Bill Perez, of Cherry Grove, Chelsea, and Fort Lauderdale, died recently in his apartment on West 21st Street in Manhattan, according to Arts Project of Cherry Grove President Thom “Panzi” Hansen. Bill would have turned 76 this spring. Little is known about any family members or close friends who may have survived him.
Bill was a man of many parts. He had retired from years of working for the Federal Government; was a survivor of skin cancer and a heart attack; had a drag persona, Ursala Major (Big Bear), in which had been a member of the Imperial Court of New York and had participated in many Independence Day Grove Invasions of the Pines; was part of the Leather Community; loved opera and other classical music, attending performances of “Boris Godunov” and “Dr. Atomic” at the Metropolitan Opera with my friends and me, and the OceanAires classical concerts in the Grove; carefully cultivated an image as a curmudgeon; and, greatly interested in Asian culture and style, often wore a Chinese hat to protect his head and face from the sun, particularly after he was diagnosed with skin cancer, and treasured memories of a November 2008 trip that he took to Thailand. His zodiac sign was Taurus and, on the Chinese calendar, he was born in a Year of the Rabbit.
Bill, tall and imposing, sang in a deep bass, for nearly three decades, in Arts Project theatrical shows at the Cherry Grove Community House. He portrayed Marlene Dietrich singing “Doing What Comes Naturally,” in a German accent, in Jack Hayes’ “Tonight We Raid Berlin,” commenting, “You may call it Marlene, but I call it a bear in a dress,” and Kate Smith warbling “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain,” while Andy Fischman mooned the audience behind his back, in Panzi and Philomena’s “Direct TV.” He sang Dietrich song “Black Market,” by Friedrich Hollander, in Phyllis Raskind’s “Smoke and Mirrors,” and Kurt Weill songs in John DeMarco’s shows. He lived on Ivy Walk in Cherry Grove for many summers and, briefly, at Regents Row on Green Walk, and Kokomo, now lost in the March 27 fire, on Holly Walk.