Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar

by Cynthia Carr

From acclaimed biographer Cynthia Carr, the first full portrait of queer icon and Warhol superstar Candy Darling.

"Candy came from out on the Island
In the back room she was everybody's darling."

Warhol superstar and transgender icon Candy Darling was glamour personified, but she was without a real place in the world.

Growing up on Long Island, lonely and quiet and queer, she was enchanted by Hollywood starlets like Kim Novak. She found her turn in New York’s early Off-Off-Broadway theater scene, in Warhol’s films Flesh and Women in Revolt and at famed nightclub Max's Kansas City. She inspired songs by Lou Reed and the Rolling Stones. She became friends with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, borrowed a dress from Lauren Hutton, posed for Richard Avedon, and performed alongside Tennessee Williams in his own play.

Yet Candy lived on the edge, relying on the kindness of strangers, friends, and her quietly devoted mother, sleeping on couches and in cheap hotel rooms, keeping a part of herself hidden. She wanted to be a star, but mostly she wanted to be loved. Her last diary entry “I shall try to be grateful for life . . . Cannot imagine who would want me." Candy died at twenty-nine in 1974, as conversations about gender and identity were really just starting. She never knew it, but she changed the world.

Packed with tales of luminaries and gossip and meticulous research, immersive and laced with Candy’s words and her friends' recollections, Cynthia Carr's Candy Darling is Candy's long overdue return to the spotlight.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, LGBT, Queer, Audiobook, History, Biography Memoir

432 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2024

Reviews

[Megan Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning and heartbreaking, a much needed and expansive portrait told with care and nuance and generosity.

[Gregory Duke]

By no means a bad book. I have simply lost interest at the halfway point. What intrigues me most are the ways in which Candy proves to be both actively and passively going against the grain of her compatriots in the New York art scene. She's never an activist, but her existence reshapes her into a political object. She never identifies with queer people in her diaries (up the point I reached), instead identifying wholly as a woman, no adjectival modifier necessary. She seems like a mess, and she's beyond obsessed with performance and image. But her chic airs come through the page.

[Kirsten Mattingly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this profoundly moving book yesterday, and it’s all I’ve been thinking about since. I’m sure I’ll be thinking about Candy Darling for the rest of my life! Fifty years after her death, Candy Darling remains relevant. Before listening to this audiobook, I knew only the basics of who Candy Darling was because I had read an article about all the people mentioned in Lou Reed’s song “Walk on the Wild Side“. I’ve always liked that song and I was interested to know more about the story behind it.

Cynthia Carr does a phenomenal job of bringing Candy to life in this biography. It’s the most engaging biography I have ever read, because it includes hundreds of little details like snippets of ordinary conversation and anecdotes like what someone remembered Candy saying at a party. Because Candy‘s journals and letters have been preserved, Cynthia Carr was able to directly quote some of them, which gives us an incredibly personal look into Candy‘s private thoughts that she only shared with her journal. I’ve come away from this book with so much more understanding of what a person with gender dysphoria feels inside, in her own words. I was very touched by Candy’s courage, resilience, and bravery.

Cynthia Carr takes her time in describing all of Candy’s surroundings in New York City in the 1960s. I had absolutely no idea , about how many laws existed at that time that were really just bigotry made into a legal code, such as, a person could be arrested for wearing three or more articles of clothing belonging to to the opposite gender, and it was illegal to serve alcohol to someone gay. Other interesting cultural details that Carr includes are quotes from theater and movie reviews from when many actors that are now big names, such as Robert De Niro and Rue McClanahan, were getting their start. There’s a lot of history of off off Broadway in the middle section of this book. Important events, such as Valerie Solonas shooting Andy Warhol and all the Stonewall riots are also covered. Carr creates a very full picture not just of Candy, but of the time and place she lived.

From the outset I knew that Candy dies of cancer at age 29, and I actually procrastinated reading the last few chapters of this book because I felt as long as I hadn’t read about Candy‘s death, she was still alive. But I knew that was an illogical, so I completed the book and got choked up at the detailed descriptions of the last 4 1/2 weeks of Candy’s life as the cancer devours her. For anyone who has seen someone die of cancer, this part is a really tough read. I’m so glad that the story did not end there, and Carr followed up in an epilogue what happened even decades after Candy’s death and how her closest friend Jeremiah Newton saved Candy’s letters, journals, and other memorabilia and gave them a home in the Andy Warhol museum in Pittsburgh.

