" (2008) .... Cherry Red Records (U.K.) .... Double C.D. featuring live recordings made at Columbia Recording Studios, New York, on 22 February 1979. Also includes a 35-minute interview with Crisp by Morgan Fisher, recorded in June 1980.
- "Miniatures 1 & 2" (2008) .... Cherry Red Records (U.K.) .... Double C.D. of one-minute tracks by many muses, poets, etc. Produced by Morgan Fisher in 1980 (Pt.1) and 2000 (Pt. 2). Crisp's track is titled "Stop the Music for a Minute".
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "Peter Tatchell: Quentin Crisp was no gay hero". The Independent. 29 December 2009. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ "Unearthing the Curious Quentin Crisp". 3 September 2019.
- ^ "Quentin Crisp Archives". modelreg.co.uk.
- ^ "Quentin Crisp interview: Old Spice". The Independent. 21 December 1998.
- ^ 1911 Census for England and Wales, The National Archives (findmypast.co.uk): RG number: RG14; Piece: 2929; Reference: RG14PN2929, RG78PN101; Registration District: Epsom; Sub District: Carshalton; Enumeration District: 7; Parish: Carshalton; Address: Wolverton, Egmont Road, Sutton; County: Surrey.
- ISBN 978-0-333-78051-0.
- ^ "Crisp: The naked civil servant", BBC News, November twenty-first, 1999
- ^ "Quentin Crisp interview: Old Spice". The Independent. 21 December 1998. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
- ^ Crisp, Quentin. The Naked Civil Servant. Penguin Press, 1997, p. 102.
- ^ "Quentin Crisp - 1968 - video". Dailymotion. 25 December 2017.
- ^ "Comment: Quentin Crisp was no gay rights hero". PinkNews. 28 December 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
- ^ "Notable Abodes - East 3rd Street, New York, New York". notableabodes.com. Retrieved 1 September 2020.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Quentin Crisp Collection on Letterman, 1982-83" – via YouTube.
- ^ "Life is a bowl of peanuts". The Independent. 14 July 1996. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- ISBN 1-85459-657-8.
- ^ Atlanta Southern Voice, 1 July 1999
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - YouTube
- ^ a b Crisp, Quentin and Ward, Phillip (2017). The Last Word: An Autobiography. MB Books LLC. pp. 15-16. ISBN 978-0692968482
- ^ Baldwin, Paul (22 November 1999). "Quentin Crisp, 90, dies on eve of sell-out British tour". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ^ "Phillip Ward Talks 'The Last Word' by Quentin Crisp and More (AUDIO)". HuffPost. 7 December 2017.
- ^ "The Quentin Crisp Gallery: John W. Mills". Crisperanto.org. The Quentin Crisp Archives. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
- ^ MR. STING ON ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK, THE QUENTIN CRISP ARCHIVES: Crisperanto.org. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (18 October 1991). "Reviews/Film; Everybody Believed He Had to Be Somebody". The New York Times.
- ^ Johnson, Malcolm (16 August 2005). "After the Lightning, Moments of Magic in 'Elegies'". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
- ^ "CRISPERANTO.ORG: The Quentin Crisp Archives ... All Things Quentin Crisp! - UNCLE DENIS? - a film by Adrian Goycoolea". crisperanto.org.
- ^ "MIX NYC - The 23rd NY Queer Experimental Film Festival". mixnyc.org. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
- ^ "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Quentin Crisp". Museum of Arts and Design. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ "Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope". Mark Farrelly. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
- ^ Murray, Bill (2016). Ghostbusters: Answer the Call DVD (Both Commentary Tracks). Paul Feig.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4722-6928-7.
- ISBN 978-1-4722-6928-7.
- ISBN 978-1-4722-6928-7.
- ISBN 978-1-4722-6928-7.
Notes
- Take It Like A Man, Boy George, Sidgwick & Jackson, 490 pages, ISBN 0-283-99217-4. Autobiography of Boy George.
- Coming on Strong, Joan Rhodes, Serendipity Books, 2007. Autobiography of strongwoman Joan Rhodes who was an intimate friend of Crisp's for over half a century.
- The Krays and Bette Davis, Patrick Newley, AuthorsOnline Books, 2005. Memoir by showbiz writer Patrick Newley who acted as Crisp's P.A. for some years.
Biographies
- The Stately Homo: a celebration of the life of Quentin Crisp, (2000) edited by ISBN 0-593-04677-3. Collection of interviews and tributes from those who knew Crisp.
- Quentin Crisp, (2002), Tim Fountain, Absolute Press, 192 pages, ISBN 1-899791-48-5. Biography by dramatist who knew Crisp in the last few years of his life.
- Quentin & Philip, (2002), Andrew Barrow, Macmillan, 559 pages, ISBN 0-333-78051-5. Dual biography of Crisp and his friend Philip O'Connor.
- Quentin Crisp: The Profession of Being, (2011), Nigel Kelly, McFarland, ISBN 978-0-7864-6475-3. Biography of Mr Crisp by Nigel Kelly who runs the www.quentincrisp.info website.
Further reading
- Mann, Philip. The Dandy at Dusk: Taste and Melancholy in the Twentieth Century. London: Head of Zeus, 2017. ISBN 978-1-78669-517-8
- Archival sources
- Robert Patrick. Letters from Quentin Crisp, 1991–1999 (.21 linear feet) are housed at the New York Public Library.
- Donald Carroll letters received from poets, 1959–1969 (.45 cubic feet) are housed Pennsylvania State University Libraries.
External links
- Obituary in Salon
- Quentin Crisp at IMDb
- 1981 interview by Studs Terkel
- 1997 iInterview in Spike Magazine
- Quentin Crisp discography at Discogs
- Crisperanto: The Quentin Crisp Archives
- 1982 interview on For the Love of Music
- 1989 interview on Bob Claster's Funny Stuff