THE DRAG QUEEN IS NO MORE
With a career of nearly 30 years, he got his name written with golden letters in the hearts of his fans, and now all those hearts are saddened by his sudden death. He is Paul O’Grady – a comedian, broadcaster, drag queen, actor, writer, and host.
The news of Grady’s death shook his fan world. Grady was very famous for his talk shows and his comedy.
The star left the world aged 67 on the 28th of March, it was a sudden death and the news was announced by Paul’s husband Andre Portasio.
Paul’s well-wishers, fans, friends, and family paid tribute to the late actor. Paul’s husband Andre said that his partner went through an “unexpected but peaceful” death.
Paul O’Grady
Paul was born in the Tranmere area of Birkenhead to Patrick Grady on the 14th of June 1955. Paul’s original name was ‘Paul Grady’ but was misspelled on a form and was written as ‘Paul O’Grady’ during his entry to the Royal Air Force.
O’Grady always talked about how happy and joyful his childhood was, he also mentioned that his family always tries to protect him from anything bad.
The young O’Grady always scored great in every subject except mathematics during his schooling. But his grades dropped during his high school years and he failed the eleven plus exam.
And when he was 16, Paul quit studying and started taking part-time that gave him enough to live. At the age of around 18-19, Paul acknowledged his homosexuality and worked in Gay bars, and attended homosexual community meetings.
Major events in his life happened in the year 1974 when both his parents had a heart attack following which was his father’s death and the birth of Paul’s one and only daughter – Sharon O’Grady. Sharon is the daughter of Paul and his friend Diane Jansen with whom he had casual sex but refused to marry as her as he discovered his sexuality.
Paul took care of his daughter in every way he could and also worked a lot to take care of her. He took on multiple jobs just to make ends meet for himself and his daughter. Paul also moved to London in search of a better job and high pay.
In London, Paul started hanging out with some Drag queens and made some friends for himself but returned to his hometown after some days. In Birkenhead, Paul worked at a gay club and made a lesbian friend, Teresa Fernandes, whom he married in 1977 to avoid her deportation and later got divorced in 2005.
Paul’s debut as a drag queen was on the afternoon of 7 October 1978 at a pub where he had to mime the words of Barbra Streisand from the show pins and needles.
Paul gained much popularity by appearing on the show ‘Viva Cabaret!’ and when he appeared in the BBC quiz show.
And then we listened to him on the radio as Lily on Woman’s hour and Loose Ends. He also narrated a BBC 2 series called Life Swaps.
Grady was well known for his adult humor which also brought him some controversies. But later the comedian got himself a show where we saw him interviewing celebrity guests in October 2004.
O’Grady also produced for many shows including some collab with his friends, O’Grady was awarded the Best Entertainment Performance at the BAFTAs.
O’Grady was multitalented and was always very active. His fans loved him a lot for both of his personalities. Lily Savage – the alter ego of O’Grady will forever be the queen and Paul will always be one of the favorite comedians of all time.
May Paul’s soul rest in peace and find his place in heaven. The world misses you, Paul.