Dorian Corey

{{Infobox person

| name = Dorian Corey

| image = Dorian Corey.jpg

| caption = Dorian Corey in Paris Is Burning

| birth_name = Frederick Legg

| birth_date = June 6, 1937

| birth_place = Buffalo, New York, U.S.

| death_date = August 29, 1993 (aged 56)

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| alma_mater = Parsons School of Design

| occupation = Drag queen, fashion designer

}}

Dorian Corey (June 6, 1937 – August 29, 1993) was an American drag performer and fashion designer. She appeared in Wigstock and was featured in Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning.

Early life and education

Corey was born in Buffalo, New York to Franklin Legg and Mary Fox Clark out of wedlock, though they later married on October 18, 1947.{{cite book|last1=Browning|first1=Barbara|title=Infectious Rhythm: Metaphors of Contagion and the Spread of African Culture|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-05182-1|page=228}}{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Tim|title=Murder-mystery musical 'Dorian's Closet' begins to take shape|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/artsmash/bs-ae-dorian-closet-workshop-20160723-story.html|website=Baltimore Sun|publisher=baltimoresun.com|access-date=April 25, 2017|date=July 23, 2016|archive-date=November 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171127121456/http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/artsmash/bs-ae-dorian-closet-workshop-20160723-story.html|url-status=dead}} Dorian was born male, but later realized that she was a trans woman.{{cite web |author1=Deb Miller |title=A gay history murder mystery is finally solved in 'Case Closed: The Dorian Corey Story' at the Gene Frankel Theatre |url=https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2021/09/13/a-gay-history-murder-mystery-is-finally-solved-in-case-closed-the-dorian-corey-story-at-the-gene-frankel-theatre/ |website=DC Theater Arts |access-date=9 June 2022 |date=13 September 2013 |archive-date=May 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522044122/https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2021/09/13/a-gay-history-murder-mystery-is-finally-solved-in-case-closed-the-dorian-corey-story-at-the-gene-frankel-theatre/ |url-status=dead }} Raised on a farm in Buffalo, Dorian began performing in drag, when leaving the city of Buffalo.

In the 1950s, Corey worked as a window dresser at Hengerer's, then moved to New York City to study art at Parsons.{{cite magazine|last1=Russell Kasindorf|first1=Jeannie|title=The Drag Queen Had a Mummy In Her Closet|magazine=New York Magazine|date=May 2, 1994|volume=27|issue=18|page=55|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OeQCAAAAMBAJ&q=drag+queen+and+the+mummy&pg=PA50|publisher=New York Media, LLC|issn=0028-7369}}

Career

In the 1960s, Corey toured as a snake dancer in the Pearl Box Revue, a cabaret drag act.{{cite magazine|last=Cunningham|first=Michael|date=May 1998|url=http://opencity.org/archive/issue-6/the-slap-of-love|title=The Slap of Love|magazine=Open City|volume=6}} She was one of four performers who appeared on the 1972 Pearl Box Revue LP Call Me MISSter.{{Cite web |title=Pearl Box Revue |url=https://www.queermusicheritage.com/drag-pearl.html |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=www.queermusicheritage.com}}{{cite web | title = Pearl Box Revue – Call Me MISSter | year = 1972 | publisher = Discogs.org | url = http://www.discogs.com/Dorian-Corey-Jaye-Joyce-Clyddie-McCoy-Tony-La-Frisky-Call-Me-MISSter/release/3864290 | access-date = 2014-10-23}}{{cite web | url = http://queermusicheritage.com/drag-pearl.html | title = Pearl Box Revue | last = Doyle | first = JD | date = June 2017 | website = Queer Music Heritage | publisher = JD Doyle | access-date = 2017-09-21}}

Corey founded the House of Corey, which holds over 50 grand prizes from vogue balls. She was a mother to Angie Xtravaganza who is featured in the film Paris Is Burning, (1990).{{Cite web|url=http://zagria.blogspot.com/2010/08/dorian-corey-1937-1993-performer.html#.VvOAoJMrI0p|title=A Gender Variance Who's Who: Dorian Corey (1937–1993) performer.|website=zagria.blogspot.com|access-date=2016-03-24|date=2010-08-05}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}

Corey also ran and designed a clothing label called Corey Design. At one point, Corey's act involved her wearing a {{cvt|30|x|40|ft}} feather cape. Once she shed her costume down to a sequined body stocking, two attendants raised the cape up on poles to produce a feathered tent that covered half the audience.

