Dorian Corey

• Name — Dorian Corey • Birth Name — Frederick Legg • Born — June 6, 1937 • Birthplace — Buffalo, New York, U.S. • Died — August 29, 1993 (aged 56) • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Education — Parsons School of Design • Occupation — Drag queen, fashion designer

Corey was born in Buffalo, New York to Franklin Legg and Mary Fox Clark out of wedlock, though they later married on October 18, 1947. Dorian was assigned male at birth, but later identified as a trans woman. Raised on a farm in Buffalo, Dorian began performing in drag, when leaving the city of Buffalo. In the 1950s, Corey worked as a window dresser at Hengerer's, then moved to New York City to study art at Parsons.

In the 1960s, Corey toured as a snake dancer in the Pearl Box Revue, a cabaret drag act. She was one of four performers who appeared on the 1972 Pearl Box Revue LP Call Me MISSter. Corey founded the House of Corey, which holds over 50 grand prizes from vogue balls. She was a mother to Angie Xtravaganza who is featured in the film Paris Is Burning, (1990). Corey also ran and designed a clothing label called Corey Design. At one point, Corey's act involved her wearing a feather cape. Once she shed her costume down to a sequined body stocking, two attendants raised the cape up on poles to produce a feathered tent that covered half the audience.

After Corey's death, the preserved body of Robert Worley (also known as Robert Wells) was found amongst her belongings; it appeared that he had died from a gunshot wound to the head. He was last seen by his family in 1968. Investigators determined the body to have been dead for approximately 25 years. There is speculation that Worley and Corey were lovers, Worley was abusive toward Corey, and Corey shot Worley in self-defense. Alternatively, it is also speculated that Worley may have been shot in an attempted robbery. In the TV series Pose, transgender house mother Elektra, who secretly works as a dominatrix in a BDSM club, discovers one of her clients has died from an overdose in her private dungeon. She enlists the aid of other characters to transport, mummify, and hide the body in a trunk. Producer and director Janet Mock confirmed on Twitter that writer Our Lady J based the anthology melodrama on Corey.