BEAUTIFUL DARLING chronicles the short but influential life of Candy Darling, a major part of Andy Warhol’s entourage and one of the inspirations for the Lou Reed song “Walk on the Wild Side.”

Born James Slattery in a Long Island suburb in 1944, he transformed himself into a gorgeous, blonde actress and well-known downtown New York figure. Candy’s career took her through the raucous and revolutionary Off-off-Broadway theater scene and into Andy Warhol’s legendary Factory. There she became close to Warhol and starred in two Factory movies that still shock and amuse today: FLESH and WOMEN IN REVOLT. Candy used her Warhol fame to land further film roles, and her admirer Tennessee Williams cast her in his play “Small Craft Warnings.” She dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star, but tragically died of lymphoma in the early 1970s, at only 29.

Candy’s beauty, humor, and early death, the guts it took to live as a woman, the glamorous parties and the famous friends — most of all the strength of will she demonstrated in her remarkable act of self-creation — moved those who knew her in her lifetime and continue to gather fans today. It’s a story of wild, creative times and of audacious people, but one that has a theme inspiring for anyone, anywhere: whatever the obstacles, be true to yourself.