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ALEXIS ARQUETTE, THE transgender character actress and sibling of actors David, Rosanna, Richmond and Patricia Arquette, has died in Los Angeles.
No cause of death was given for the 47-year-old.
In a statement her siblings said she was surrounded by family who serenaded her with David Bowie’s “Starman”.
“Alexis was a brilliant artist and painter, a singer, an entertainer and an actor,” her brothers and sisters said.
We learned what real bravery is through watching her journey of living as a trans woman. We came to discover the one truth — that love is everything.
Alexis was born Robert Arquette in Los Angeles in 1969, and she was a performer from a young age, appearing in a music video for The Tubes’ “She’s a Beauty” at age 12 and the occasional other project.
A versatile performer, Arquette got her big break in the 1989 adaptation of “Last Exit to Brooklyn” where she played the trans sex worker Georgette. She was just visiting New York with her sister Patricia Arquette who was up for a role in the film, but pregnant at the time.
“They asked me if I wanted to read for a role because they knew that I’d done a drag thing at one of my friend’s clubs,” Arquette said in a 1999 Index Magazine interview.
I ended up getting the job, basically through my sister. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have been in New York. But nobody gives you a job, you’ve got to earn it on your own. I would never want anyone to think that there’s some kind of cachet to my name.
She also had bit roles in films like “Pulp Fiction,” ”Bride of Chucky” and as a Boy George impersonator first in the Adam Sandler comedy “The Wedding Singer” and again in “Blended.” Boy George tweeted his condolences:
Boy George / TwitterR.I.P my sister Alexis Arquette. Another bright light gone out far too soon. Love to the family and all that loved Alexis.
— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) September 11, 2016
Her long list of credits are comprised of mostly low-budget and independent fare. Arquette also performed in nightclubs and cabarets sometimes under the name Eva Destruction.
“I enjoy being a character actor, I enjoy being different in everything. I want a private life, I want to be able to go to 7-11 and not get into a fight with a guy because he saw me in a movie, or not have people hitting on me simply because they saw me in a movie,” Arquette said in the 1999 interview. “You want to be wanted for who you are, not what you’ve done or who you’ve become.”
Arquette also appeared on season 6 of the VH1 reality series “The Surreal Life,” and she was credited for bringing increased awareness and visibility to the transgender community.
She chronicled her transition and the process of her sex reassignment surgery in the 2007 documentary “Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother.”
In their statement, the Arquettes said that their sister’s career “was cut short, not by her passing, but by her decision to live her truth and her life as a transgender woman”.
“Despite the fact that there are few parts for trans actors, she refused to play roles that were demeaning or stereotypical,” they said. “She was a vanguard in the fight for understanding and acceptance for all trans people.”
We are comforted by the fact that Alexis came into our family and was our brother and then our sister, and that she gave us so much love. We will love you always, Alexis.
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“If his mama named him Clay, I’m gonna call him Clay”
I wonder what you call Madonna, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Bono, George Orwell, etc. Do people ever have a clue who you are talking about? Does it make you feel cooler? It’s a very pretentiously hipster move.
This was a reply to a deleted comment. For context my comment should be deleted too. I don’t like comment deleting, it’s censorship. Other commenters should be the judge of the vile, transphobic bilge small minded people post here. Transgender people are more simply known as people, and should be treated as such. Ask yourself, if you found out someone in your family was different from the social norms would you want people questioning their lives and judging them without knowing the actual facts of who they are? We had enough judgement from the church for decades, we don’t need any more.
You can call it censorship but the fact is that the presence of people like that makes it a lot harder for people like me to be here. Most of us avoid places like this for our own safety. So there’s already censorship in effect anyway.
It’s not wrong to do the right thing, you know. If you want everyone to be on an equal platform you can’t keep giving concessions to people who use everything you give them to make it not so.
Well Leighanna, I fully support whatever you want to do. I have a trans friend, I only found out she was trans last year, makes no difference to our friendship. I don’t believe in censoring by a gatekeeper, I believe that can give power to institutions as to what viewpoints are disseminated. Here I abhor transphobic comments, but what if it comes to government criticism? Censorship leads down a dark path,
“”I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”.
