Cross-dressing in film and television


Cross-dressing in film has followed a long history of female impersonation on English stage, and made its appearance in the early days of the silent films. Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel brought the tradition from the English music halls when they came to America with Fred Karno's comedy troupe in 1910. Both Chaplin and Laurel occasionally dressed as women in their films. Even the beefy American actor Wallace Beery appeared in a series of silent films as a Swedish woman. The Three Stooges, especially Curly, sometimes appeared in drag in their short films. The tradition has continued for many years, usually played for laughs. Only in recent decades have there been dramatic films which included cross-dressing, possibly because of strict censorship of American films until the mid-1960s. One early exception was Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Murder!, where the murderer is a transvestite who wears particularly frilly dresses and petticoats. Cross-gender acting, on the other hand, refers to actors or actresses portraying a character of the opposite gender.

Film and video

In Some Like It Hot, two struggling musicians have to dress as women to escape the ire of gangsters. The film is a remake of a 1935 French movie, Fanfare of Love, from the story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan, which was itself remade in 1951 by German director Kurt Hoffmann as Fanfares of Love.
In Blake Edwards's 1982 musical comedy film Victor Victoria, Victoria Grant, a struggling soprano, is unable to find work but she finds success when she becomes "Count Victor Grazinski", a female impersonator. The film is a remake of Viktor und Viktoria, a German film of 1933.
David Henry Hwang's 1988 play M. Butterfly focuses on a love affair between a French diplomat and a male Beijing opera singer who plays dan, or female, roles.
Although there is some dispute as to whether the character is transgender or simply a cross-dresser, the character of Hedwig from the musical and subsequent movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch is another modern drag queen.
Dr. Frank 'n' Furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show wore nothing but women's clothing the entire movie/play.
In The Drew Carey Show, Drew's brother, Steve Carey, is a cross-dresser.
Robin Williams played a divorced father who dressed as a nanny to be with his children in the 1993 comedy Mrs. Doubtfire.
Dame Edna was an elderly drag queen with "wisteria-colored hair" who did international chat shows in the 1990s.

As a central plot element

Movies that feature cross-dressing as a central plot element:
Most of the above films are comedies. Films in which cross-dressing is treated in a more serious manner are relatively rare, although the list does include several dramas and biopics.
Many other comedy films include instances of humorous cross-dressing, but do not feature it as a central plot element. Movies in which cross-dressing plays a minor but important role include:
was one of the most famous early cross-dressing comedians in skits and such on his NBC shows from 1948 to 1956. Harvey Korman played a hefty Jewish mother character on The Carol Burnett Show. Flip Wilson created the memorable recurring character Geraldine Jones on The Flip Wilson Show. The first episode of the Blackadder II series ends with Blackadder's servant, Baldrick, acting as bridesmaid, and Lord Flashheart swapping clothes and running off with Blackadder's bride. Some other comedy sketch shows, such as Monty Python's Flying Circus, Little Britain, The League of Gentlemen, Saturday Night Live and The Kids in the Hall routinely feature visual cross-dressing, with men dressing as women and sometimes speaking in falsetto. Not to be outdone in this regard, the British team of French and Saunders have produced many sketches in which one or both of the actresses portray men. Rudy Giuliani appeared on Saturday Night Live dressed as a woman. Doing some of his best routines, Jonathan Winters played the character, Maude Fricket.
Kenan Thompson currently plays a range of women on Saturday Night Live.
in 2000
Australian male comedian Barry Humphries has appeared as Dame Edna in several shows.
British stand-up comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, who describes himself as an 'executive' or 'action' transvestite and regularly cross-dresses both on and off stage, has acted in several films, as well as releasing his stand-up work on video and DVD, Unrepeatable, Definite Article, Glorious, Dress to Kill, Circle, and Sexie ).
The Monty Python troupe have been known to cross dress for comedic purposes in their TV series and films. The troupe usually dress up as older, more unarousing women referred to by the troupe as "pepperpots". Although member Terry Jones was most famous for his female characters, all the members have been seen in drag in one sketch or another; members Michael Palin and Eric Idle have been said to look the most feminine, Graham Chapman specialized in screeching, annoying housewives and John Cleese, whom the troupe has said is the most hilarious in drag, appears so extremely unfeminine, with his square chin and six-foot, five-inch frame that it is funny. Cleese also wore female clothes while appearing as himself in a magazine advertisement for American Express. Monty Python's Flying Circus also did a sketch called "The Lumberjack Song," about a lumberjack who likes to "put on women's clothing and hang around in bars."
In Clue: The Musical, Mrs. White is usually played by a man.
In all versions of Hairspray—the original film, the stage musical, and the film adapted from the musical—Edna Turnblad is played by a man.
On some plays and films by Tyler Perry, he dresses up as a woman to play as Madea.
Meryl Streep played a male rabbi in an episode of Angels in America.
Michelle Ehlen plays a butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film in the comedic feature Butch Jamie.
The Kids in the Hall comedy troupe often dress up as female characters. In contrast to Monty Python, who dressed as women in an exaggerated fashion for comedic purposes, The Kids in the Hall usually played women straight, their reasoning for cross-dressing being that there are few if any women involved in their projects. This has gone on to be one of the group's defining characteristics.
Matt Lucas and David Walliams regularly cross-dress in the Little Britain television comedy show, with Lucas in particular often somewhat more feminine and convincing in his appearance and performances than cross-dressing comedians of the past. The two also sometimes play a pair of unconvincing transvestites as a parody of some cross-dressers who try to act in a stereotypically feminine way while not succeeding in "passing" as women.
In the 1992 Kannada movie Bombat Hendthi, a well-known male actor and dancer named Sridar crossdresses. His character and the character's friends want to rent a house, but the owners are not willing to rent to bachelors. So Sridhar crossdresses to become his friend's wife, while the rest of the actors are in supporting roles.

Programs that feature cross-dressing

frequently cross-dresses in his cartoons for either comedic effect, or to confound a male opponent. Notable examples include "Rabbit of Seville", "What's Opera Doc" and "Rabbit Seasoning", all in attempts to deceive Elmer Fudd.
Doctor N. Gin from the Crash Bandicoot series wears a ballerina dancer outfit in Crash Tag Team Racing. The tutu, obtained through one of Crash's missions, is an alternative costume that made N. Gin feel "pretty" and boosted his self-esteem.
Him from the Powerpuff Girls series is shown every time, wearing a typical skirt, fishnet stockings, and high-heeled boots.
In the Disney film Mulan, derived from a Chinese ballad-poem, the character Fa Mulan disguises herself as a man, to take her elderly father's place in the army.
Jessie and James from Pokémon cross-dress as ballet performers and wedding couples.
In the manga and anime Ouran High School Host Club, the main character of Haruhi Fujioka cross-dresses as a boy so that she can work in a host club to pay off a debt she owes to the other members. Haruhi's father is also a cross-dresser.
In the manga and live action series of Hana-Kimi, the main character, Mizuki Ashiya, cross-dresses as a boy to attend an all-boys boarding school to meet her idol, Izumi Sano.
In the manga and anime Shugo Chara, Nagihiko Fujisaki cross-dresses as his "twin" Nadeshiko out of family tradition. He also crossdresses in his transformation Yamato Maihime.
In the manga and anime Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure, one of Michel's servants, named Lady Bat, cross-dresses as a female, actually a male.
In the anime Himegoto, the main character, Hime Arikawa, cross-dresses to join the Student Council who promises to pay off the debt created by Hime's parents. There are also four other characters who cross dress, including Hime's brother, Kaguya, HIro Toyotomi, No. 1, and Mitsunaga Oda, all of whom are against the Student Council.