All language subtitles for Becoming Leslie English

(drumming)

- Hey folk, how ya'll doin'?

It's so good to be, uh-oh,
excuse me for a second.

(drumming)

(up-tempo country rock music)

Let's move on to some real comedy.

Let's talk about me. (laughs)

You know, humor and truth just sorta like

mixes up together.

'Course people already told me I had

a magnetic personality.

Now life is imitating life.

Those who aren't from Austin, and hey,

all you people from Austin, hey.

Thank you for everything,
you made me who I am.

(audience cheering)

- I'm really not gonna
go into that right now.

- [Ruby] You don't wanna talk about that?

- No, the thing is, when,
okay, let me repeat the answer.

(beeps)

My first name is, uh, I
gave up my first name...

(beeps)

Now my first name, once
I've decided to drop it

is no longer relevant.

So it's a thing of the past.

(beeps)

And we're gonna, you give
away all your secrets

then people lose interest.

I wanna keep the people interested

so we're just gonna let 'em be curious.

(clapping)

(upbeat rock music)

- You know, when I came in '95, Leslie was

quite a fixture around the town.

It's almost like you took
it almost for granted

he was always there.

- Should I turn the other cheek?

(laughing)

- One of the things that was held up

as a symbol of Austin weirdness,

over and over again, was Leslie Cochran.

Leslie was an icon.

- He didn't have an address.

He didn't have a home, you know.

So he was homeless, by
all intents and purposes.

- I seen this good-looking girl

walking away from me.

She had on these stocking-type
legging things on

and I thought, my god, man.

This has got to be a doll.

And when I finally got up there,

there was this beard and there was this

smiling character, and I
thought, good lord a mercy.

He said, "Hello, I'm Leslie."

- A lot of people hear about me

long before they come here.

I have people all over the world

come here looking for me.

- Leslie was case in point for why I

moved from Houston to Austin.

You know?

This is what I was hoping for.

This is exactly what was looking for.

I didn't know it. (laughs)

It made me love Austin all the more.

- People argue with me
about what I really am.

- He certainly did not view himself as

transvestite or transgendered
or anything like that.

He was Leslie.

And Austin was his costume.

- He was a pretty good
litmus test for Austin.

If someone said "Oh, who's that guy?

"Let's get rid of him," then you're

not really an Austinite.

If you're like, "Oh, that's Leslie."

If that's your approach,
then you belong in Austin.

- Dude, get this.

So you have your own magnet collection

that we can dress you however we want.

- If they make a homeless mother fucker

in drag a celebrity, I
know I can go to Austin

and be somebody important.

- The reason why a lot of people are here

in Austin, for whatever reason, it's like

people who grew up feeling like they were

bullied or whatever for being different,

or people who were rejected socially.

That's why I came to Austin, you know?

I think people they identify with Leslie.

Not just being different, but for just

going out there and just being out there

in front of everybody is different.

- It's not like we need a lot of Leslies.

But we need one for sure.

- He's a simple person but there's a lot

of complexity in his life, too.

To me, keepin' Austin weird is Leslie.

- I don't remember when
I first saw Leslie.

Leslie would come in to
hang around the salon.

He was always trying to get people to

cut and color his hair.

But he did pop in one day.

Most of the stylists I
think were ignoring him

because of course he was
not a paying customer.

That day I said yes.

So, what are you in the mood for today?

- Well today what I'd like to do is,

oh, there is it.

Is maybe get rid of the gray.

- I'd played around a little bit with film

and images and creating.

Working with Leslie, I had no choice but

to ask him, "Could I start shooting you?"

What'd you do last night?

- Uh, went down Sixth Street.

Made about 70 bucks showing my ass.

(laughs)

- He was fun to shoot because visually

he was visually very interesting.

He was entertaining.

Always wanting to entertain.

He loved performing for the cameras.

He really liked the
attention that that brought.

I was just capturing what he was being.

He was a contradiction.

He seemed to be neither male or female.

And to walk around with such confidence,

you don't see something like every day.

- [Ruby] So how long have
you liked to wear skirts?

- I started wearing skirts just

about when I turned 40.

I didn't have any interest in men at all,

so I picked up a woman one night.

Turned out she was a guy.

- [Ruby] So that was your
first gay experience?

- Oh yes.

