Transgender icon Carlotta has never been someone afraid to speak their mind.
‘I’m a bad b***h,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The problem is I say it, darling, and then I get myself into trouble.’
‘Listen, I’m nearly 82. If you don’t like it, blow it out of your you know what.’
Carlotta has also trod enough boards for two lifetimes, starting her career as a founding member of the legendary Kings Cross-based all male revue Les Girls in 1962.
Performing in the revue as a singer and comedian, Carlotta quickly became the star attraction and eventually became known as ‘The Queen of The Cross’.
While she may have announced her retirement back in 2021, Carlotta is proof that you just can’t keep a good woman down
She had sex reassignment surgery in 1971 and eventually left Les Girls in 1992.
She was also a trailblazer in Australian television, appearing as Robyn Ross in the racy ’70s series Number 96.ย
Her character came out as transgender on the show, marking the first time in the world that a transgender character had been portrayed by a transgender actor.
She was also a doyenne of daytime television, appearing as a panelist on the Stan Zemanek-hosted afternoon show Beauty and The Beast.
Carlotta’s storied career was the subject of a 2014 ABC biopic with Jessica Marais who played the legendary star.
She said that while chuffed with Jessica’s performance, she was less-than-impressed with the series as a whole.
‘Well darling I was furious,’ Carlotta admitted.
‘I mean she [Marais] did a brilliant job and the boy [Eamon Farren] won a [best supporting actor] award for it, actually we won three AACTAs.’
She will be hitting the stage again alongside drag superstar Trevor Ashley in a bawdy adult pantomime called Moulin Scrooge, which is due to hit Sydney later this month
While over the moon at the prospect of treading he boards with Trevor, Carlotta revealed that she is preparing to step away from the stage
The multi-talented star has also been cited as the inspiration behind the iconic Australian film Priscilla Queen of the Desert
‘When it was being made it was going to be a six-week mini series and Tony Abbott got into government and he cut the ABC funding so they concentrated it all into a movie.
‘There was a lot more that could be said. Maybe they’ll do it again after I’ve carked it.’
The multi-talented star has also been cited as the inspiration behind the iconic Australian film Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
‘They would never admit it darling because they’d have to pay me,’ she laughed.
‘But I met Terrance Stamp at the opening of the musical and he said, “I believe I was modelled on you” and I said, “Yeah, but I was never that ugly.”‘
While she may have announced her retirement back in 2021, Carlotta is proof that you just can’t keep a good woman down.
She will be hitting the stage again alongside drag superstar Trevor Ashley in a bawdy adult pantomime called Moulin Scrooge, which is due to hit Sydney later this month.
‘Trevor’s the only person that pulls me out of retirement,’ Carlotta said of her current collaborator.ย ย
Carlotta has trod enough boards for two lifetimes, starting her career as a founding member of the legendary Kings Cross-based all male revue Les Girls
Performing in the revue as a singer and comedian, Carlotta quickly became the star attraction and eventually became known as ‘The Queen of The Cross’ย
While over the moon at the prospect of treading the boards with Trevor, Carlotta revealed she is preparing to step away from the stage.
‘I’ve got the Adelaide festival in June and [the] Perth Festival, but they’ll be my last festivals. This will be the last time I’ll be doing pantos with Trevor as well,’ she said.
‘That’s more or less a goodbye, but I’m not sort of making a big splash of it darling because I don’t want to be one of those that have more exits than Dame Melba.
‘I’ve always painted, I’ve had a couple of successful art exhibitions. I’ll continue doing that.
‘I probably will, if say, someone wants me for a night to compare something and do a couple of numbers that’ll be about it.’
Carlotta added that it’s a tough fact to get used to given her tireless work ethic.
‘I’ve done it tough over the years darling. I’ve just been a workhorse. I’ve never been out of work since I was 16,’ she said.
‘I suppose it’s down to a bit of talent, but I just loved what I did.’
Carlotta’s storied career was the subject of a 2014 ABC biopic with Jessica Marais who played the legendary starย
Carlotta will star alongside drag star Trevor Ashley, pictured, in the new stage show
Carlotta added she has found retirement a tough adjustment – especially in her adopted home of Surfer’s Paradise.
‘When i first came up here 16 years ago, when I saw all these retirees, I lasted five minutes. I said, “I know I’m going back to work.”
‘I call this Band-Aid City up here. They’ve all got Band-Aids on and tubes up their bums and they’re all on walkers.’ย
A definite career highlight for Carlotta was appearing on Beauty and The Beast – an afternoon panel show that aired first on Foxtel and later Channel 10.
Hosted by radio star Stan Zemanek (the Beast), the show featured female celebrity guests [the Beauties] providing advice to viewers who wrote in to the show.
Innocuous enough, however the show often descended into wild arguments and shouting matches, particularly between Zemanek and series regular Jan Murray.
Carlotta admitted that her time on the series, which ended in July 2007, was one of the highlights of her life.
‘The names we called one another were unbelievable. You couldn’t get away with it on television today. But it just worked,’ she said.
A career highlight for Carlotta was appearing on Beauty and The Beast – an afternoon panel show that aired first on Foxtel and later Channel 10
‘And, you know, it was one of the happiest periods of my life that show because I did it for nearly nine years.’
‘I was in a bar in Oxford Street and Brian Walsh, the head of Foxtel, walked in and said “I’d like to put you in [Beauty and the Beast]” and I said, “I don’t think I can do that and Brian.”
‘So I just went on and did my piece and Stan and I got on like an absolute house on fire because we just fired off one an other. We just clicked.’ย
With a fear of becoming like the other denizens of ‘Band-Aid City’,ย Carlotta revealed that a reboot of Beauty and The Beast is in the works.
‘I’m about to do a revamp as a podcast with [former Beauty and the Beast regular Prue MacSween,’ she said.ย
‘It’s the same sort of thing, but it won’t be called Beauty and the Beast.
‘Actually, I’m actually taping the first one when I come down to Sydney later this month.’
With such to outspoken characters at the microphone, some sparks are almost guaranteed.
Carlotta revealed that somewhat of a reboot of Beauty and The Beast is in the works
‘I’m about to do a revamp as a podcast with [former Beauty and the Beast regular Prue MacSween,’ she said. It’s the same sort of thing, but it won’t be called Beauty and the Beast
With issues surrounding trans rights and representation entering the Australian cultural conversation, Carlotta slammed those opposing the transgender community.
‘It’s just a shame they want to pick on the weakest thing,’ she said.
‘They [trans people]ย don’t do anybody any harm and there’s people out there who think that they’re all pedophiles or something. It’s just ludicrous.
‘The trans people that I know, they’re really lovely people. They’re just nice, you know? They get on with their own business and they don’t interfere with anyone else.’
Despite this, Carlotta is a staunch opponent of political correctness, revealing that the idea of pronouns may have gone too far.
‘All these bloody names they have for us now,’ she exclaimed.ย
‘In my day, you were either a p**f or straight.
‘It’s just getting too complicated. You need a dictionary to keep up with it all.’ย
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