British actor and gay activist Peter Bourne (who often performed as Betty Bourne), died at his Notting Hill home on August 23. He was 84. After a lackluster start as an actor (The Saint, The Avengers, The Prisoner), Bourne hit upon his drag persona. He formed a gay musical-comedy company, Bloolips, much like Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theater. Bloolips performed such plays (in London and worldwide) as Lust in Space, Gland Hotel, Get Hur, Odds 'n Sods, and The Island of Lost Shoes. Bourne also appeared onstage in everything from Shakespeare to Joe Orton; he played Quentin Crisp in Resident Alien, and Lady Bracknell (of course) in The Importance of Being Earnest. He joined (in drag) the Gay Liberation Front’s protests, noting that the “normal-appearing” protesters “were very afraid of us because we were disobeying the rules in some deep way and scaring them. People got very frightened. We weren’t frightening at all. But it was much stronger than anything they were doing. It was also about a sense of humour or not. Wearing the dresses was great fun as well. It certainly was for me.”
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