Women Disguised as Men

**will.15** · 25-12-09 06:28 PM

Movies with men in drag are pretty common, going back to the silent era with Fatty Arbuckle and even Walace Beery indulging in it. Much rarer are films where women are disguised as men. The earliest examples I could think of are both from 1935, Katharine Hepburn in Slylvia Scarlett and Jessie Matthews in First a Girl.

**GoggleboxUK** · 25-12-09 06:53 PM

There's a very touching true story about a girl who pretended to be a man with tragic consequences.

Boys Don't Cry (1999) starring Hilary Swank.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOarssJWHhI"]YouTube- Boys Don't Cry Trailer[/ame]

**cornershop15** · 25-12-09 09:02 PM

Merry Christmas, Will. Tabdas Whipes, Gogglebox.

Her Life as a Man (1984) was an interesting TV movie, starring Robyn Douglass who was a reporter who tried to get back at boss Robert Culp by disguising herself as a man - complete with beard, regrettably. Joan Collins made a guest appearance and wore a trouser-suit herself if I remember rightly. Would you believe it, she's on telly now - just as I am writing this - in All-Star Mr. & Mrs. Christmas Special (I thought I'd get that in! As the Bishop said to the Actress

)

THE BIG QUESTION: Whatever happened to Robyn Douglass?

A quick search at IMDB reveals that her last credit was in 1999, but Her Life as a Man is all I've seen her in, unfortunately. Her main credit must be a thing called Galactica 1980, which also starred Lorne Greene. More interestingly, for me, Robyn was in an earlier TV movie, Golden Gate, with Jean Simmons!

**GoggleboxUK** · 25-12-09 09:16 PM

name='cornershop15']Merry Christmas, Will. Tabdas Whipes, Gogglebox.

!

I googled Tabdas Whipes. this may be one for your strange search results Cornershop. It asked me if I meant Tandas Wipes which, apparently, are some kind of infant pooper scooper.

**torinfan** · 25-12-09 11:03 PM

Joan Marshall as Warren in Homicidal. She does an excellent job portraying a man, too.

**Maurice** · 25-12-09 11:38 PM

Queen Christina (1933)

**Bernardo** · 26-12-09 12:16 AM

I hate to admit to knowing the Midshipman in Carry On Jack who took the place of Bernard Cribbins, not a film I would reccomend.

Julie Andrews, lesbian icon, portrayal of Victor Victoria comes to mind

**cornershop15** · 26-12-09 12:19 AM

name='GoggleboxUK']I googled Tabdas Whipes. this may be one for your strange search results Cornershop. It asked me if I meant Tandas Wipes which, apparently, are some kind of infant pooper scooper.

Bizarre!

Diana Rigg (on the right!) in Theatre of Blood is another one:

With Vincent Price, of course

We shouldn't forget that the otherwise lovely Juliet Harmer, as Georgina Jones,

was mistaken for a man by Adam Adamant (Gerald Harper) when they first met.

**HUGHJAMPTON** · 26-12-09 04:54 AM

Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria

Marlene Dietrich, Morocco

Veronica Lake, Sullivans Travels

Tilda Swinton, Orlando

Ingrid Bergman and whoever else who has played Joan of Arc

**will.15** · 26-12-09 05:22 AM

Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously.

**moonfleet** · 26-12-09 07:19 AM

I'm an absolute fan of Victor-Victoria.

**Mark O** · 26-12-09 08:59 AM

I have to admit that the very first appearances of Annie Lennox and Sade on TOTP before they were well known had me thinking 'are they men'?, same with Boy George before it was known who he was, i honestly thought he was a woman!

**will.15** · 26-12-09 07:40 PM

Rochelle Hudson in Wild Boys of the Road

**Grant** · 26-12-09 07:49 PM

Anne Heywood in 'I want what I want'.

**cornershop15** · 24-01-11 12:35 AM

Some great images and posters here, Grant

I Want What I Want at MovieGoods

I guess that applies to everything!

A forum search for former subject Robyn Douglass made it easy to find - and now resurrect -this thread, more than a year after the last post. will.15 created a thread for http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/ac...e-daniels.html the other day. This publicity still isn't really how I prefer to see the entertainer, born 110 years ago this month, hence it's inclusion here:

(John Springer Collection)

Actress Bebe Daniels Dressed as Man

Bebe Daniels dresses as a swashbuckler in the 1927 Silent film Senorita.The film
was a spoof of the 1920 picture, The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks.

**Rowdon** · 24-01-11 09:15 AM

There's a well-known film where somebody recognises their wife dressed as a man on security footage at an airport. Is Yul Brynner in it? God I must get my memory seen to by someone or other.

**GRAEME** · 24-01-11 09:48 AM

Barbra Streisand in Yentl.

Juliet Mills in Carry On Jack

**GRAEME** · 24-01-11 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by Rowdon

There's a well-known film where somebody recognises their wife dressed as a man on security footage at an airport. Is Yul Brynner in it? God I must get my memory seen to by someone or other.

Dunno - but I remember Yul in drag in The Magic Christian!

**Moor Larkin** · 24-01-11 11:39 AM

I'm sure there's a few movies on the High Seas of the wooden ships era where a woman impersonates a man, or a cabin boy at least. This is usually either to stowaway in plain sight, or a scheme by some seafarer to enable a female to be safe from rampant seamen.

Katherine Hepburn was often dressed a bit *mannish* but I'm not sure she was impersonating being one, just maintaining the right to be a little more utilitarian than the norm for *ladies who lunched* in those days.