The Naked Civil Servant (book) he faced by refusing to hide his homosexuality and flamboyant lifestyle during a time when such behaviour was criminalized in the United Kingdom. Crisp also recalls his various jobs including book designer, nude model, and prostitute. The title derives from Crisp's quip about being an art model: employed by schools, models are ultimately paid by the Department for Education. They are essentially civil employees who are naked during office hours. The Naked Civil Servant (book) The Naked Civil Servant is the 1968 autobiography of British gay icon Quentin Crisp, adapted into a 1975 film of the same name starring John
Gay icon beautifully". Garland's daughter Liza Minnelli would later follow in her mother's footsteps as a gay icon, as would fellow musical artist Barbra Streisand. Joan Crawford has been described as the "ultimate gay icon—the martyr who suffered for her art and, therefore, enabled herself to bond with this all-important faction of her fanbase." In "Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography", author Lawrence J. Quirk explains that Crawford appealed to gay men because they sympathized with her struggle for success, in both the entertainment industry and in her personal life. Though Crawford had been a notable film star during the 1930s and 1940s,