This book has left me with so much to think about and enriched my understanding of the human condition, and even changed me a bit. And any book that does all that, gets five stars from me. I am so grateful to NetGalley for giving me a free audio advanced digital download of this amazing book for review consideration. Candy died on March 26, 1974 and I noticed that March 26, 2024 is the archive date for this book. Nice touch, NetGalley! Additionally, the narrator Justin Vivian Bond was spectacular and the perfect choice to perform this audiobook.

[Trio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow, what an amazing life Candy Darling led! I'm astonished with the depth that Cynthia Carr delves in exploring this incredible person's life in Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar. From the very beginning, Carr delivers a stunning biography.

Carr includes facinating details about her vast career as an actress, model, and celebrity. The stories from Candy Darling's family and friends shed so much light on everything she faced. Plus, all that she did as an activist during this pivotal time in our history truly changed the world.

The audio version of Candy Darling is beautifully performed by Justin Vivian Bond. What an array of voices! Just wonderful.

I highly recommend this marvelous biography.

an audiobook copy of Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar was provided by Macmillan Audio, via NetGalley, for the purpose of my honest review, all opinions are my own

[od1_40reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Candy Darling has long been an icon of mine. A trans pioneer and trailblazer in a time long before the world was ready. But for me at least, she’s always seemed somewhat shrouded in mystery.

Cynthia Carr takes an extremely thorough and sympathetic delve into Candy’s life, and has certainly done her research. The book contains a vast amount of detail from Candy’s childhood, her rise to fame (some might say notoriety) amongst the NYC queer community, her much publicised friendship with Warhol and The Factory set, her acting career and everything leading up to her untimely death.

There’s a lot on Candy’s identity, and I did find myself wishing we could just let that go and focus on Candy. However that’s the whole point… that’s all Candy herself wanted. But the 1960s and early 70s was not a time when people would let that happen. Her identity was constantly in question. She was forever being misgendered as a gay man, or labelled a drag queen or transvestite. Candy knew she was none of those things.

She certainly was not the only transgender woman in New York during that time, and it’s true that she was no activist. She wasn’t at the Stonewall riots. She was no Marsha P. Johnson. She was often difficult and could come across as cold and self-centred. But these attitudes were her amour. She faced daily battles with transphobia at every turn. It’s easy to judge her perceived shallowness without giving any thought to what she had to endure on a daily basis. She did not fit in anywhere, she had no sense of belonging. She was forever denied a home on every level.

But she did live her life visibly and proudly, and has left a legacy. Her boldness and bravery to live as her true self in a time when most people were totally uneducated and bigoted towards anyone gender nonconforming is worthy of recognition.

Justin Torres, author of ‘Blackouts’, sums it up beautifully, ‘… a lonely icon who tried to find a place for herself in a world that couldn’t hold her’.

[Glen Helfand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cynthia Carr did her homework on this book. It is well-researched, though perhaps most interesting for the ways in which it reevaluates Candy Darling's gender from a contemporary lens. In a moment when RuPaul's Drag Race is a mainstream hit and trans celebrities are not uncommon, Candy's identity takes on different tones. In her short lifetime, she was so often referred to, and denigrated, for being a drag queen. Carr lays down the terms at the start of the book, noting that she will be the pronoun for all references to the subject. The lens is instructive as it shifts our views of many of the Warhol Superstars. That said, I found it difficult to gauge Candy's personal appeal from the book. She seemed like a fickle, messy person, narcissistic and troubled. But this may have much to do with the time in which she lived and the more limited choices. There was so much shame swirling around her, and in a way, a conservatism. This is not an activist by choice, but someone who inhabited that role simply by their existence and force of will. And perhaps by dying young.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audio book edition read by Justin Vivian Bond is absolutely required.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much that I hung on to every single spoken word! Candy Darling was an icon in the 1960's, part of the Warhol machine, and she left a huge impression on me, in all her beauty. I remember seeing Warhol and his entourage many times at Max's Kansas city in NYC. I'm sure Candy was part of those groups at Max's , although it's Edie Sedgwick who I truly remember. Candy was a tragic figure and this book insinuated that fact. She longed to die at 26...she was 29. So tragic! She became exactly what she wanted to be, A STAR, a beautiful star!
Lithe, feminine, tall and thin.. with wispy blonde hair. I think the true hero in this book is Jackie Curtis, who paid for Candy's funeral.
All the stars of the Andy Warhol era appear in this detailed and wonderfully written book by Cynthia Carr.......Holly Woodlawn, Paul D'elassandro, Jackie Curtis, and so many more as well and the mainstream stars of the day...Lauren Hutton (I loved her kindness towards Candy), Liza Minelli, and the designers of the day, Halston and more. I kept thinking as I listened to the audio version (so beautifully acted by the narrator!!!!) that it is too bad that Rupaul wasn't around to help Candy...but perhaps in her way, Candy opened the doors for RuPaul!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I thought this book was incredibly well done—so well researched and the writing was good too. Candy Darling was a true icon.

