| Name |
John Cabell "Bunny" Breckinridge |
| Suffix |
Jr. |
| Birth |
6 Aug 1903 |
San Francisco, California  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Other-Begin |
4 Dec 1919 |
London, England |
| passport to France |
- Emergency Passport Application:
now residing in France for the purpose of Residence; legal domicile in San Francisco, permanent residence being London, left USA on 1916, arriving England on 1916 for the purpose of education.
|
| Death |
5 Nov 1996 |
Monterey, California |
- Name: John Cabell Breckinridge
Social Security #: 555548551
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 6 Aug 1903
Birth Place: Other Country
Death Date: 5 Nov 1996
Death Place: Monterey
Mother's Maiden Name: Murphy
OBITUARY -- John `Bunny' Breckinridge
John ``Bunny'' Breckinridge, an eccentric and troubled San Francisco millionaire who entertained grandly, served time in jail for vagrancy and was sued by his mother for lack of support, died Tuesday, November 5th, 1996 of heart failure in a Monterey nursing home. He was 94.
Mr. Breckinridge, the great grandson of U.S. vice president John Breckinridge and of Wells Fargo Bank founder Lloyd Tevis, was born in Paris. He spent time at Eton College and Oxford University in England and at the Atascadero State Hospital for the criminally insane.
He was known for his flamboyant lifestyle, outrageous comments and penchant for perfume and costume jewelry. He performed in Shakespearean plays in England before coming to San Francisco in the late 1920s.
He married the daughter of a French countess in 1927. The couple was divorced in 1929.
``I was a little bit wild when I was young, darling, but I lived my life grandly,'' he said.
In 1954, Mr. Breckinridge announced plans to travel to Denmark and undergo a sex-change operation. That same year, a San Francisco judge ordered him to make good on an earlier agreement and pay $8,500 a year to support his elderly, blind mother in England.
The following year, he was arrested in a waterfront bar, charged with vagrancy and jailed. The charges were later dropped.
In 1959, he was convicted on 10 counts of sex perversion for taking to Las Vegas two young boys who had been left in his care. He was committed to Atascadero and released the following year.
He is survived by his daughter, Solange Prasad, of Oregon.
A memorial service will be held on November 21 at 1 p.m. at the Little Chapel By-the-Sea, 65 Asilomar Ave., Pacific Grove.
|
| Notes |
- Wikipedia:
John Cabell "Bunny" Breckinridge (August 6, 1903 ? November 5, 1996) was an American actor and drag queen, best known for his role as "The Ruler" in Ed Wood's film Plan 9 from Outer Space, his only film appearance.
In the 1940s, male-to-female sex change operations were becoming more widely available in Europe, and Breckinridge expressed many times his desire to undergo the procedure. With the nationwide attention given to Christine Jorgensen's sex change in 1952, Breckinridge became more determined than ever to become a woman. In 1954, he announced plans to travel to Denmark and undergo the operation so he could marry his male secretary.[1] Though Breckinridge was by this time a grandfather, his granddaughter supported him in his efforts. Shortly thereafter, a San Francisco judge scuttled his Denmark trip by ordering him into court for failing to make good on an earlier agreement to pay $8,500 a year to support his elderly, blind mother in England. He then made arrangements with a sex-change surgeon in Mexico, but got into a terrible car accident en route. He gave up his pursuit of the matter afterwards.
In 1955, he was arrested in a San Francisco waterfront bar and charged with "vagrancy" and jailed, though the charges were later dropped because of his family and wealth.
In 1959, shortly after Plan 9 From Outer Space's disappointing release, Breckinridge was convicted on ten counts of "sex perversion" for taking two underage boys on an excursion to Las Vegas. He was committed to the Atascadero State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and released the following year. Upon his release, he returned to his San Francisco home, a Spanish style bungalow adorned with gold framed photographs of the many celebrities he met and befriended, including Princess Margaret, Noël Coward, J. Edgar Hoover, Elvis Presley, and Ed Sullivan. Breckinridge frequently opened his home to members of the growing hippie movement, who were enthralled not only by his stories of his flamboyant youth, but also his favorable opinions on free love and his encyclopedic knowledge of both gay history and the lives of closeted Hollywood stars.
In 1994, Breckinridge was surprised to find himself portrayed as a character in a major motion picture, played by Bill Murray in Tim Burton's 1994 biopic Ed Wood. His advanced years and failing health, however, prevented him from participating in any of the publicity surrounding the film.
Breckinridge maintained homes on each coast - one in New Jersey and one in San Francisco - until his death in 1996 at age 93, in a Monterey hospital. He was quoted in his obituary as saying, "I was a little bit wild when I was young, darling, but I lived my life grandly."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunny_Breckinridge
|
| Person ID |
I49684 |
Roots |
| Last Modified |
29 Jan 2013 |
1903 - 1996 (93 years)
