Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Actress reflects on transitioning, Marilyn Monroe connection
by Terri-Lynne Waldron
2017-04-05

This article shared 3491 times since Wed Apr 5, 2017
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Born in Erwin, Tennessee, transsexual actress Aleshia Brevard knew that she wanted to be a female from an early age, and began her transitioning in the late 1950s.

She also knew she wanted to be a star—and eventually embarked on a journey that involving acting, modeling and teaching. Brevard talked with Windy City Times about her life—and the time she encountered Marilyn Monroe.

Windy City Times: You have said that before World War II—and before you turned 8—you figured that having a penis made it impossible to be a girl, at least in public.

Aleshia Brevard: [Laughs] I knew very early and I started out thinking that I would drape a white Cannon towel over my head and pretend to be [actress] Veronica Lake. But I kept all of that to myself because I truly believed that if anyone—my parents included—knew who I really was, that I would be given away.

WCT: Before your career in Hollywood, you performed as a Marilyn Monroe female impersonator at a San Francisco club called Finocchio's.

AB: That's what publicity said. I've always said that I was not doing Monroe; I was just learning to be myself, and I was young and I was blonde. I did do numbers that Marilyn did so management built me as a Monroe lookalike and impressionist.

WCT: Is it true that Marilyn came to watch you perform at the club?

AB: This came out in a book about Marilyn's life and I didn't know this until recently, but following the filming of [Marilyn's 1961 movie] The Misfits, Monroe and some of the hairdressers and some of the of the crew, along with [actor] Montgomery Clift, were in San Francisco and they came to see the show. I did not know that Marilyn was there until the finale and I did recognize her walk as she was leaving—and she turned and blew a kiss. And in the book where this is recounted, they said that she told Clift that my act was like seeing herself on film.

WCT: How did that make you feel?

AB: That was such a compliment. [At the time,] I was young and not very confident and I really could have used that. I wish I could have known that 50 years ago.

WCT: You have appeared in films such as Hard Country and The Love God?, and on TV in Night Gallery and the Red Skeleton Show. You have also done theater. Which did you prefer?

AB: Definitely stage. That's where my training was in both undergraduate and graduate school. I loathe to admit that I suppose that I'm bigger than life, so that lends itself much more to stage than it does either to film or TV.

WCT: You had gender-reassignment surgery ( GRS ) in 1962, but kept it a secret. How welcoming do you think Hollywood would have been had you been open about it?

AB: There would have been no career—period. When all of this began for me, there was no gender community. Even though there is a community, not everyone is going to dine at the same restaurant, so I lived totally in stealth. After surgery I was married four times and my husbands did not know. I wanted a career and I knew that if there was any breadth of my history I would not have that career. I was very fortunate to "pass."

WCT: As a transsexual actress working in the '60s, '70s and '80s, what was your goal?

AB: I just wanted to compete on equal footing with other women. I've had some really good meaty roles, everything from Williams to Chekhov. That would have not been possible for me had I been even of a later generation labeling myself as a transgender actress. I just wanted to act without labels.

WCT: At the end of your acting career, you directed and taught theater at your alma mater, East Tennessee State University. Was directing a natural progression from acting?

AB: Yes, I think it was. I went to undergraduate school and graduate school, and I had a double major and one of my majors was in education. Although I was just a skinny kid that was mesmerized by film and wanted a life that was represented on the silver screen, I had sense enough to know that only the lucky were able to break into that business. I sort of prepared myself to teach and that's where I thought that I would end up. Had I known early on how rewarding I would find teaching—and I'm glad I had my career on stage and screen—I wish that I could have done it longer.

WCT: So did you come out to the public about your surgery in your 2001 memoir, The Woman I Was NOT Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey?

AB: Exactly. I was no longer teaching university, I moved to California and decided that I still had some energy so I was teaching art in a high school. During that time I was working on the book. But because I had lived in stealth, I had no idea about transgender becoming the umbrella term. When I published the book, I was absolutely shocked that I was spread all over the internet.

WCT: How do you feel about the term "transsexual" today?

AB: I did not go through gender reassignment to be labeled transsexual. I look at that as an awkward phase that I went through—sort of like a really painful adolescence. I don't even think of myself now in terms as transsexual. That's something I experienced and [something] I was.

For more about Aleshia Brevard, visit AleshiaBrevard.com .


This article shared 3491 times since Wed Apr 5, 2017
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

NATIONAL Political candidates, flag controversy, HRC gala, New York Times, Disney
2024-03-29
In California, of the historic 30 LGBTQ+ legislative candidates who ran in the March 5 primary, more than half are moving on to the fall ballot, The Bay Area Reporter noted. Based on the still unofficial ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem'
2024-03-29
Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...


Gay News

WORLD Israel court, conversion therapy, death sentences, Georgia bill, fashion items
2024-03-29
Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Population Authority must register female couples as mothers on the birth certificates of their children they have together, The Washington Blade reported. The decision was made following a petition ...


Gay News

Lambda Legal Launches "Speak OUT" awareness campaign uplifting trans, nonbinary voices
2024-03-28
--From a press release. VIDEO BELOW - (NEW YORK, NY — March 28, 2024) In advance of Transgender Day of Visibility, Lambda Legal, the nation's oldest and largest legal nonprofit working to achieve full equal rights for LGBTQ people and everyone living with ...


Gay News

Nex Benedict's autopsy report released
2024-03-27
The full autopsy report for Nex Benedict (he/they)—a 16-year-old transgender and Indigenous student from Oklahoma's Owasso High School who died in February a day after a school fight—has been released. The Oklahoma Office of the Chie ...


Gay News

An interstate trans healthcare crisis: Illinois prepares for influx of people seeking gender-affirming care
2024-03-26
With hard-won rights, such as access to hormone replacement therapy or permission to use one's chosen pronouns in school, breaking down in states across the country, trans residents of all ages are left with a choice: ...


Gay News

No charges filed in Nex Benedict fight; campaigns call for Walters' removal
2024-03-22
In Oklahoma, Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen Kunzweiler announced that no charges will be filed in connection with the fight that happened the day before transgender, nonbinary high school student Nex Benedict died by suicide, NBC ...


Gay News

JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97
2024-03-22
series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds
2024-03-21
It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman
2024-03-21
Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Va. marriage bill, AARP, online counseling, Idaho items, late activist
2024-03-21
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bills protecting same-sex marriages at a state level, surprising some, WRIC reported. The bills—passed out of both chambers along mostly party lines—will require clerks ...


Gay News

Almost 8% of U.S. residents identify as LGBTQ+
2024-03-16
The proportion of U.S. adults identifying as LGBTQ+ continues to increase. LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to grow, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as LGBTQ+, according to the newest Gallup poll results that ...


Gay News

WORLD Leaked messages, Panama action, author dies at 32, Japan court, out athletes
2024-03-15
Hundreds of messages from an internal chat board for an international group of transgender health professionals were leaked in a report and framed as revealing serious health risks associated with gender-affirming care, including cancer, according to ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools
2024-03-15
In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

College athletes sue NCAA over transgender policies
2024-03-15
Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among a group of college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on March 14, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing trans swimmer Lia Thomas ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.