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bawled my eyes out finishing this book. When I was coming up as trans, people were always discoursing about drag queens and if they were cool, or transmisogynistic parodies of womanhood, or important parts of queer history and I never had a great grasp of what the hell they were taking about. This version of Candy's story put the controversy into context for me in a way that heavily politicized stories about Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major, and the Stonewall riots never did. Candy moved through so many different worlds and this book isn't just about her, it's about everyone she connected with who left a traceable mark on her life.

Candy's story invited me to think about trans and GNC people in my life who have parallels in hers. I thought about Maggie and how excited she was to talk about Valerie Solanas a few years ago, and about my own helpless drama queen tendencies, and about nontransitioning people, and people who need hormones to love themselves. It made me want to write an incomprehensible play about the shooting of Andy Warhol, and watch a bunch of movies I'd never heard of, probably most of which are terrible! One thing I struggled with was the number of people in this book, many of whom changed their names and pronouns repeatedly. I don't really have the background knowledge of street drag and experimental art and 1940's movies that Candy was enmeshed in.

I thought a lot while reading this about how "drag queen" is a term that was imposed from outside and Candy was working against that and how now it's a term that refers to a specific kind of performer. I still think it's extremely embarrassing when cis people do cis "drag," that'll probably never change, but I have a more complex idea of the variety of experience that's been labelled 'Drag' over the years.

Candy's mom getting married to another homophobe and reverting to her childhood name after her death really hit because yanno, my mom is Like That. So much of the precarity and contradiction of her life reminded me of how things felt in my early 20's and how able I was to move out of that place because I was white and not a trans woman.

I'd like to get a physical copy of the book from the library to gather names of other people I might want to read about, movies to watch, etc. The narration in the audiobook is soooooo good. The husky starlet voice Justin Vivian Bond did for direct quotes from Candy is incredible, reminds me of how I talk when I'm complaining, and the voice for gross comments she got is also really good, so obviously crass. I still have more to do looking up all the pictures referenced in the text. It's funny to read a book that's so much about someone's image and photography without reference photos. She really was a bombshell. I think she wouldn't have liked this book. Too much searching for facts, particularly about her. Easy 10/5 stars, very likely to make it into this year's top 5.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious at times but also so very sad at others. Fantastic story of Candy Darling an early transgender pioneer, Andy Warhol protégé, and unique personality in her own right.

I highly recommend listening to the audio version narrated by Justin Vivian Bond. It is so good. 5 stars and best reads pile. I really enjoyed every moment of this and I’m sad that it’s over.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I no longer care what happens. I have become completely complacent. I am not afraid of death and do not have any wish for happiness because I know it will not come."

She's an icon, she's a legend, and she is the moment!

Candy Darling was a charming and very talented diva who knew how to get what she wanted. A true icon of her time and one no one will ever forget.

This was a very intimate look at her life. How it all began and came to be. It was a delicious little tale full of heart, lots of glitz, oh and let’s not forget the drama. It was a fantastic read throughout and one that was tastefully done.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

a meticulously researched, tenderly written portrait of a truly singular figure. it’s amazing how much Carr is able to put together of Candy’s (sad, shining, tragically short) life - plus the book is also a treasure trove of period anecdotes.

[Corey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was more about what Candy Darling did as opposed to the person that she was. A large portion of the book is dedicated to intricate detail about her theatrical career and social life. Only on occasion does the author delve into the inner life of Candy. As a result the book becomes quite tedious about a quarter of the way through. I’d imagine this would be a more gripping read for people who are familiar with the New York theater scene in the 60s and 70s. But for the common reader the minutia about Candy’s theatrical experience is inaccessible.

[Tricia Forth · Rating 2 out of 5]

So well researched that I was bogged down in unnecessary details and less focused on her life and journey.

