Elizabeth Coffey

Elizabeth Coffey is an American actress. She had notable roles in four of the early films of John Waters.[1] Coffey is a transgender woman.

Elizabeth Coffey
Coffey at the Female Trouble premiere
Born1948
OccupationFilm actress
Known forDreamlanders

Biography

Coffey was born in 1948 in Brooklyn, NY.[2]

She is considered one of the Dreamlanders, Waters' ensemble of regular cast and crew members.

At the time of her first film appearance in Waters' Pink Flamingos (1972), Coffey was a pre-operative transgender woman who had already undergone hormone therapy to develop breasts and female features. She played the part of a beautiful woman who turns the tables on a perverted flasher/voyeur by exposing herself and flashing him, sending him fleeing in shock.[3] Coffey underwent gender confirmation surgery a week after her scene was filmed. She was one of the first trans women to get gender confirmation surgery from Johns Hopkins Hospital.[4][5]

She also appears in Waters' film, Female Trouble (1974) playing Earnestine, the sorrowful death row cellmate of Dawn Davenport (Divine). She also appeared in Waters’ films Desperate Living and Hairspray.

Coffey is currently divorced, with one adopted child. She remains in contact with Waters, and has worked with several AIDS-related charities.

She currently lives in Philadelphia in the John C. Anderson Apartments, an LGBTQ-friendly senior living community, where she co-facilitates TransWay, a trans and gender non-conforming support group.[6][7] She once lived in Rockford, Illinois.

Filmography

References
  1. "Elizabeth Coffey". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  2. "Elizabeth Coffey Williams Interview". theoutwordsarchive.org. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  3. Shock Value, John Waters, p. 129
  4. "Elizabeth Coffey Williams Interview". theoutwordsarchive.org. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  5. "Coming Out As Transgender When There Was No Language To Describe It". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  6. "Elizabeth Coffey Williams Interview". theoutwordsarchive.org. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  7. Zipkin, Michele (2020-03-25). "Leaders in trans community share guidelines and resources during pandemic". Philadelphia Gay News. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
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