On a side note, I come on here much less because I can’t stomach the level of Islamophobia. In general, a lot of commentors on the Journal are ill-informed, uneducated bottom scrapers. So don’t believe that it represents society as a whole.
Better quote.
“Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them…We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.”
I completely agree. But who does the defending? It is the majority who must protect the minority. When it is the institution that controls the conversation it allows for the individual to control the herd, as is seen with Rupert Murdoch. We must stand with those weaker, if for no other reason than insuring ourselves protection when we need it.
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Why are you posting quotes that literally everyone has already seen? The difference here is that the people you’re talking about are EXACTLY the ones that come for the socialists, for the jews.
The liberal “aren’t you as bad as what you hate!!!” notion is actually very destructive. We need to learn to distinct write and wrong or else we’ll just allow another holocaust to happen. You have to fight these things.
Leighanna,
Your tolerance quote makes no sense.
It is clearly confusing tolerance with intolerance. You are excusing intolerance if you agree with it, and rationalising this, and then not conceding that it is fact intolerance itself. It is circular and self nullifying.
I personally agree with free speech, and the true test of free speech is tolerating views you fundamentally disagree with.
That is if you agree with principles of freedom in general, and not of authoritarian control.
Once you start being intolerant and self righteous it leads down the dark paths as described
See it’s your combative attitude that doesn’t enamor you to people, not the fact you are trans, everything is not a fight. What you seem to be seeking is for everyone to follow a set of rules, that will never ever happen.
Holocausts are still happening, right now. Millions are dying, right now. Genocide will always happen because people want other people to follow rules they believe are right. You too are guilty of this.
Using the word “literally” does make you sound smarter.
You can agree with leighanna but she will still find a reason to get the hump. No pleasing some people.
If you live with a chip on your shoulder everything begins to taste like vinegar.
But to qualify, I am in full support of the life you want to live, and I hope its a happy one. You have my full respect.
I don’t like with a “chip on my shoulder”. Why is it so hard for you to believe that some people actually ARE severely marginalised because of who they are? Do you think it’s easy for us? Do you think you know better than me what it’s like to be trans? No. I don’t need your advice.
The repeated singing of ” Do you really want to hurt me?” is just one gem from The Wedding Singer. RIP.
So what if a man wants to dress as a woman. Wheres the harm in it ? I cant understand where all the hate comes from. Get a life !
she’s not a man dressed as a woman…
I know that Leighanna. I’m just commenting on some people’s attitudes to lgbt in general. Didn’t make my point very well !
yeah be careful how you make it because these sort of ideas can literally get us killed. people are more likely to internalise the “man dressed as a woman” part than the “get a life” part unfortunately.
I agree he wanted to dress as a woman so he got it. People shouldn’t judge him until they take a look at themselves and what they have done. I don’t really know much about him but he was a good person I’m sure.
SHE!!!!!!!!!!
Please delete these comments. They are the height of disrespect.
Please censor the posts I don’t agree with.
Margie , I’d say that’s exactly what he was like as a kid ..
Suzi. He had by comment deleted. I wonder is he a staffer at the journal.
Margie , I can still it on my phone . Interesting you should mention that because he has many accounts here and many accounts have been hacked .. I’ll take my tin foil hat off now ! But who knows ….
Hey you know what Patrick Watson, when you see posts you “don’t agree with”, it has absolutely 0 effect on your life. Meanwhile the way people view us literally gets us killed on the regular. There is a vast gulf between our experiences here so it’s not surprising you wouldn’t understand. It might not be an issue if these comments sections hadn’t gotten so utterly out of control as a breeding ground for hate & *genuine* fascist thought.
Like you’re talking about people who want to delete a few comments so trans people don’t have to experience the constant hell of being treated like a pariah or a joke just for existing vs. people who completely reject our very existence and want to sustain a status quo that kills us every other day. It’s not comparable.
Lets round up all the people who have different views to you Leighanna, we can throw them in a concentration camp, or summarily execute them.
The final solution to your problems.
Titus and Daisy there is NO need to bring up abortion on a thread that has NOTHING to do with abortion. The one day the journal doesn’t have a pro abortion article and you two can’t handle holding your tongues.
