Candy Darling

---

title: "Candy Darling" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1944-births", "1974-deaths", "20th-century-american-actresses", "20th-century-american-lgbtq-people", "actresses-from-brooklyn", "actresses-from-manhattan", "actresses-from-queens,-new-york", "american-film-actresses", "american-stage-actresses", "american-transgender-actresses", "deaths-from-lymphoma-in-new-york-(state)", "lgbtq-people-from-new-york-(state)", "people-associated-with-the-factory", "people-from-forest-hills,-queens", "people-from-massapequa-park,-new-york", "the-velvet-underground"] description: "American actress (1944–1974)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Darling" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress (1944–1974) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Candy Darling
image	Candy-Darling-by-Andy-Warhol.jpg
caption	Darling by Andy Warhol in 1971
birth_date
birth_place	Queens, New York City, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
resting_place	Cherry Valley Cemetery, Cherry Valley, New York, U.S.
occupation	Actress
::

| name = Candy Darling | image = Candy-Darling-by-Andy-Warhol.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Darling by Andy Warhol in 1971 | birth_date = | birth_place = Queens, New York City, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. | resting_place = Cherry Valley Cemetery, Cherry Valley, New York, U.S. | occupation = Actress Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American actress. Best known as a Warhol superstar, she was a pioneer for transgender visibility.

Darling rose to fame in New York City's underground film scene for her performances in the Andy Warhol-produced films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971). She was photographed by Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon, and starred in Tennessee Williams' play, Small Craft Warnings (1972). Darling was celebrated for her glamorous, Old Hollywood-inspired persona and candid wit, and became a muse to rock and roll musicians of the era, including the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed, who referenced her in his songs. She died from lymphoma at the age of 29 in 1974.

Early life and education

Candy Darling was born in Forest Hills, Queens, as the child of Theresa (née Phelan) Slattery, a bookkeeper at Manhattan's Jockey Club, and John F. Slattery, a racetrack worker whom she described as a violent alcoholic.

She had one half-brother, Warren, from her mother’s previous marriage. When contacted for Cynthia Carr's 2023 biography of Darling, he agreed to answer questions on the condition that his full name not be published, stating that he did not want friends to know he was related to her.

Darling's early years were spent in Massapequa Park, Long Island, where she and her mother moved after her parents' divorce. She spent much of her childhood watching television and old Hollywood movies, from which she learned to impersonate her favorite actresses such as Joan Bennett and Kim Novak. Darling took a strong interest in the Million Dollar Movie broadcast on television, which she would often watch several times a day. Inspired in part by Novak, Darling began to model her life around "Hollywood glamour-queen prettiness."

In 1961, at age 16, she signed up for a course at the DeVern School of Cosmetology in Baldwin, Long Island. Darling later said that she "learned about the mysteries of sex from a salesman in a local children's shoe store". When her mother confronted her about local rumors that she was "dressing as a girl" and frequenting a local gay bar called The Hayloft, Darling left the room and returned in feminine clothing. Darling's mother would later say, "I knew then... that I couldn't stop [her]. Candy was just too beautiful and talented."

After coming out publicly, Darling would take a short cab ride to the Long Island Rail Road station, avoiding the attention of neighbors she would receive by walking to the train. From there, she would take the train to Manhattan, often sitting across from Long Island starlet Joey Heatherton. In Manhattan, she would refer to her family home at 79 First Avenue in Massapequa Park as her "country house". She spent time in Greenwich Village, meeting people through Seymour Levy on Bleecker Street.

Career

Darling first took the name Hope Slattery. According to Bob Colacello, Darling took this name in 1963/1964 after she started going to gay bars in Manhattan and visiting a doctor on Fifth Avenue for hormone injections.

Jackie Curtis said that Darling adopted the name from a well-known Off Broadway actress named Hope Stansbury, with whom she lived for a few months in an apartment behind the Caffe Cino. Holly Woodlawn remembers that Darling's name evolved from Hope Dahl to Candy Dahl, then to Candy Cane. Jeremiah Newton said she took the name "Candy" out of a love for sweets. In her autobiography, Woodlawn recalled that Darling had adopted the name because her friend Taffy Tits Sarcastic called her "darling" so often that it stuck.

Darling met Jeremiah Newton in the summer of 1966, when Newton was on his first trip to Greenwich Village from his home in Flushing, Queens. The two became friends and roommates, living together in Manhattan and Brooklyn until the time of Darling's death in 1974.

Before they met, in 1967, Darling saw Andy Warhol at The Tenth of Always, an after-hours club. Darling was with Jackie Curtis, who invited Warhol to a play that she had written and directed; entitled Glamour, Glory and Gold, the play starred Darling as "Nona Noonan." Curtis often claimed that she and Darling starred alongside a young Robert De Niro, who played all the male roles; however, De Niro appeared in a later version of the play that Curtis and Darling only participated in early rehearsals of.

