Editing Quentin Crisp (section)

===Fame===
[[File:QuentinCrisp(Q&A)RossBennettLewisPHOTO.png|thumb|Quentin Crisp during a Q&A session for his book and the film ''[[The Naked Civil Servant (film)|The Naked Civil Servant]]'']]
In 1975, the television version of ''[[The Naked Civil Servant (film)|The Naked Civil Servant]]'' was broadcast on British and US television, making actor [[John Hurt]], and Crisp, into stars. This success launched Crisp in a new direction: that of performer and tutor. He devised a one-man show and began touring the country with it. The first half of the show was an entertaining monologue loosely based on his memoirs, while the second half was a question-and-answer session with Crisp picking the audience's written questions at random and answering them in an amusing manner.

After the success of the film, his autobiography was reprinted; ''[[Gay News]]'' commented that it should have been published posthumously (Crisp said that this was their polite way of telling him to drop dead). Gay rights campaigner [[Peter Tatchell]] said he had met Crisp in 1974, and alleged that he was not sympathetic to the [[Gay Liberation]] movement of the time.<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 December 2009|title=Comment: Quentin Crisp was no gay rights hero|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/28/comment-quentin-crisp-was-no-gay-rights-hero/|access-date=1 September 2020|website=PinkNews |language=en-GB}}</ref> Tatchell said Crisp quipped: "What do you want liberation from? What is there to be proud of? I don't believe in rights for homosexuals."<ref name=Tatchell/>

By now Crisp was a theatre-filling humourist; in 1978, his one-man show sold out London's [[Duke of York's Theatre]]. He then took the show to New York. His first stay in the [[Hotel Chelsea]] coincided with a fire, a robbery, and the death of [[Nancy Spungen]]. Crisp decided to move to New York permanently and, in 1981, found a small apartment at 46 East 3rd Street in Manhattan's [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Notable Abodes - East 3rd Street, New York, New York|url=http://www.notableabodes.com/person-abode-details/6315/quentin-crisp-author_46-east-3rd-street-new-york-new-york|access-date=1 September 2020|website=notableabodes.com}}{{Dead link|date=April 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

As he had done in London, Crisp allowed his telephone number to be listed in the [[telephone directory]]. He saw it as his duty to converse with anyone who called him, saying "If you don't have your name in the phone book, you're stuck with your friends. How will you ever enlarge your horizons?"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaXPFuIXpk4|title=Quentin Crisp Collection on Letterman, 1982-83|date=10 March 2018 |via=YouTube}}</ref> He answered the phone with the phrase: "Yes, Lord?", or "Oh yes?", in a querulous tone of voice.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} His openness to strangers extended to accepting dinner invitations from almost anyone. While he expected that the host would pay for dinner, Crisp did his best to "sing for his supper" by regaling his host with wonderful stories and yarns, much as he did in his theatrical performances.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

[[File:Quentin Crisp's Signature.jpg|thumb|alt=The title page of Crisp's 1981 book, How to Become a Virgin. Mr. Crisp's handwritten dedication for a fan appears beneath the title, and reads: "To Graham from Quentin Crisp". The dedication is written in a large, round hand with a circle dotting each I.|Quentin Crisp's handwriting and signature, from a dedication on the title page of ''How to Become a Virgin'' (1981)]]
Crisp continued to perform his one-man show, published books on the importance of contemporary manners as a means of social inclusion (as opposed to etiquette, which he claimed is socially exclusive), and supported himself by accepting social invitations and writing film reviews and columns for UK and US magazines and newspapers. He said that provided one could exist on peanuts and champagne, one could quite easily live by going to every [[cocktail party]], [[premiere]] and first night to which one was invited.<ref>{{Cite web|date=14 July 1996|title=Life is a bowl of peanuts|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/life-is-a-bowl-of-peanuts-1328759.html|access-date=30 October 2020|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Crisp 1982.jpg|thumb |alt=A sepia-toned photograph. A straight-faced Quentin Crisp gestures from an ornate, high-backed chair. A large, red handkerchief flops from his jacket pocket.|Quentin Crisp in a performance of his one-man show, ''An Evening With Quentin Crisp'', in [[Birmingham]], 1982]]
Crisp also acted on television and in films. He made his debut as a film actor in the [[Royal College of Art]]'s low-budget production of ''[[Hamlet]]'' (1976). Crisp played [[Polonius]] in the 65-minute adaptation of [[Shakespeare]]'s play, alongside [[Helen Mirren]], who played both [[Ophelia]] and [[Gertrude (Hamlet)|Gertrude]]. He appeared in the 1985 film ''[[The Bride (1985 film)|The Bride]]'', which brought him into contact with [[Sting (musician)|Sting]], who played the lead role of Baron [[Frankenstein]], and who in 1987 wrote the song "[[Englishman in New York]]" for and about Crisp. Crisp also appeared on the television show ''[[The Equalizer (1985 TV series)|The Equalizer]]'' in the 1987 episode "First Light", and as the narrator of director [[Richard Kwietniowski]]'s short film ''Ballad of Reading Gaol'' (1988), based on the [[The Ballad of Reading Gaol|poem]] by [[Oscar Wilde]]. Four years later, he was cast in a lead role, and got top billing, in the low-budget [[independent film]] ''[[Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers]]'', playing the door-man of a flea-bag hotel in a run-down neighbourhood, quite like the one he lived in. Director Thomas Massengale reportedly said that Crisp was a delight to work with.

The 1990s were his most prolific decade as an actor, as more and more directors offered him roles. In 1992 he was persuaded by [[Sally Potter]] to play [[Elizabeth I]] in the film ''[[Orlando (film)|Orlando]]''. Although he found the role taxing, he won acclaim for a dignified and touching performance. Crisp next had an uncredited cameo in the 1993 AIDS drama ''[[Philadelphia (film)|Philadelphia]].'' He accepted some other small bit parts and cameos, such as a pageant judge in 1995's ''[[To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar]]''. Crisp's last role was in an independent film, ''American Mod'' (1999), while his last full-feature film was ''HomoHeights'' (also released as ''Happy Heights'', 1996). He was chosen by [[Channel 4]] to deliver the first ''[[Alternative Christmas Speech]]'', a counterpoint to the [[Queen's Christmas speech]], in 1993.