David Raven, who was better known as Maisie Trollette and who would be the oldest dredging artist in Great Britain, died Wednesday in Brighton, England. He was 91 years old.
His death was confirmed by a friend, Scott St. Martyn, who said that Mr. Raven lived in a nursing home.
Mr. Raven played as a trolr maisie for more than half a century, wearing a blonde wig, a thick layer of makeup and long glitter dresses while singing old pieces of show and naughty jokes. He became a pillar of the British dredging circuit, a regular presence during the Brighton and Hove Pride event and a mentor of the young Drag Queens.
He came out gay in her twenties, at a time when “homosexual acts” were still illegal in Great Britain. (The law changed in 1967 in England.) Mr. Raven began to perform in drag when the form became popular with the rise of Danny La Rue, a famous artist of British drag (who was, according to Mr. St. Martyn, a big fan of Mr. Raven).
At the start of his career, Mr. Raven described himself as a “lady of pantomime”, said Mr. St. Martyn, an actor who became a friend with Mr. Raven in the 1980s, in an interview. “He has always tried to legitimize him by being a professional actor.”
Mr. Raven became famous in the 1960s while half of the Dragsters duo the trollets alongside Jimmy Court, who played like Jimmy Trollette.
“They were sort of slapstick comedians,” said Dave Lynn, a longtime friend of Mr. Raven who played with him in the 80s and 90s. “You never knew what was going to come from them, most of them were Ad-Lib.”
Finally, Mr. Raven was developed as a solo act, performing as a maisie in charitable shows and places through Great Britain, and appearing in the inaugural parade of Brighton and Hove Pride, the largest festival of pride in Great Britain, in 1973.
“Maisie was a must,” said Christopher Dennis, better known as his Drag alter ego, La Voix, who met Mr. Raven in the early 2000s. “Everyone knew him even if you hadn’t seen it. You just knew the name.
Although Mr. Raven is well known on the Drag circuit and Brighton, where he lived, we knew little about his first life and childhood. Even friends who have known him for decades said he had never talked about his past.
David Raven was born on August 15, 1933 in Cornwall, England, and was raised by adoptive parents in Norfolk. He had no immediate survivors; His partner, Don Coull, whom he called his “idol” and his “other half” in “Maisie”, a documentary in 2021, died of AIDS complications about two decades.
While Mr. Raven was an undisputed pillar of the British trail, he seriously wanted to separate his alter ego from his daily identity, repressing anyone who called him Maisie when he was not of character.
“He came from a very cold environment,” said Lynn. “He couldn’t be a full -time queen.”
Mr. Raven continued to play well in the 80s, finally using a walking stick on stage. “I cannot believe that I have been doing this for 50 years,” he said in the 2021 documentary.
While Mr. Raven was a singular figure in Great Britain, he had an American counterpart: Walter Cole, also known as Darcelle XV, an American drag queen who won a world record Guinness as the oldest artist of Dragsters in the world. (Mr. Cole died at 92 years old in 2023.)
In the documentary “Maisie”, the two octogeniary artists have a meal together and prepare for a performance in Brighton. Standing side by side, they pose for photos and exchange jokes and (sometimes dirty) jokes.
Mr. Raven had a mean sense of humor, and his friends described him as “bad” and a “joker”. During trips with friends, he hid in cupboards or under beds to scare them. During his free time, he loved betting, especially on racing horses. Even later in life, when he was too sick to leave the house, Mr. Raven asked people to place bets for him, said St. Martyn.
His longevity inspired the young performers and he gave deep encouragement to younger acts in order to help the British dredging scene, said Lynn.
“There is a feeling in the arts that there is an expiration date,” said Dennis. “And David showed us that there was no expiration to be fabulous.”