To losing your virginity, ha ha.

- [Ruby] Do you think
maybe you're a shaman?

- That is a common thought about me.

- [Ruby] I've experienced that people

will be talking about
you and you will show up.

- That is being at the right
place at the right time.

I guess if I was Buckaroo
Banzai I would probably

just say I fly by the seat of my pants.

January 24th, 1996 was the
first day that I got here.

I was on a three-wheel bicycle
pulling a six-foot trailer.

I decided to do a book on
how we treat our homeless.

Just drift around and see
how the place treats you.

So I decided to do a cross-section trip

from Atlanta to Miami to Seattle.

And here I am in Austin, Texas.

- When Leslie showed up,
there was a pretty strong

homeless presence in downtown Austin.

Especially after the
savings and loan crisis.

By the time 1985 rolled around, many of

the financial institutions failed,

many of the development
projects fell through.

There was a huge commercial
vacancy rate downtown.

With all those vacancies, the
homeless population moved in.

So as the city starts
growing again in the 1990s,

there was a big movement to get rid of

an unwanted element in
the downtown of Austin.

1996 was when the Camping
Ordinance went into effect.

- It is an ordinance that in the '90s

spread across country in
many, many municipalities.

These ordinances were
clearly and specifically

passed in order to control
and to regulate out,

or to criminalize the homeless community.

- [Ruby] What is your life like in Austin?

- I have a dream life in Austin,

and I owe it all to the police department.

If the police department wasn't so rotten,

and if they hadn't tried
to run me out of town

by falsely arresting me
and perjuring themselves

and all that stuff, I
wouldn't have stayed here

and fought to be free here in the city.

- [Ruby] So what happened that you decided

to protest the police?

I mean, why--

- Okay, it's not what happens to you,

it's what you do with it.

- I met Leslie in 1998.

I was working with
dialogues for the homeless

on Access channel here in Austin.

Someone had told me
about this guy protesting

up on 183, a grocery store.

He was trying to meet
somebody there at the store,

and that he was currently
protesting because

they were trying to run him off.

And they told me if I didn't leave--

- It was hard to believe
that somebody would

spray a homeless person with a hose.

I'd heard about it before,

but Leslie made me believe it.

I would say that's what first attracted me

to his friendship, is that I got to learn

a lot about the police
activity with the homeless.

- When you go after the people that

you're supposed to be serving,

it changes the whole attitude of the city.

(rock music)

- That spring boarded
his career, if you would,

with the Austin police department.

- [Leslie] Right after
I got here, I got myself

a citation for camping.

- The No Sit No Lie ordinance
really makes it difficult to

sleep on a park bench, rest in a park,

loiter around a business.

Whether you're outside during the day

or whether you're outside at
night and you're homeless,

it's very difficult to be legal.

- It was being applied
to the homeless people

to run 'em outta town.

- In Austin, there might be, might be,

1,000 chronically homeless
people like Leslie Cochran.

People are living in alleyways.

People are sleeping in parks.

They are trespassing on private property

and building camps, and trying to survive.

So the phone's ringing off the wall,

and the City Council's getting the calls.

And then the police chief gets the calls.

And then they go out
there, rip up the campsite,

kick the guys out, throw all the stuff

into the dumpster, and the
guys move down the block.

And then the same thing happens.

But they're not going to fix that

until we recognize why people are there.

It's a profound,
catastrophic loss of family.

Because that is ultimately
our infrastructure,

our safety net.

- Leslie found himself
in jail several times,

because he had that willingness
to stand up and fight.

It developed into a kind of tug of war

between the Austin police department

and keep Austin weird,
i.e. leave Leslie alone.

- I've been arrested 81
times and a bunch of tickets.

I've been found guilty six times.

Three times I got a whole dollar fine.

(laughing)

Once I got a $10 fine.

Once I got a $15 fine,
and once I got a $45 fine.

The price of being a
serial sleeper is going up.

- My very first experience with Leslie,

he was arrested for public intoxication

behind the kiosk over at
Kruger's Jewelry store.

I think Leslie had a
perfume called alcohol,

because it was never a case that Leslie

didn't smell like alcohol.

- First and only time I ever arrested him

it was for public intoxication.

So Leslie's case, he was
squatting in the middle

of the road in what I
consider a pretty dangerous

intersection at night.

