Born Walter Cole in 1930, the 87 year-old Darcelle XV shows no signs of

slowing: an absolute legend of Portland’s entertainment landscape,
Darcelle is owner and headliner of the Darcelle XV Showplace, the oldest
continuously running cabaret in the United States. For fifty years,
Darcelle has performed six shows a week, hosted countless fundraisers,
performed dozens of wedding ceremonies, fed the homeless and mingled
with the rich and famous. In 2008, Darcelle became the subject of the
Netflix documentary film Queens of Heart: Community Therapists in Drag.
In 2009, with the help of author and director Sharon Knorr, Darcelle
co-wrote and starred in the one-man show Just Call Me Darcelle
chronicling life from dirt poor beginnings in Linton, Oregon to sequined
celebrity. In 2016, Darcelle was added to the Guinness Book of World
Records as the Oldest Working Female Impersonator in the world. In May
of 2017, Darcelle received an Emmy Award for the Oregon Experience
episode that featured her and the history of her club.