Quentin Crisp

Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; (1908-12-25)25 December 1908 – (1999-11-21)21 November 1999) was an English raconteur whose personal expression broke social norms of the era. Crisp gained notoriety for the 1968 memoir The Naked Civil Servant, popularized by its 1975 screen adaptation. Her flamboyant personality, fashion, and wit made Crisp a queer icon, and a sensation in live solo appearances later in life. Crisp worked briefly as a rent boy during her teen years, then spent three decades as a professional artist's model for life classes in art colleges. The interviews she gave about her unusual life attracted great curiosity, and she was soon sought after for her personal views on social manners and the cultivation of style. Her solo stage show was a long-running hit both in Britain and America, and she also appeared in films and on television. Crisp defied convention by criticising both gay liberation and Diana, Princess of Wales. Some of Crisp's public remarks regarding the AIDS crisis earned censure from gay activists and human rights advocates.