female impersonator film star dead

From the Associate Press:

PARIS — French actor Michel Serrault, whose hit performance as a transvestite in the film and stage versions of La Cage aux Folles (Birds of a Feather) catapulted him to international stardom, has died. He was 79.

Serrault played female impersonator Zaza Napoli in the original French version of La Cage, which, in my humble opinion, was superior in all ways to the American version. He also played the same role in a less successful sequel and trequel of the film.