CARLOTTA THE ORIGINA SHOWGIRL’S FINAL
OUR TRAILBLAZING ENTERTAINER DROPS THE CURTAIN ON HER ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER
After 62 years of dazzling audiences with her showbiz razzamatazz and witty one-liners, Australia’s most famous transgender icon is retiring her feather boas and relaunching herself as an artist.
“It’s been a hell of a ride, but I’ve decided to hang up the drag,” Carlotta confesses to New Idea from her Gold Coast home. “I’ll be 78 in September, and I feel it’s time to give others a go – there’s a wealth of hugely talented performers who deserve the spotlight!
“I’ve just performed at the Adelaide
Fringe Festival.
I have a show in
Perth in June, and that’s a wrap.”
The Aussie treasure, known to friends as Carol Spencer, was born Richard Byron before undergoing sex-reassignment surgery in 1972, then considered highly controversial.
Using the stage name Carlotta, she became the Queen of Kings Cross, a bejewelled sensation in the ’60s at Sydney’s world-famous Les Girls cabaret revue, performing for visiting A-listers, including Cher and Bette Midler.
“It was bloody hard work dragging up in all of those feathers and sequins and dancing around in ridiculously high heels,” she quips, adding: “I can assure you it wasn’t all champagne and parties
– our Les Girls bosses were tough taskmasters.”
Carlotta explains she made the bold decision to undergo sex-reassignment surgery to become her authentic self.
“I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror, so I corrected it. I now look in the mirror and go ‘wow’!”
The former Beauty and the Beast panelist says her mum, Evelyn, fell off her bar stool in a state of shock when told of her sex change.
“I think she was still shocked when she passed away decades later.”
In the ’80s, Carlotta briefly gave up her showbiz career after marrying “a wonderful man” in a civil ceremony.
“I ran a deli for a while. It
was lovely – a total change of pace. But, I knew deep down he wanted kids and so I made the difficult decision to leave him to give him that chance. He’s now a dad, so I knew it was the right decision. I’m thrilled for him.”
In a life filled with so many highs, one low stands out – a 2018 cancer scare that Carlotta looks back on with a sense of tremendous relief.
“I had a cancerous tumour on my bladder that was, mercifully, found early. After undergoing surgery to have it removed, I was later given the all clear.”
Now, Carlotta is looking forward
Beauty and the Beast.