American filmmaker Ed Wood was BOTD in 1924. Born in New York, he developed twin passions as a child for movies and his mother’s mohair sweaters, making his first film aged 12. In 1942, he served with the US Marines during World War Two, secretly wearing women’s underwear beneath his combat uniform. After the war, he moved to Hollywood where he attempted to write and direct his own films. In 1952, he befriended his childhood idol, Dracula actor Bela Lugosi, who appeared in much of his later work. In 1953, Wood wrote, directed and starred in Glen or Glenda, an autobiographical film about a man who reveals his transvestism to his girlfriend. Widely panned on its release for its terrible production values, it failed to propel him to Hollywood success. His other films, zero-budget blends of horror, science fiction, sexploitation and the occult, include Jailbait, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Orgy of the Dead and Necromania. Wood also wrote pulp crime fiction and pornography to support himself. His first two marriages ended when his spouses discovered his transvestism, finding a more supportive long-term companion in Kathy O’Hara, whom he married in 1956. His latter years were affected by alcoholism, and he died in poverty in 1978, aged 54. In 1980, he was awarded a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time, renewing public interest in his life and work. He was played by Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s 1994 biopic Ed Wood, focusing on Wood’s friendship with Lugosi and the making of Glen or Glenda and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Now a beloved cult classic, Glen or Glenda is now acknowledged as one of the earliest depictions of trans culture in American cinema.