Trans trailblazer Holly Woodlawn dies at 69
Holly Woodlawn, a trailblazing trans entertainer who emerged in the early 1970s as one of Andy Warhol’s dynamic superstars and who inspired a verse of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” has died in Los Angeles at age 69 after a long battle with cancer.
Joe Dallesandro, another great Warhol performer who appeared in Trash with Holly, announced the passing of his friend and former costar with a post on social media.
He later tweeted that she dies in his arms as he read fan mail to her.
Holly achieved an underground, queer stardom after her role in Trash. Before premiering, she had been in the outer orbit of Andy Warhol’s Factory, and eventually caught the eye of director Paul Morrissey, who cast her in Trash as the long-suffering paramour of a heroin addict, played by Dallesandro, who lives in squalor on the Lower East Side. Her portrayal was spot on, and had some campaigning for an Oscar nomination. This didn’t happen, and her acting career didn’t blossom after her second movie, Women in Revolt.
But that didn’t stop her from entertaining. She went on to be a burlesque performer and author, as she released her memoir A Low Life in Heels, in 1991. The book shared her vibrant life uncandidly, and was rumored to become a movie starring Madonna. This didn’t happen, but filmmaker Mike Stabile, known for Seed Money, a documentary about vintage gay porn director Chuck Holmes, is currently working on a documentary of Woodlawn. In October, Stabile told Queerty that Woodlawn was one of the last “trailblazers who didn’t give a fuck what society thought.”
Holly was also the inspiration for the first verse in Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.”
Holly came from Miami F.L.A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side,
Said, hey honey, take a walk on the wild side.
Holly has inspired many, many people through her work. She was a trailblazer. She was a bad ass. She will be missed.
