- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHaroldo Santiago Franceschi Rodriguez Danhakl
- Woodlawn was born Haroldo Santiago Franceschi Rodriguez Danhakl in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico. Her mother, Aminta Rodriguez, married the baby's father, a German-American sailor in the U.S. Navy stationed in Puerto Rico, but they divorced when his military service ended. When Woodlawn was nine, her mother moved to New York and remarried, to Joseph Ajzenberg, a Polish Jewish immigrant whom she met while waiting tables at a resort in the Catskills Mountains. The new family eventually relocated to Miami Beach, Florida.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Robert Sieger
- The legendary Lou Reed song "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" refers to Holly, indelibly imprinting her story in American pop culture. "Holly Came From Miami, F-L-A..." are the beginning lyrics forever describing Holly's arrival in New York City and ultimate imprint on the landscape of 1970s chique.
- Is the last surviving queen of Andy Warhol's famous drag queen sidekicks that included Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis.
- Holly's story was immortalized in the first lines of the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side." The song began: "Holly came from Miami, F - L - A - -- Hitch-hiked her way across the U - S - A - -- Plucked her eyebrows on the way - Shaved her legs and then - he was a she. She says, 'Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side' ". Taking the name Holly Woodlawn after running away from home at age 15 and hitchhiking to New York City, where Holly became one of Andy Warhol's drag queen "superstars". Holly's former caretaker and friend Mariela Huerta reported her death (at age 69) in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer.
- She was hired by the producers of Tootsie (1982) to coach actor Dustin Hoffman in his role as 'Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels' in the art of being a man acting as a woman in films.
- Survived her hospital stay and is currently planning a film based on her autobiography, The Holly Woodlawn Story: A Low Life in High Heels.
- If I'm wearing pants, call me a man. If I'm wearing a dress, call me a cab!
- My uncle was the one that opened my eyes to glamor. I used to watch the Connie Francis movie Where the Boys Are (1960).
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