Leonardo da Vinci, Bessie Smith, John Curry, Greta Garbo, Jean Genet, Edward Gorey, John Singer Sargent, Kenneth Williams
Born: Leonardo da Vinci (1452), Bessie Smith (1894)
Died: John Curry (1994), Greta Garbo (1990), Jean Genet (1986), Edward Gorey (2000), John Singer Sargent (1925), Kenneth Williams (1988)
Born on this day
Leonardo da Vinci
The universal genius of the Renaissance was accused of sodomy at 24, never married and lived with young male companions.
15AprBorn 1894132nd birthdayBessie Smith
The “Empress of the Blues” made Black women’s lives and desires central to some of the era’s most influential recordings.
Died on this day
John Curry
He wanted to dance, so he turned figure skating into ballet on ice – and became Olympic champion and one of the first openly gay top athletes.
15AprDied 199036th anniversary of deathGreta Garbo
A Swedish film star whose guarded private life became almost as famous as her performances.
15AprDied 198640th anniversary of deathJean Genet
A writer who turned criminality, exclusion and desire into an unsettling literary world.
15AprDied 200026th anniversary of deathEdward Gorey
An illustrator whose elegant drawings give the absurd and macabre a world of their own.
15AprDied 1925101st anniversary of deathJohn Singer Sargent
The most fashionable portrait painter of his age never married – and his private drawings of male nudes have only recently been widely shown.
15AprDied 198838th anniversary of deathKenneth Williams
Britain’s favourite comic voice of the “Carry On” films kept his homosexuality a private torment, recorded only in his diaries.