Paul O'Grady: From Lily Savage to TV national treasure, with a love of dogs
"She was taken into hospital and the doctor said to my father, 'She's not going to last the night'," he said."He just collapsed on the spot," O'Grady recalled. "The doctor said, 'If I could put on the death certificate, he's died of a broken heart, then I would'.
"Say a mum went into hospital and there were five children - rather than split the kids up and put them into various homes and stuff, I'd go in and look after them to keep them as a family unit," he explained, before adding: "God knows why, because most of them were the antichrist version of The Waltons."
The following night, he was back on stage, undeterred. That defiance, combined with public support for LGBT campaigns in the years that followed and his performances as Lily, helped make him an icon in that community.Last year, he was given a Rainbow Honour "for his stellar work to advance the rights of LGBTQI people in Britain and around the world"
Lily also didn't have a highly polished look. "I had this image of this hard-bitten hooker from Birkenhead with her roots showing and a rip in her tights and a bit of old ratty leopard skin and a big handbag," O'Grady said. The real O'Grady initially stayed in the background - but his profile gradually began to take over from Lily's.
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