Darling worked for a short time as a barmaid at Slugger Ann's, the bar owned by Jackie Curtis's grandmother.

Warhol was enamored by Darling's beauty and cast her in a short comedic scene in Flesh (1968) with Curtis and Joe Dallesandro. The March 1, 1970, issue of Vogue magazine featured a photograph of Darling alongside Warhol and fellow superstar Jay Johnson, photographed by Cecil Beaton. Reflecting on Darling in his memoir Popism (1980), Warhol said:Candy didn't want to be a perfect woman—that would be too simple, and besides it would give her away. What she wanted was to be a woman with all the little problems that a woman has to deal with—runs in her stocking, runny mascara, men that left her. She would even ask to borrow Tampaxes, explaining that she had a terrible emergency. It was as if the more real she could make the little problems, the less real the big one—her cock—would be.Darling was cast in a central role in Women in Revolt (1971), a satire on the Women's Liberation Movement. The film was first shown at the Los Angeles Filmex as Sex in November 1971. It was later shown as Andy Warhol's Women in December 1971. The day after the celebrity preview in February 1972, a group of women carrying protest signs demonstrated outside the cinema against the film, which they thought was anti-women's liberation. When Darling heard about this, she said, "Who do these dykes think they are anyway? Well, I just hope they all read Vincent Canby's review in today's Times. He said I look like a cross between Kim Novak and Pat Nixon. It's true – I do have Pat Nixon's nose." For Vogue magazine's June 1972 issue, Darling was photographed by Richard Avedon alongside her co-stars Jackie Curtis and Holly Woodlawn.[[File:Candy Darling in Silent Night, Bloody Night.png|thumb|Candy Darling, as seen in the film [[Silent Night, Bloody Night]] (1972)]] Darling's attempt at breaking into mainstream movies by campaigning for the leading role in Myra Breckinridge (1970) led to rejection and bitterness. She had roles in other independent films, including Wynn Chamberlain's Brand X (1970), Some of My Best Friends Are... (1971), and Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972). She also appeared in mainstream films such as Klute (1970) with Jane Fonda and Lady Liberty (1971) with Sophia Loren. In 1971, she went to Vienna to make two films with director Werner Schroeter: feature The Death of Maria Malibran and short film Johanna's Dream.

Darling appeared in Vain Victory: The Vicissitudes of the Damned (1971) directed by Curtis at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in May/June 1971. The production featured many other performers from Warhol's Factory, including Curtis, Ondine, Tally Brown, Mario Montez, Samuel Adams Green, Mary Woronov, Francesco Scavullo, Jay Johnson, Holly Woodlawn, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Eric Emerson, and Warhol himself.

Darling appeared in the original 1972 production of Tennessee Williams' play Small Craft Warnings, cast at Williams' request. She starred in the 1973 revival of The White Whore and the Bit Player, a 1964 play by Tom Eyen, at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. The production was bilingual and was directed by Manuel Martin Jr. Darling's character, a Hollywood actress known only as "the Whore", was based on Marilyn Monroe. She performed in the English version of the play opposite Hortensia Colorado; in the Spanish version of the play, "the Whore" was portrayed by Magaly Alabau and Graciela Mas. As a review of the play stated, "With her teased platinum hair and practiced pouts, Miss Darling looks like her character and resolutely keeps her acting little-girl-lost. The role-playing aspect works to her advantage. She could, after all, be a male lunatic pretending to be the White Whore."

Illness and death

Darling died of lymphoma on March 21, 1974, aged 29, at the Columbus Hospital division of the Cabrini Health Care Center. In a letter written on her deathbed and intended for her friends at the Factory, including Warhol, Darling wrote, "Unfortunately before my death I had no desire left for life ... I am just so bored by everything. You might say bored to death. Did you know I couldn't last. I always knew it. I wish I could meet you all again."

Her funeral, held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, was attended by many admirers. Warhol did not attend, but he paid for the funeral service. R. Couri Hay and Julie Newmar read the eulogies. Darling's birth name was never spoken by the minister or any of the eulogizers, but her family still thought of her as "Jimmy." Faith Dane played a piano piece, and Gloria Swanson saluted Darling's coffin.

Darling was cremated, and her ashes were kept by her close friend Jeremiah Newton. Newton later buried her ashes in the Cherry Valley Cemetery in Cherry Valley, New York, a village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains.

Legacy

Greer Lankton made a bust of Darling that was displayed at the 1995 Whitney Biennial.

In 2009, C☆NDY, which calls itself "the first transversal style magazine", debuted. It is named after Darling.

Byredo created a candle scent named after Darling.

In 2017, Kay Gabriel published a book of sonnet-based poetry, Elegy Department Spring, about Darling.

