Aleshia Brevard

Aleshia Brevard (December 9, 1937 – July 1, 2017)[1] was an American author and actress of stage, screen, and television. She worked as an entertainer, actress, model, Playboy bunny, professor of theater, and author. She also underwent one of the first sex reassignment surgery procedures performed in the United States.[2] Brevard lived her life outside of the wider transgender community and as a result, she was not publicly identified as transgender until publishing her memoirs in her later years.

Aleshia Brevard
Born(1937-12-09)December 9, 1937
Erwin, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedJuly 1, 2017(2017-07-01) (aged 79)
Scotts Valley, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActress, Model, Professor, Author
Years active1960s–2015
Known forEarly gender transition
Notable work
Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey

Early life

Brevard was born in Erwin, Tennessee, on December 9, 1937.[3][4] Growing up in a religious family in a rural part of central Tennessee,[1][5] she was always close to her mother. Brevard always felt different than other children, like a girl inside, and prayed nightly to wake up a girl.[6][7] Brevard's teen years were awkward, and after a romantic disappointment in high school, Brevard left right after graduation to the West Coast.[6]

San Francisco and transition

Ending up in San Francisco, Brevard found a job as a female impersonator at Finocchio's Club in San Francisco under the stage name Lee Shaw in the early 1960s,[8] doing Marilyn Monroe impressions,[2][4] eventually achieving enough renown that Marilyn herself came to a performance.[9]

Brevard began her transition at 21 under the care of famed gender specialist Harry Benjamin in the late 1950s. At Benjamin's recommendation, Brevard underwent the surgical reassignment procedure in Los Angeles's Westlake Clinic under the care of surgeon Elmer Belt.[6]

Brevard later worked as a stripper in Reno and as a Playboy bunny.[2]

Education

After a year's recovery post-surgery,[6] she enrolled as a student at Middle Tennessee State University for her undergraduate education[10]. During this period, she became more comfortable with her womanhood, got married, and took classes.[6] This was at a time when she was a working actress, touring the U.S. doing theater, and working in film or television. She gained membership in Hollywood unions,[10] and ultimately got her master's degree in Theater from Middle Tennessee State.[7]

Through Dr. Harry Benjamin, Brevard became friends in the late 1950s and 1960s with other transgender patients of his, including Charlotte Frances McLeod and Kathy Taylor, and they became a support network for each other. Together they had lunches with Dr. Benjamin who they also considered to be a paternal kind of mentor and friend.

Attitude towards gender

Brevard's was one of the first medical transitions, and occurred before the term transgender had been coined and before there was a transgender community in San Francisco.[1][11]

Brevard did not identify as trans early in her life and would deflect questions.[12] Her husbands were not aware that she had transitioned.[1] However she decided to change because she realized she was denying her own personal history.[12] Once her memoir came out in 2001, she started to become labeled a "transsexual writer" and "transsexual actress". As she stated in her second book, "I'd been labeled—forced into a transsexual mold."[11]

"Professionally, both as a film/stage actress and, later, as a university professor of theatre, my life was lived outside the gender community. Only after publishing two memoirs, when in my 60s and 70s, did I first hear the term 'transgender' and become aware of the community's stated agenda," she said in an interview in 2013.[6] She also said in April 2017 "I did not go through gender reassignment to be labeled transsexual. I look at that as an awkward phase that I went through—sort of like a really painful adolescence. I don't even think of myself now in terms as transsexual. That's something I experienced and [something] I was".[3]

"For me, as well as for my early sisters, the goal was never to live with a 't' before our names. Our objective was to blend so thoroughly that the things mixed could not be recognized. It was a choice, made not because we felt any shame about our transsexual history, but because our goal had always been to live fully as the women we’d been born to be."[6]

In the book, "Bodies in the Making: Transgressions and Transformations" (2006) by Nancy N. Chen, Brevard is interviewed by Mary Weaver discussing topics like gender, gender reassignment, the importance of personal history, and personal transformation.[12]

Later life

After her work in television and film, she returned to Tennessee and received her M.A. in Theater Arts from Middle Tennessee State University.[7] She met her first husband in Tennessee and had other marriages, which according to her sister, did not work out. She returned to California in the late 1990s, settling outside of Santa Cruz with an old friend, finding work as a substitute teacher, and doing some community theater.

Aleshia Brevard died at home in Scotts Valley, California, on July 1, 2017, at the age of 79.[1]

Works
  • Brevard, Aleshia (15 February 2001). Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-4399-0527-2. OCLC 884015871.
  • Brevard, Aleshia (1 March 2015) [1st pub 2010]. The Woman I Was Born to Be. Aleshia Brevard. ISBN 978-0-9961344-2-2. OCLC 710814756.
  • Brevard, Aleshia (7 October 2015). Bilbo's Bend. Aleshia Brevard. ISBN 978-0996134446.

Film and television
Film and television roles
Year Title Type Role Notes
1969 The Red Skelton Show Television Brevard's TV debut was on this show, and she appeared more than once.[13]
1969 The Love God? Film Sherry (one of "Peacock's Pussycats") [13]
1969 The Female Bunch Film Sadie [13]
1970 Big Foot Film [13]
One Life to Live Television Tex [13] ABC soap opera TV series.
1970 The Partridge Family Television Cocktail waitress [13]
The Dean Martin Show Television [13]
1972 Night Gallery Television Robot receptionist "You Can't Get Help Like That Anymore" segment
1979 Legends of the Superheroes Television Giganta
1980 The Man with Bogart's Face Film Mother the landlady A comedy thriller.[13]
Smokey and the Judge Film Wally Lewis [13]
1981 Hard Country Film Snoopy Lady
1981 American Pop Film "Showgirl #2" voice by Brevard An adult animated musical drama film.
2005 Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria Film As self A documentary film, featuring Brevard as a drag entertainer talking about how drag has opened doors of opportunity.[14]

Theater
Year Theater show title Role Location Notes
Move Over Ms. Markham Joanna Markham [15]
Gingerbread Lady Evy Meara
Seven Year Itch The Girl Upstairs [15]
The Shadow Box Beverly [15]
Steel Magnolias Truvy Jones, a salon owner Off-broadway in New York [15][4]
Night of the Iguana Maxine Faulk [15]
Ruthless! The Musical Emily Green Chicago A one-year long show.[15]
A Midsummer Night's Dream Hyppolyta Globe Theater [15]
Subject to Change Madeline Bassett

See also

Sources

References
  1. Whiting 2017.
  2. Brevard 2001.
  3. Waldron 2017.
  4. Shepard 2017.
  5. Kowalska, Interview with Aleshia Brevard: Part 1 2013.
  6. Kowalska 2013.
  7. Artavia 2017:Brevard moved back to her home state to get a master's degree at Middle Tennessee State University. “I even went back to teaching acting at the same university I’d first attended as a boy,”
  8. Times of San Mateo 1961:Finocchio's new 1961 musical revue, "Showtimes in New York and San Francisco," is a dazzler, an uproarious laughfest, and an-outstanding novelty all rolled into one big fun package. It presents a race for top entertainment achievements of the Broadways of the two cities. ... Among the new faces in the Finocchio's cast is Lee Shaw. This show is a winner and certainly is a triumph of real originality for Producer LaMonte.
  9. Ames 2002, p. 281.
  10. Brevard 2015, p. 3.
  11. Brevard 2015, p. 5.
  12. Chen 2006, p. 62–68.
  13. The Sydney Morning Herald 2017.
  14. University at Buffalo Libraries 2017.
  15. Kowalska, Interview with Aleshia Brevard: Part 3 2013
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