Dorian Corey

Dorian Corey

Dorian Corey in Paris is Burning
Born Frederick Legg
c. 1937
Buffalo, New York
Died August 29, 1993
Manhattan
Occupation Drag queen

Dorian Corey (circa 1937 – August 29, 1993), born Frederick Legg, was an American drag queen and performer who performed in Wigstock and was featured in Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary about the ball culture of New York City, Paris Is Burning.

Beginning and early career

Corey grew up in Buffalo, New York. After studying at Parsons The New School for Design, she toured as a snake dancer[1] in the 1960s in the Pearl Box Revue, a cabaret drag act.[2] Corey was one of four performers who appeared on the 1972 Pearl Box Revue LP Call Me MISSter.[3]

Corey was also the founder of the voguing house of Corey. She held over 50 grand prizes from the voguing balls. She was also house mother to Angie Xtravaganza, who later became a mother of her own house (and was also in Paris Is Burning).[4]

Career in drag and design

Corey also ran and designed a clothing label called Corey Design.[5] At one point, Corey's act involved her wearing a 30-by-40-foot feather cape. Once she shed her costume down to her sequined body stocking, two attendants raised the cape up on poles to produce a feathered tent that covered half the audience.[2]

Robert Wells

Corey died of AIDS-related complications at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan.[5] After Corey's death, the mummified body of Robert Worley (aka Robert Wells), was found in Corey's belongings with a gunshot wound to the head.[6] Investigators determined the body had been dead for about 15 years. It is speculated that Worley was an abusive ex-boyfriend of Corey's, or that she killed him in self-defense during a potential burglary. [7]

References

  1. ↑ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OeQCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=drag+queen+and+the+mummy&source=bl&ots=9P9lNELRMV&sig=ExToyAJtmc1naRfg0uv2HqUzj5k&hl=en&ei=KRw-TczzLMeh8QP_j4DbCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q&f=false
  2. 1 2 Cunningham, Michael (May 1998). "The Slap of Love". Open City. 6.
  3. ↑ "Pearl Box Revue – Call Me MISSter". Discogs.org. Retrieved 2014-10-23.
  4. ↑ "A Gender Variance Who's Who: Dorian Corey (1937 – 1993) performer.". zagria.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  5. 1 2 "Dorian Corey Is Dead; A Drag Film Star, 56". New York Times. August 31, 1993.
  6. ↑ Conlon, Edward (1995). "The Drag Queen and the Mummy". Transition (65): 4–24.
  7. ↑ "A Gender Variance Who's Who: Dorian Corey (1937 – 1993) performer.". zagria.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-03-24.

External links


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