Death and legacy

On August 29, 1993, Corey died of AIDS-related complications at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan at the age of 56.{{cite news|author=|date=August 31, 1993|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/31/obituaries/dorian-corey-is-dead-a-drag-film-star-56.html|title=Dorian Corey Is Dead; A Drag Film Star, 56|newspaper=The New York Times}} Corey's cremated remains were scattered in the waters off City Island, New York.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OeQCAAAAMBAJ&q=drag+queen+and+the+mummy&pg=PA50|title=New York Magazine|date=1994-05-02|publisher=New York Media, LLC|language=en}}

Corey's legacy remains one of importance to the drag and ballroom communities, and her particular importance in the development of voguing as a cornerstone of New York ballroom culture is venerated and memorialized in the modern day. Corey is remembered by fans, friends and family for her simple philosophy that "[e]verybody wants to make an impression, some mark upon the world. [...] You don't have to bend the whole world. I think it's better just to enjoy it. Pay your dues, and just enjoy it. If you shoot an arrow and it goes real high, hooray for you."{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Tim |date=2016-07-23 |title=Murder-mystery musical 'Dorian's Closet' begins to take shape |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bs-ae-dorian-closet-workshop-20160723-story.html |website=The Baltimore Sun}}

Robert Worley controversy

After Corey's death, the preserved body of Robert Worley (also known as Robert Wells) was found amongst her belongings; it appeared that he had died from a gunshot wound to the head.{{cite magazine|first=Edward|last=Conlon|title=The Drag Queen and the Mummy|magazine=Transition|issue=65|date=1995|pages=4–24|jstor=2935316}} He was last seen by his family in 1968.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Investigators determined the body to have been dead for approximately 25 years. There is speculation that Worley and Corey were lovers, Worley was abusive toward Corey, and Corey shot Worley in self-defense. Transgender people in New York experienced high rates of domestic abuse at the time. Alternatively, it is also speculated that Worley may have been shot in an attempted robbery. {{cite web|url=http://zagria.blogspot.com/2010/08/dorian-corey-1937-1993-performer.html#.VvOAbBIrIb0|title=A Gender Variance Who's Who: Dorian Corey (1937–1993) performer.|website=zagria.blogspot.com|access-date=2016-03-24|date=2010-08-05}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}

In the TV series Pose, transgender house mother Elektra, who secretly works as a dominatrix in a BDSM club, discovers one of her clients has died from an overdose in her private dungeon. She enlists the aid of other characters to transport, mummify, and hide the body in a trunk. Producer and director Janet Mock confirmed on Twitter that writer Our Lady J based the anthology melodrama on Corey.{{cite tweet |user=janetmock |number=1143506187683602432 |date=25 Jun 2019 |title=Titled BUTTERFLY/COCOON, episode 3 of #PoseFX is inspired by the lived experiences of two ballroom legends -- DORIAN COREY and TRACEY AFRICA NORMAN. One ascends to unprecedented success, another descends into a dark dark place.}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}

References

External links

{{IMDb name|0179776}}
[http://www.sallys-hideaway.com/A_Pictorial_History.html Sally's Hideaway history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401113246/http://www.sallys-hideaway.com/A_Pictorial_History.html |date=April 1, 2007 }}
[https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19931218/1737662/deceased-drag-show-star-leaves-mummy-mystery-behind-in-closet Drag-Show Star Leaves Mummy, Mystery Behind in Closet]

Category:1937 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:African-American artists

Category:African-American fashion designers

Category:American fashion designers

Category:AIDS-related deaths in New York (state)

Category:American cabaret performers

Category:American drag queens

Category:African-American drag queens

Category:American transgender women

Category:American transgender artists

Category:American transgender entertainers