Biografia
Quentin Crisp, born Denis Pratt on Christmas Day 1908 in the London suburb of Sutton, was the youngest of four siblings. His father was a lawyer, and his mother had been a nursery governess. In his autobiography, "The Naked Civil Servant," he recounts a challenging childhood in a society marked by intense homophobia. In his early twenties, he resolved to make homosexuality unmistakably visible to the wider world. He frequently cross-dressed and displayed overtly effeminate behavior in public, often at considerable personal risk. In London, he worked as a prostitute, a book illustrator, and ultimately as a paid nude model at government-funded art schools, which inspired the title of his autobiography. The 1975 dramatization of The Naked Civil Servant, starring John Hurt, aired on American television in 1976 to critical acclaim. The following year, Crisp relocated to New York, a move he considered his proudest accomplishment. In 1978, he debuted "An Evening with Quentin Crisp," which received glowing reviews, including from Richard Eder of The New York Times, and earned a special Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. He became known for his distinctive style featuring flashy scarves, purple eyeshadow, and white hair styled under a black fedora. Crisp died in Manchester, England, at the age of 90, just before beginning another run of his "Evening" performances. When asked at the US Embassy, while preparing for his move to America, if he was a practicing homosexual, he famously replied, "I didn't practice. I was already perfect.