Wow. Not only did I not report anyone’s comments, I’ve not been on the Journal all day. I never am during work hours. My job is very busy and I would never have time to be faffing about here.
So, nice conspiracy theories Margie and Suzie, but don’t assume everybody is as idle as you.
Lol Petr your comment is there .. As clear as day .. 10 hours ago ..
Yes of course it is. I think people whose fist instinct when they hear of the death of a trans person is to puke up all their poisonous transphobic bile all over the thread should have their comments deleted. Yet, I did not report anybody’s comments. To report a comment, one clicks on ‘Report this comment’ and fills in the details.
And not the first time you have called for the deletion of comments and hey presto, they disappear. It’s like you have special powers. same yesterday.
So you were indeed on here commenting this morning. ..
Yup, before work. You’re catching on…
Oh for f*ck’s sake. People like me actually WERE rounded up into concentration camps. Not to mention I work closely with the Roma community where there are a number of Holocaust survivors. And people like you would gladly let it all happen again.
We don’t get to live our lives in safety & dignity, but you’re getting pissy over people asking for comments to be deleted. What sort of freedom of expression do we have when people are either too terrified or too exhausted to constantly deal with ACTUAL fascist, bigoted viewpoints day in day out? People create spaces like this where dissent is squashed and then moan about censorship when someone suggests something should be done to break it up.
Like to me it just shows how sheltered people are, they’re obsessed with this idea of freedom of speech because they’ve never been subject to actual oppression and subjugation, just theoretical censorship. And suddenly they’re experts on fascism and concentration camps, more so than the people who actually suffered under these things.
The world isn’t as simple as you like to think it is. And please don’t make try to condescendingly mirror that remark back to me. You seem to think that limiting what someone can do in some way in some place makes you a fascist. You can make that argument for wanting anything to be illegal. And there’s ALWAYS a limit with free speech. Freedom of speech regardless usually means freedom from government, thejournal should be able to moderate their own comments section but don’t. Traffic I suppose.
When was the last time someone that is transgender was murdered in ireland ?
When is the last time a transgender person was murdered in ireland ?
Jh
Ug fib ghost
It is always sad to see such a talented person die so young.
Wasn’t that talented.
cos you’re bob feckin dillon
RIP. Herself and mad pup Adair, gone too soon
Why call him/her an actress? These days they are all actors.
So annoying that they use the term actor for men and women when it use to be actor and actress, and the only time in in cases like this.
PC gone mad…
@Alois, aww, is your poor transphobic brain overwhelmed with the concept of trans women, trans men, and gender fluid people? I’d open a can of sympathy for you, but I’m fresh out.
I downloaded some software for my computer but it added a yahoo search bar for my browser without me realising. PC gone mad.
@ Alois Irlmaier “So annoying that they use the term actor for men and women when it use to be actor and actress…”
So annoying that they use the term Garda for police officers of both genders in Ireland when it used to be Garda or Ban-Garda.
But times change, even for ein vorzintflutlicher Gaukler.
Larissa, you attack anyone you think says anything you don’t like because your brain divides everything up as anti or pro transvestite when it has nothing to do with it, you have conditioned yourself to be that way. Will you stop insulting people because of what you think they say, it makes you look like a fool.
John, you should have unchecked the box before pressing next, I wonder did Leighanna unchecked her box as well lol.
most people are begrudgers too. well, the ones that make statements like that anyways
I really don’t understand the need some people feel to be mean to people different than themselves when they have done no harm to others.
I have genuinely no idea who this person was, but they were someone’s child, someone’s friend and someone’s sibling. If being mean about someone’s life choices is how you make yourself feel better you need to do some serious re-evaluation of your life.
I really like your comments in general Phil Blanc, you’re a stand-up guy. Fair play buddy.
Phil , good comment you’ve made there ..
Agree also,
And I don’t know who they were, that is why most people are confused as to why it is being reported. It would appear to be click bait to encourage bigots to post comments.
Rip
Holiday —- celebrate ….. Another unique talent stolen by 2016.
May SHE rest in peace.
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