Biography:

Darcelle XV (November 16, 1930 – March 23, 2023) was the stage name of Walter W. Cole, a drag queen, entertainer and cabaret owner and operator in Portland, Oregon, United States. Guinness World Records had certified him as the oldest drag queen performer in 2016, with a career as an entertainer spanning 57 years at the time of his death.^[3]

Cole was born in 1930 and raised in the Linnton neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. He was described as a shy, “four-eyed sissy boy”.^[4] He served in the United States Armed Forces, and was discharged after the Korean War in the late 1950s,^[3] after which he lived a “conventional” life in southeast Portland with his wife and two children. He worked at a Fred Meyer store and described himself as having “a crew cut and horn-rimmed glasses”.^[3] Military funds helped him start business ventures.

Cole first purchased a coffeehouse called Caffé Espresso, which later relocated and expanded to include a basement jazz club called Studio A. In 1967, he purchased a tavern in northwest Portland which became Darcelle XV Showplace.

Cole first wore a woman’s dress at age 37. By 1969, he had developed the alter ego Darcelle and came out as gay. He left his wife and began a relationship with Roxy Neuhardt who worked alongside Darcelle at the Showplace as a choreographer, show director, performer, bookkeeper, office manager and payroll accountant. The two remained together until Neuhardt’s death in 2017.^[5]

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