33 Facts About Bette Bourne

Bette Bourne was a British actor, drag queen, and activist.

Bette Bourne came to prominence in the mid-1970s when he adopted the name "Bette" and a radical posture on gay liberation.

Bette Bourne 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.

Bette Bourne toured widely in one-man biographical shows playing Quentin Crisp and as himself.

Bette Bourne generally eschewed such labels as drag queen or female impersonator, preferring to describe himself as "a gay man in a frock".

Rather than "mimic a male stereotypical conception of womanhood", wrote one theatre journalist, Bette Bourne sought "to find a different way of being a man".

Peter Bette Bourne was born in Hackney, East London, into a working-class family.

Bette Bourne made his stage debut at the age of four with Madame Behenna and her Dancing Children performing at Stoke Newington Town Hall where he sang "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree".

Bette Bourne's father was indifferent to his son's acting aspirations.

When Bette Bourne was 16, he did a three-month apprenticeship as a printmaker.

Bette Bourne then worked in journalism at the New Scientist.

Bette Bourne studied drama at London's Central School of Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage.

Bette Bourne became a part of the infamous gay commune based in Colville Terrace in Notting Hill, London.

In 1976, Bette Bourne joined the New York-based gay cabaret troupe Hot Peaches on a European tour that culminated in a show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

Bette Bourne remained there when the troupe returned to New York City.

In London Bette Bourne founded an all-male gay musical comedy company, Bloolips.

Bette Bourne employed John Taylor to provide scripts, and later Ray Dobbins.

In 1991, Bette Bourne appeared as the 250-year-old La Zambinella in Neil Bartlett and Nick Bloomfield's production of Sarrasine at New York's Dance Theater Workshop.

Bette Bourne reprised that role at the Lyric Hammersmith in 1996.

In 1997, Bette Bourne performed in New York City in a production of Ray Dobbins' one-man show East of Eadie.

The New York Times reviewer found much to criticize but thought Bette Bourne had "some excellent material" and "gives the impression of being able to charm by just standing there".

That same year Bette Bourne won a Manchester Evening News award for his performance as Lady Bracknell in the English Touring Theatre production of Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

In 1999, Bette Bourne played his friend Quentin Crisp in Tim Fountain's play, Resident Alien, at London's Bush Theatre.

At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2001, Bette Bourne won a Herald Award for his portrayal of Crisp.

Bette Bourne played the role of Pauncefort Quentin in the Donmar Warehouse production of Noel Coward's The Vortex in 2002, for which he won the Clarence Derwent Award.

Bette Bourne worked with Bartlett again at the Lyric Hammersmith in 2003, as the narrator in a production of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre starring Will Keen.

In 2005 at the Royal National Theatre Bette Bourne played in Improbable Theatre's stage adaptation of the film Theatre of Blood.

In Variety David Benedict wrote that the director dealt with the "usually unfunny" character by casting Bette Bourne, who "plays marvelously high-status as a doddering gay captain of the guard and savors every last syllable of his character's language-mangling to high comic effect".

That same year Bette Bourne worked with the playwright Mark Ravenhill on a short play, Ripper, staged at the Union Theatre in London.

In 2009, Bette Bourne talked about his life in A Life in Three Acts at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, a staged reading of transcripts of conversations with playwright Mark Ravenhill.

In 2022, Bette Bourne appeared alongside Shaw as the Queen at Duckie's Alternative Royal Command event held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

In 2014, Bette Bourne featured in a documentary film about his life and work, It Goes with the Shoes, written and directed by Mark Ravenhill.

Bette Bourne died at his home in Notting Hill, London, on 23 August 2024, at the age of 84.