Bette Bourne | |
|---|---|
 Bourne in 2010 | |
| Born | Peter Bourne 22 September 1939 |
| Died | 23 August 2024 (aged 84) Notting Hill, London, England |
| Education | Central School of Speech and Drama |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1943–2022 |
| Notable work | The Vortex, Donmar Warehouse, 2002 |
| Family | Mike Berry (brother) |
| Awards | Clarence Derwent Award 2003, OBIE Award for Performance (2001, 1991), Manchester Evening News Award |
Bette Bourne (/ˈbɛti/;[1] born Peter Bourne;[2] 22 September 1939 – 23 August 2024) was a British actor, drag queen, and activist. His theatrical career spanned six decades. He came to prominence in the mid-1970s when he adopted the name "Bette" and a radical posture on gay liberation. He joined the New York-based alternative gay cabaret troupe Hot Peaches on a tour of Europe and then founded his own alternative London-based gay theatrical company, Bloolips, which lasted until 1994.
Beginning in the 1990s, Bourne took on more traditional acting assignments in both male and female roles, sometimes in fringe theatres and campy new dramas, but also in classics by Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and Noel Coward. He toured widely in one-man biographical shows playing Quentin Crisp and as himself. He generally eschewed such labels as drag queen or female impersonator, preferring to describe himself as "a gay man in a frock".[3] Rather than "mimic a male stereotypical conception of womanhood", wrote one theatre journalist, Bourne sought "to find a different way of being a man".[3] Asked in 2010 if he had left his radical politics behind he said: "One doesn't just stop being what one is. I'm still out there, still full of fury and rage, but on the whole I do try to keep up a very pleasant façade."[4]
- ^ Cuthbertson, Ian (27 December 2010). "Bette Bourne: Gay life through the eyes of a show-off". The Australian. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ Megson, Chris (24 May 2012). Modern British Playwriting: The 1970s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations. A&C Black. pp. 81–. ISBN 9781408129395. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
nobodysperfectwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Folliard, Patrick (28 October 2010). "The Bourne Supremacy". Washington Blade. Retrieved 2 September 2024.