Main Cast: John Hansen, Joan Tompkins, Quinn K. Redeker, John Himes, Ellen Clark
Release Year: 1970
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Taken from the autobiography of the world's first transsexual, George Jorgensen (John Hansen) is a woman trapped in a man's body who opts for surgery and hormone treatments to make him a woman. Events of his childhood are covered, showing young George preferring dolls over contact sports. Inducted into the Army, the sexually confused George learns to hide his emotions during his military experience. He travels to Denmark where a pioneering team of doctors agree to perform the surgical process for the first time ever. His kindly aunt in Denmark (Joan Tompkins) gives George the name of Christine after her late daughter. Hansen is unconvincing as a woman, and there are several passages in this biographical drama that lead to unintentional hilarity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Rod McCary - Jess Wanner; Will Kuluva - Prof. Eastbrook; Oscar Beregi - Dr. Victor Dahlman; Lynn Harper - Dolly; Trent Lehman - George, Age 7; Pamelyn Ferdin - Dolly, as a Child; Bill Erwin - Pastor; Joyce Meadows - Tani; Sondra Scott - Angela; Don Pierce - Jack; Eddie Frank - George, as a Child; Dee Carroll - Mrs. Whalstrom; Peter Bourne - Whalstrom; Elaine Joyce - Loretta
Credit
F. Paul Sylos - Art Director, Frank Sylos - Art Director, Moss Mabry - Costume Designer, Howard Kazanjian - First Assistant Director, Irving Rapper - Director, Grant Whytock - Editor, Paul Sawtell - Composer (Music Score), Bert Shefter - Composer (Music Score), Jacques Marquette - Cinematographer, Edward Small - Producer, Roger George - Special Effects, Ellis St. Joseph - Screenwriter, Robert Kent - Screenwriter, Christine Jorgensen - Book Author
The Christine Jorgensen Story is a 1970 biographical movie about transgendered Christine Jorgensen. It was directed by Irving Rapper and based on Christine Jorgensen's autobiography.
George/Christine is played by John Hansen. The film attempts a sympathetic depiction of its protagonist, and pleads for sympathy for transsexuals (and for anyone who is "different"). The movie has gone on to achieve a cult movie status.
Among the slogans in the movie's ad campaign was this statement, allegedly made by Jorgensen: "Dresses and dolls were my world as a boy". The film includes a scene in which George Jorgensen, as a boy (Trent Lehman), puts on one of his sister's dresses and his mother's lipstick on his face. In fact, the real Christine Jorgensen stated that she never cross-dressed during her boyhood.
