Transgender actress, Warhol muse Holly Woodlawn dies at 69

Holly Woodlawn, an actress who was made famous by Andy Warhol and her roles in Paul Morrissey’s films, died in Los Angeles after losing a fight with cancer at 69 years old.

Born in Puerto Rico before immigrating with her family to Miami, Woodlawn reportedly left her family and moved to New York City at 15. Woodlawn claimed she felt like Elizabeth Taylor after becoming a Warhol superstar, but stated that she only got to know Lou Reed after the song’s 1972 release.

In a candid interview in the early 70s she said she was grateful the USA military discriminated against “transsexuals” because otherwise she would have been conscripted to fight in the Vietnam War.

Though she largely faded from public view in subsequent decades, Woodlawn recently made a cameo appearance in the transgender-themed Amazon series Transparent.

The lyrics also tell of Woodlawn’s gender transition (“Plucked her eyebrows on the way, shaved her legs, and then he was a she”).

She was one of pop artist Warhol’s infamous self-proclaimed superstars.

For much of her later life she performed in cabaret acts but suffered from a multitude of illnesses related to years of alcohol and substance abuse. “Little did I realize that not only would there be no money, but that your star would flicker for two seconds and that was it. But it was worth it, the drugs, the parties, it was fabulous”.

Her first film was Morrissey’s 1970 “Trash”, starring Joe Dallesandro. I was supposed to go to summer school to catch up and really didn’t want to, so I joined some of these Cuban queens to go to NY. Plans for a memorial service were pending. After Holly was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, doctors found traces of cancer in her brain and liver.