![]() She described the performer not only as a talented artist, who also sewed many of the club's costumes, but as a caring person deeply invested in the LGBTQ+ community and the fight against the social stigma of the time. Stanley wound up briefly working at the club and becoming Cole's close friend. "Darcelle is a character - like in a play - and I work very hard at her." "I'm an entertainer with a capital E," Cole told Stanley. When speaking of Darcelle, Cole, a gay man, referred to his persona in the third person using female pronouns. Writer Susan Stanley described the club a place of "warmth and affection" where performers were "glittering in sequins and satin and a shimmering froth of feathers," in what's credited as the first profile of Darcelle XV, published in Willamette Week in 1975. "She touched the lives of so many, not only through her performances but also through her fearless community advocacy and charitable works," said Todd Addams, the interim executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, speaking of Darcelle. "I'd be sitting on a couch retiring from. "If I hadn't admitted who I was, I'd probably be dead now," he told the paper. Cole preferred female pronouns when performing, but told The Oregonian he preferred male pronouns off-stage. It provided a lifeline for many in the city's LGBTQ community, including Cole, he told the newspaper in a 2010 interview. ![]() In the venue's early days in the 1970s and 1980s, it was seen as taboo and protesters picketed outside, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The club, which had become a Portland cultural institution by the 1970s, was listed in 2020 on the National Register of Historic Places, making it the first site in Oregon to be nominated specifically for its significance in LGBTQ+ history. The nightclub that Darcelle opened more than 50 years ago in downtown Portland, Darcelle XV Showplace, posted a statement on Facebook expressing grief and asking for privacy and patience. Off stage, Cole, an Army veteran, championed LGBTQ+ rights and charitable work in Portland. As a performer, Darcelle was known for hosting the longest-running drag show on the U.S. He was 92.ĭarcelle, who died Thursday, was crowned the world's oldest working drag performer in 2016 by the Guinness Book of World Records and was regaling audiences until the very end. The audience erupted in cheers as he landed and raised a bottle of champagne to welcome 2024.Walter Cole, better known as the iconic drag queen who performed for decades as Darcelle XV and a fearless advocate for Portland's LGBTQ+ community, has died of natural causes in Portland, Oregon. Then, as the final seconds of 2023 ticked away, Peterson was lowered in the shoe toward the street below. Peterson is renowned for his longstanding one-man cabaret show, where he portrays famous women including Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Joan Rivers, and Lady Gaga.ĭressed in a glamorous self-designed gown, he presided over the night's festivities and entertainment - all while perched in the giant ruby slipper, suspended high above the crowd from the complex's second-story balcony. Peterson assumed the event's starring role after Sushi stepped down as a New Year's Eve icon following last year's celebration. Pub complex on the island's Duval Street for the Red Shoe Drop, a lighthearted takeoff on New York City's Times Square ball drop. Thousands of people gathered outside the Bourbon St. KEY WEST - New Year's Eve revelers in Key West marked 2024's arrival by watching the "drop" of a super-sized red high-heel shoe carrying female impersonator Christopher Peterson, the shoe's new "passenger" who succeeded drag queen "Sushi," a veteran of 25 previous drops. Key West New Year's Eve featured 'Red Shoe Drop' with new star 01:07 ![]()
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