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. He was 92.
Walter Cole, better known as the iconic drag queen who performed for decades as Darcelle XV and a fearless advocate for Portland'sDarcelle, 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. As a performer, Darcelle was known for hosting the longest-running drag show on the U.S. West Coast.
"If I hadn’t admitted who I was, I’d probably be dead now," he told the paper. "I’d be sitting on a couch retiring from ... management. Not for me." When speaking of Darcelle, Cole, a gay man, referred to his persona in the third person using female pronouns. "I’m an entertainer with a capital E," Cole told Stanley. "Darcelle is a character — like in a play — and I work very hard at her."
Cole was born in 1930 and raised in Portland's Linnton neighborhood. He served in the U.S. Armed Forces and was discharged in the late 1950s, according to the club's website, which says he used money he received from the military to start his first business. In 1999, Darcelle became the oldest drag performer on the West Coast, after the closing of San Francisco’s drag venue Finocchio’s Club.
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