Alexis Arquette, actor and trans activist, passes away at 47
Alexis Arquette's film roles included Last Exit to Brooklyn, Pulp Fiction and The Wedding Singer
Actor and transgender activist Alexis Arquette passed away earlier today at age 47. The cause of death has not been confirmed.
The sibling of actors David, Patricia, Rosanna and Richmond, Arquette made her screen debut as the transvestite Georgette in the acclaimed 1989 film adaptation of Hubert Selby, Jr.’s controversial novel, Last Exit to Brooklyn. She also had small roles in the films Pulp Fiction, Children of the Corn V, Bride of Chucky, The Lords of Dogtown and the gay-themed films I Think I Do and The Trip. Arquette’s transition was chronicled in Matthew Barbato’s 2007 documentary, Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother.
The 53-year-old Richmond posted the news on his Facebook page early Sunday morning:
Our brother Robert, who became our brother Alexis, who became our sister Alexis, who became our brother Alexis, passed this morning September 11, at 12:32 am. He was surrounded by all of his brothers and sisters, one of his nieces and several other loved ones. We were playing music for him and he passed during David Bowie’s Starman. As per his wishes, we cheered at the moment that he transitioned to another dimension.
I am feeling immense gratitude to have been afforded the luxury of sharing life with him/her, for learning from Alexis, for being given the gift of being able to love her/him and to be loved by him/her. He was a force.
He died as he lived, on his own terms. I am immensely grateful that it was fast and painless. It was an incredibly moving experience and I am humbled and grateful to have been able to have been with him as he began his journey onward.
Thank you, Alexis, I love you and will love you always.
Earlier this year, David Arquette claimed on Kocktails with Khloe that Alexis no longer identified as transgender (hence “became our sister Alexis, became our brother Alexis” in Richmond’s post), but rather considered herself “gender suspicious.”
“She was like, ‘Yeah, sometimes I’ll be a man, sometimes I’ll be a woman. I like to refer to myself as gender suspicious,'” David Arquette said. “I said, ‘You’re my sister and brother?’ [Alexis] said, ‘It depends on how I’m dressed.'”
David took to Twitter to remember Alexis, tweeting, “Thank you all for your love and kind words about Alexis. My hero for eternity.”
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