Michele Bruno

Michele Bruno (1941-2016) was a South African drag queen and hairdresser. Bruno lived in Johannesburg and came to perform drag in the 1960s. He was the first Miss Gay South Africa in 1969.

Biography Bruno was born in 1941 and his parents were Italian immigrants to South Africa. By 1960, Bruno was performing as a drag queen, though his day job was working as a hairdresser in Johannesburg.

In 1960, Bruno was involved in the first commercial drag show at the Jewish Guild Theatre. In 1969, Bruno was named the first Miss Gay South Africa. A 1997 oral history by Bruno and an archive of materials saved by Bruno is part of the Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) collection.