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The Lady Chablis | Had book, film roles, 59

The Lady Chablis, 59, the transgender performer who became an unlikely celebrity for her role in the 1994 best-seller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil , died Thursday in Savannah, Ga.

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The Lady Chablis, 59, the transgender performer who became an unlikely celebrity for her role in the 1994 best-seller

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

, died Thursday in Savannah, Ga.

Ms. Chablis' sister, Cynthia Ponder, confirmed the death. A close friend, Cale Hall, said Ms. Chablis died of pneumonia and had been in the hospital for a month.

A modern, nonfiction take on Southern Gothic storytelling, author John Berendt's Midnight thrust Savannah into the pop-culture spotlight. Ms. Chablis rode the book's popularity to a level of fame that was rare for transgender performers at the time.

She insisted on playing herself in the 1997 film, directed by Clint Eastwood. That same year she published an autobiography, Hiding My Candy. - AP