Interview excerpt of Charles Pierce "on" Bette Davis

In a 1983 interview on San Franciscos KALW, Charles Pierce described how some of his characters were developed. In this instance he focuses on his most requested impersonation, the temperamental actress Bette Davis. Among his many television appearances, he performed on the Dick Cavett show as Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis, and played a drag queen/ship steward on Designing Women. Appropriately, his ashes were placed in the Pierce memorial niche, not far from Davis tomb in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. On June 19, 1999, as mourners paid their last respects to Pierce, many placed their yellow roses atop his resting place. Others walked around the corner and placed their roses on the tomb of Bette Davis. Pierces life story, From Drags to Riches: The Untold Story of Charles Pierce was written by a former collaborator and friend, John Walraff. Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies published it in 2002. Before his death, Pierce donated his papers to the Billy Rose Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. For more tributes, go to http://www.bochynski.com/charlespierce.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• drag
• comedy
• wigs
• movies

[beyoncetyratina]

Wow... he really sounds like Bette Davis!