[Buzz Slutzky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cynthia Carr does a fantastic job holding the nuance of Candy’s experience of gender vs. how her family and other people discussed her gender. I really appreciated the acknowledgment of unreliable narrators, and learning about how Candy’s mom fluctuated in her trans allyship depending on her relationships with men. I was fascinated by Candy’s distance from feminism and even trans identity. Carr is a wonderful storyteller and the book held my attention the entire way through. I loved her biography of David Wojnarowicz too, and can’t wait to see what she does next.

Justin Vivian Bond’s performance of the audiobook kept me laughing, especially as Candy: “I don’t need you! I don’t need anyone! I’m Jean Eagles!” And “I have a baby in my stomach!” While Candy’s life had many sadnesses, Bond’s energy and enthusiasm (and perfect casting!!) kept the story fun and upbeat.

Candy lived a wild and crazy life and in Carr’s book, she gets her due as a true icon of the stage and screen! This book is a great read. I hope future biographers of trans people look to it as a guide for how to do so respectfully and with complexity while still being juicy.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cynthia Carr's biography of Candy Darling is impressively comprehensive, given the scattered state of documentation and the embellished recollections of those who knew her. Darling was something of an elusive figure, who featured in films from Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey, songs by Lou Reed, and any number of off-off Broadway productions and obscure underground happenings. To bring all of these threads together into a somewhat cohesive story of the life is a considerable achievement.

Nonetheless, Darling's improvised persona and lifestyle make for a biography told in dozens of small episodes, often built around her relationship with Andy Warhol and the many colorful personalities moving in and out of his unstable orbit. Darling had great hopes that Warhol would be the agent who would transform her into a major Hollywood star, but not much came of that dream in Warhol's fickle hands. As a document of a challenging existence in New York's late sixties and early seventies art scene, Candy Darling can be fascinating, but the vexations of the subject's life do at times frustrate the author's ability to construct a solid narrative.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listening to this book as an audiobook (narrated by the divine Justin Vivian Bond) was a double treat because there are moments of deep poignancy nestled seamlessly with moments of hilarious, dishy storytelling about a very vivid time and place in queer history. Cynthia Carr is an immersive storyteller, and her impressive research allows her to recreate a deeply sympathetic portrait of an extraordinary human being. Read the book, go listen to Velvet Underground's "Candy Says," go watch a Justin Vivian Bond cabaret show, go do whatever you can to fight like hell for trans rights for all.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS BOOK!
This book captures what it’s like to be trans and an out gay in the late 1960s in NYC. Candy is part of a group of outcasts trying to make sense of the world where they are very misunderstood. I laughed A LOT, I cried, and the main characters in the book are very ahead of their time including Candy and Andy Warhol. Candy is a true tragic hero. I also began this book with zero knowledge of Andy Warhol, but learned a lot about him and his work.

Only note - there are a bunch of characters in the book. Some recurring and some are not which makes it a little difficult to read but stick with it. I think the diversity of the characters really illustrates what it’s like to be part of the gay community in this time.

[Jessie Yang · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate that this book details the life of an early trans icon. I went into it with high expectations. But the book itself is incredibly repetitive, often repeating the same few facts about Candy (she has bad teeth, she’s beautiful, she wanted to be a star). The author also name drops people/places/films/etc unnecessarily, imo. I say name drop because that’s often all we get of these “side characters”. It left me with the impression that the reader should know about the Factory scene in the 1960s prior to reading.

I understand that a lot of information about Candy was destroyed or lost to time. I believe this led to some of the repetition in the book. I wish that the author had filled the word count with more details about Candy’s friends and the art house scene in the 60s to paint a clearer picture of Candy’s world for us.

[Bob Schnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biographer Cynthia Carr does a fantastic job exploring every side of an intriguing personality, Candy Darling. Candy was a reluctant pioneer in gender dysphoria, transsexualism and gay liberation. She was also a Warhol superstar who performed in plays and films that went beyond the Factory. Glamourous but demure, tough but vulnerable, shy but ambitious; these were some of the many shades of Candy Darling captured perfectly in interviews and journal entries. "Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar" builds on previous biographies. The author also had unprecedented access to her subject's personal diaries and was even allowed to dig through the Warhol archives. The result is an absorbing story of a fascinating and ultimately tragic life.

[KarnagesMistress · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prior to reading Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, what I knew about the transgender community would cover little more than a Post-it note. What I knew about Andy Warhol and The Factory would've taken up even less room. I am a Gen X cisgender female from farm country. I was proud of myself that I knew as much as I did, but I wanted to know more. When I saw that Macmillan Audio had made this NetGalley audiobook available, I was excited for the opportunity to educate myself. There were times that I felt a little lost, but I didn't have to stop and check Wikipedia too often. (As hokey as it sounds, thank goodness for Lou Reed!)