In 2024, Cynthia Carr released Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, a biographical portrait of Darling.

In pop culture

Portrayals

Candy Darling has been portrayed in a range of stage and screen works over time. She was portrayed by Stephen Dorff in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996). In 2006, she was depicted by actor Vince Gatton in the Off-Broadway production of Candy and Dorothy, a play by *David Johnston, for which Gatton received a Drama Desk award nomination. This was followed by Pop!, a by Mark Brokaw at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2009, in which Darling was portrayed by Brian Charles Rooney.

In 2010, the feature-length documentary Beautiful Darling premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. Directed by James Rasin and produced by Jeremiah Newton and Elisabeth Bentley, the film draws on archival footage, photographs, personal papers, and audio interviews with figures including Tennessee Williams, Valerie Solanas, Jackie Curtis, and Darling’s mother, alongside contemporary interviews with Holly Woodlawn, Ruby Lynn Reyner, Fran Lebowitz, John Waters, Julie Newmar, Peter Beard, and Taylor Mead. Chloë Sevigny narrates the film, voicing Darling’s private diary entries and personal letters.

In 2011, Darling was portrayed by Willam Belli in the 2011 HBO film Cinema Verite.

In January 2019, a biopic about Candy was announced. It will be written by Stephanie Kornick and executive produced by Zackary Drucker. The film is being produced by Christian D. Bruun, Katrina Wolfe, and Louis Spiegler. Hari Nef has been cast in the role of Darling.

Music

• Darling and her friend Taffy are mentioned in the chorus of the 1967 Rolling Stones song "Citadel".
• Darling is the subject of the song "Candy Says", the opening track on the Velvet Underground's self-titled album in 1969, written by Lou Reed and sung by Doug Yule.
• The second verse of Lou Reed's 1972 song "Walk on the Wild Side" is devoted to Darling.
• A still of Darling in the Andy Warhol movie Women in Revolt is featured on the cover of the Smiths' single "Sheila Take a Bow".
• American musician St. Vincent named a song after Darling in her album Daddy's Home, and undertakes a persona inspired by Darling for the album visuals.
• Darling's name is referenced in the chorus of the Saint Motel song "For Elise."
• Peter Hujar's photo, "Candy Darling on her Deathbed", was used by Antony and the Johnsons for the cover of their 2005 Mercury Music Prize-winning album I Am a Bird Now.

Works

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Flesh	Candy
1970	Brand X	Marlene D-Train
1970	The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart
1971	La Mortadella	Transvestite	Alternative title: Lady Liberty
1971	Klute	Discothèque Patron	Uncredited
1971	Some of My Best Friends Are...	Karen / Harry
1971	Women in Revolt	Candy
1972	**		Directed by Werner Schroeter
1972	Silent Night, Bloody Night	Guest	(final film role)
1973	An American Family	Herself
1975	Johannas Traum		Directed by Werner Schroeter
2002	The Cockettes	Herself	Archive footage
2004	Superstar in a Housedress	Herself	Archive footage
2006	Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film	Herself	Archive footage
2010	Beautiful Darling	Herself	Archive footage
2020	Disclosure: Trans lives on Screen	Herself	Archive footage
::

