1. Jacqueline Charlotte Dufresnoy, better known by her stage name Coccinelle, was a French cabaret entertainer, singer, actress, and transgender activist.
12 Facts About Coccinelle
1. 2.
Coccinelle was given the nickname "Coccinelle" after a red party dress with polka dots she wore, which she adopted as her stage name in show business.
3.
Coccinelle travelled to Casablanca in 1958 to undergo a vaginoplasty by Georges Burou.
4.
Coccinelle became a media sensation, and performed the Cherchez la femme revue which ran for 7 months at the Olympia in Paris between 1963 and 1964.
5.
Coccinelle married French journalist Francis Paul Bonnet in a civil ceremony at the town hall of the 17th arrondissement of Paris on 16 March 1962.
6.
Coccinelle then married Paraguayan dancer Mario Costa in 1963, who died in 1977.
7.
Coccinelle then married fellow transgender activist Thierry Wilson in 1996.
8.
In 1959 Coccinelle appeared in Europa di notte by director Alessandro Blasetti.
9.
Coccinelle appeared in the 1962 Argentine thriller film Los Viciosos and was the first French trans woman to become a major star, when Bruno Coquatrix splashed her name in red letters on the front of Paris Olympia for her 1963 revue, Cherchez la femme.
10.
Coccinelle later appeared in the 1968 Spanish romantic drama Dias de viejo color.
11.
Coccinelle worked extensively as an activist on behalf of transgender people, founding the organization "Devenir Femme", which was designed to provide emotional and practical support to those seeking gender reassignment surgery.
12.
Coccinelle helped establish the Center for Aid, Research, and Information for Transsexuality and Gender Identity.