American actress and trans icon Candy Darling was BOTD in 1944. Born in New York City, she had a turbulent childhood, dropping out of high school after a group of boys tried to lynch her. She trained as a make-up artist, coming out to her mother in women’s clothing, who commented later “I knew then… that I couldn’t stop [her]. Candy was just too beautiful and talented.” Modelling herself on film stars Joan Bennett and Kim Novak, she moved to Greenwich Village, acting in an Off-Broadway play Glamour, Glory and Gold with the then-unknown Robert De Niro. In 1967, Darling met Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey and joined the Factory Superstars, appearing in Morrissey’s experimental films Flesh and Women in Revolt. She appeared sporadically in independent films including Klute and Lady Liberty and was in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ play Small Craft Warnings at Williams’ request. Her attempts to break into mainstream film were unsuccessful, including a bid to play the trans lead character in the film of Gore Vidal‘s novel Myra Breckinridge. Darling died in 1974 of cancer, aged 29. Her legacy in popular culture has proved remarkably enduring, immortalised in Lou Reed’s song Walk on the Wild Side (“Candy came from out on the Island/ In the back room she was everybody’s darling”). Peter Hujar’s photograph of Darling on her death bed was used as the cover image for Antony and the Johnsons’ trans-themed 2005 album I Am a Bird Now. She was played by Stephen Dorff in Mary Harron’s 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol and will be played by trans actress Hari Nef in a forthcoming biopic.