References

Citations

Works cited

References

1. Watson, Steven. (2003). "Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties". Pantheon Books.
2. "Theresa Catherine P. McLean". Glens Falls Post-Star.
3. "John F. Slattery". Glens Falls Post-Star.
4. Darling, Candy. (1992). "My Face for the World to See: the Diaries, letters and drawings". Hardy Marks Publications.
5. Als, Hilton. (8 April 2024). "The Warhol "Superstar" Candy Darling and the Fight to Be Seen".
6. Anderson, Melissa. (2002-01-01). "Candied Glam: The Cultural Cachet of Candy Darling". Quarterly Review of Film and Video.
7. Moynihan, Colin. (February 24, 2009). "From the Archives, a Portrait of a Pop-Art Muse". [[The New York Times]].
8. Darling, Candy. (2015). "Candy Darling – Memoirs of an Andy Warhol Superstar". Open Road Media.
9. (2015). "Candy Darling: Memoirs of an Andy Warhol Superstar". [[Open Road Integrated Media.
10. Carr, Cynthia. (2024). "Candy Darling – Dreamer, Icon, Superstar". [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]].
11. Colacello, Bob. (1990). "Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up". [[Harper Collins]].
12. Holly Woodlawn. (1991). "A Low Life In High Heels". St. Martin's Press.
13. Carr, Cynthia. (2024). "Candy Darling; Dreamer, Icon, Superstar". Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
14. Palladini, Giulia. (May 26, 2011). "Queer Kinship in the New York Underground: On the 'Life and Legend' of Jackie Curtis". Routledge.
15. Perreault, John. (March 1, 1970). "Andy Warhol disguised here as Andy Warhol". Vogue.
16. Thomas, Kevin. (1971-11-05). "Filmex Today". The Los Angeles Times.
17. Thomas, Kevin. (1971-12-18). "Andy Warhol's Women (Women in Revolt) Film". The Los Angeles Times.
18. (June 1972). "People Are Talking About … Warhol's Women Who Are Men". Vogue.
19. Corona, Victor. (27 April 2011). "Piece of Candy".
20. Canby, Vincent. (28 October 1971). "Screen: One Night in a Gay Bar".
21. Albright, Brian. (2012). "Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990". McFarland, Incorporated.
22. Byron, Grace. (7 May 2024). "The sincere glamor of Candy Darling".
23. Hudson, David. (22 April 2024). "Cynthia Carr’s Candy Darling".
24. (2017). "Days of Twilight, Nights of Frenzy – A Memoir". [[University of Chicago Press]].
25. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. [https://catalog.lamama.org/Detail/Occurrences/975 "Production: ''Vain Victory, The Vicissitudes of the Damned'' (1971)". Accessed April 4, 2018.]
26. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. [https://catalog.lamama.org/Detail/Occurrences/289 "Production: ''The White Whore and the Bit Player/La Estrella y La Monja'' (1973a)". Accessed April 4, 2018.]
27. Gussow, Mel. (February 6, 1973). "Eyen's 'The White Whore and Bit Player' Arrives". [[The New York Times]].
28. (March 22, 1974). "Candy Darling Dies; Warhol 'Superstar'". [[The New York Times]].
29. (2015). "Whitney Museum of American Art: Handbook of the Collection". Whitney Museum of American Art; Yale University Press (New Haven, London).
30. Wiegand, David. (July 28, 1997). "Candy's Fairy-Tale 'Face'; Diaries Reveal Longing For Identity". San Francisco Chronicle.
31. (2024-03-19). "The Glittery Life of Candy Darling".
32. Highberger, Craig B.. (2005). "Superstar in a Housedress: The Life and Legend of Jackie Curtis". Chamberlain Bros..
33. Kiedrowski, Thomas. (2011). "Andy Warhol's New York City: Four Walks Uptown to Downtown". The Little Bookroom.
34. Norby, Mark William. (April 16, 2024). "Cynthia Carr's 'Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar'".
35. (2012). "Postcolonial Whiteness: A Critical Reader on Race and Empire". SUNY Press.
36. Donovan, Janet. (May 23, 2011). ""Beautiful Darling" Candy, Born as James". NBCWashington.com.
37. Taubin, Amy. (2011-04-20). "I, Candy".
38. Norby, Mark William. "Cynthia Carr's 'Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar'".
39. Morton, Julia. (January 26, 2007). "Greer Lankton, A Memoir". Artnet Worldwide Corporation.
40. Blanks, Tim. "Exclusive: The World's Biggest Transgender Stars Cover C☆NDY". style.com.
41. "Zac Posen – 15 favourite things".
42. Crandall, Maxe. (2017-06-24). "'Elegy Department Spring' by Kay Gabriel".
43. Noble, Barnes &. "Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar{{!}}Hardcover".
44. Anderson, Melissa. (Spring 2024). "Sugar Rush – The life of Warhol Superstar Candy Darling".
45. Simonson, Robert. (April 27, 2006). "''The Drowsy Chaperone'' Leads 2006 Drama Desk Nominations". Playbill.com.
46. Bacalzo, Dan. (October 15, 2009). "Doug Kreeger, Randy Harrison, Leslie Kritzer, Brian Charles Rooney, et al. Set for Yale Rep's Pop!". TheaterMania.com.
47. Press, Stephen Farber,The Associated. (2010-10-14). "Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar — Film Review".
48. LaCroix, Ethan. (14 April 2015). "Willam talks about losing Drag Race and winning the Internet".
49. Ramos, Dino-Ray. (January 29, 2019). "'Transparent's Stephanie Kornick And Zackary Drucker Board Candy Darling Biopic".
50. (2022-08-02). "Hari Nef cast as Warhol superstar Candy Darling in new biopic".
51. (2009). "Rolling Stones: Off the Record". Omnibus Press.
52. {{harvnb. DeCurtis. 2017{{page needed. (July 2019)
53. {{harvnb. DeCurtis. 2017
54. Barker, Emily. (3 August 2015). "The Smiths - The Stories Behind All 27 Of Their Provocative Album And Single Sleeves".
55. Kamp, David. (20 October 2025). "St. Vincent Gets the Carlyle Treatment".
56. [http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-am-a-bird-now-r727389/credits I Am a Bird Now – Credits], Allmusic.com; retrieved July 3, 2011.
57. "Johannas Dream".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::