Cynthia Carr's work is extensive and immersive. Candy Darling is the focus, but along the way we meet everyone from Candy's childhood classmates to Hollywood stars. Having read the audiobook, I have not seen Cynthia Carr's bibliography. If there are any scraps of information regarding Candy Darling undisclosed by Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, I can't imagine what they would be! This wealth of information doesn't make the reading process tedious, however, at least as far as the audiobook is concerned.

Now, how do you make a superlative biography even greater? You enlist the perfect audiobook narrator, of course! Justin Vivian Bond is a ringer, having previously played Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis off-off-Broadway. Whomever greenlighted hiring v deserves a raise with a bonus. I always gush over good audiobook narration, but Justin Vivian Bond's work truly deserves recognition. V's delivery alone stands out, but the imitations and impersonations, oh, my! It is because of Justin Vivian Bond that I insist that anyone who truly wants to feel immersed in Candy Darling's world must listen to the audiobook. I often joke that I enjoy so-and-so's voice so much that I would listen to them read/sing the phone book. I am officially adding Justin Vivian Bond to that list. I am at a loss of words. Just go, get the audiobook, listen for yourself!

A final word: I didn't start reading Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar expecting to find a friend, but I think I may have. I understand why so many people loved Candy Darling. Oh, honey, you were too much for this world, and so you had to leave. You are mythology and stardust and loved.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Might elaborate more later but for now:
- Such a well written biography. The snippets from Candy’s diary describing everything she had to endure and struggle with as a trans woman in the 60s/70s just broke my heart.
- Candy is the Candy of Walk On the Wild Side fame!!
- A little hard to remember all of the recurring characters, maybe bc I listened to the audiobook but also bc I’m not super familiar w the Andy Warhol scene (want to go back to Warhol museum but just for Candy purposes)
- Literally Lily Tomlin and Candy had overlapping social scenes and while in retrospect that makes sense my little mind was blown the first time she is mentioned
- Narrator was SO GOOD!! on Spotify version

Loved getting to know Candy throughout this book. Truly an icon.

[Leah Lorz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, not sure how this book ended up on my tbr - I had never heard of Candy Darling before reading. I think the book would be more enjoyable if there was some beforehand knowledge. Mostly because the book seemed to be very gossipy and involved a circle and time if people I didn’t really know - Andy Warhol probably being the most recognizable. The story of Candy herself was really interesting as she’d really became a pioneer in the trans world during a time there was much less understanding about identity. Lots of parts just dragged for me, but the narrator was superb.

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Candy Darling before (besides unknowingly in Lou Reed’s “Take a Walk on the Wild Side”) and this was a good introduction to her story as well as the context she was living through (felt incredibly naive learning that as recent as the 60s/70s people were arrested for wearing three items of clothing that didn’t align with their assigned sex). Only gripe was that it took for granted that you knew a lot about Andy Warhol and the Factory which made it a bit hard to follow at times.

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good biography of one of the strange denizens of the 60s scene whose center of gravity was somewhere near Andy Warhol's factory. A beautiful drag queen/performer and girl about town, Candy Darling played her life as a long drama which, sadly and predictably, burned out early. Cynthia Carr had access to a treasure trove of taped interviews with folks who knew her during the short bright time when she enjoyed her minutes in the spotlight. She follows up with excellent research and an insider's eye for the world Candy Darling graced with her presence.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The audiobook is outstanding and for that I’m giving this a five star review. ( overall it rates as 4-4.5 in my opinion). Really informative and heartbreaking story about a trans woman living in New York in the 60s and 70s. I enjoyed the historical part of the biography. ( very detailed!) A lot of famous people and events are also covered in this book. We have a long way to go in society’s acceptance and understanding of the gender diverse community but after reading this - wow- we have come a long way - thankfully.

[Joel Curry · Rating 4 out of 5]

They just don’t make them like that (gorgeous, compulsive lying, Hollywood addicted, journal keeping, lovelorn, prudish verging on republican, iconic superstar women) anymore

[zoe ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Candy Darling is one of my favorite actresses and her story is sadder than predicted. The world truly wasn't ready for her.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

So sad to imagine this girl full of life and wit be subject to such cruelty and repression… Yet her charm and humor made this book so so so enjoyable!