Can't really leave him there.

Public intoxication is under
the influence of alcohol

and a danger to yourself and others.

Public intoxication is purely subjective.

You're dropping on to the training

and experience of the officer.

For us on Sixth Street,
you spend a lot of time

enforcing laws that protect
people from themselves.

For a while, Leslie was in that heyday

with a cart with a sign.

You all have done this and all that.

Totally understand.

Fight the power, question
authority, all that.

We're the authority.

- Most of the time, 90% of the time,

was Leslie was either sleeping or walking

and he could have stumbled
into traffic and been hit.

That was 90% of the
allegations against Leslie.

There was something about
Leslie they just didn't like,

and all Leslie had to do
was give them a reason

to be arrested, and they would happily

take that invitation.

This photograph was
taken in downtown Austin

Community Court.

We represented him so much, and he had

so many dealings with our students.

- I was the lucky person to be chosen

to get all of Leslie's
cases for the fall of 2002.

One case, for example,
officers arrested Leslie

for public intoxication,
and the reason why

they even got involved
was because he was saying,

very loudly in his Leslie voice downtown,

"All fucking cops are pigs
who want to get fucked."

And the reason in the police
report for the arrest,

he might upset an officer
who might hit him,

and therefore he was a danger to himself.

Which really makes it
not a public intoxication

charge but involves
things that you're saying

and what your free speech rights are.

This is the kind of trouble
that Leslie got into.

Yes, he was drunk, yes,
he was in a public place.

We're all admitting that.

But with speech.

Representing him, it made it really easy

and fun and interesting.

Leslie was not cowed by
the power structures.

- [Ruby] Be careful!

- [Ruby] Have you done that before?

- Oh yeah.

- [Ruby] Where did you grow up?

- Oh, obviously I never did.

- [Ruby] Where did you
live when you were a child?

- I actually, when I was a young man,

I was, okay, when I was.

Do you know where Tralfamadore is?

See, Tralfamadore is a fictional planet

in one of Kurt Vonnegut's books.

So I won't take you there. (laughs)

(gentle guitar music)

Basically, I was born in Miami, Florida.

We sort of lived in the Hialeah side,

right there on the borderline
of Hialeah and Miami.

- [Ruby] So how many brothers and sisters

do you have?

- [Leslie] Too many.

- [Ruby] Too many?

Do you have two sisters--

- I had three sisters and two brothers.

But my favorite sister
died, and I really miss her.

Just knowing that
Harriet's not here anymore

is a loss to the planet.

- I'm the oldest, and
then Harriet came next.

And then Albert Leslie,
who was an identical twin

and John died shortly before the birth.

And his name is John
because they were born

on the Feast of John the Baptist.

Then there came along Frieda.

And several years later,
Patrick joined our family,

and then Silas.

Mom was a stay-at-home mom.

Dad worked.

It seemed like a typical life.

We had our chores to do.

My mother and father, it
wasn't a loving couple.

It was just two people
married, raising children.

We went to school at St. Mary's in Miami,

which is now the cathedral.

Because faith was very important,

our religion was important.

I was responsible for getting my

brothers and sisters to and from school.

Albert was a handful.

He was always looking for attention.

His teacher, Sister Josephine,
could not control him.

He was a class clown, I guess they would

call them back in those
days, a class clown.

She had to put him outside
on the front porch.

So he sat outside on
the steps all day long.

He liked to shock. (laughs)

He was a master at it.

- My mom was, uh, as a
mother she was great.

She instilled in me the idea of getting

a good education, and she was domineering.

My dad was domineering, and so am I.

And I'll tell you, I got my spankings.

- My mother never got
over the loss of John.

It's crazy, but some parents
blame the other child,

and that's what she did.

She had an extremely hard life herself.

Had a cold nature.

I'm sure she loved us, but cold nature.

She was brutal to Albert.

At one point in his life would say to him,

"I wish John had lived and you had died."

It was horrible.

- He didn't always speak
much about his father,

but I could tell he
didn't like his father.

He didn't like what
happened in his childhood.

He had a lot of sadness
when he would talk about it.

Whether it was the way he was disciplined,

or the way the kids were treated.

- [Alice] I mean, I do
remember coming down the street

and seeing him under the
tree in the front yard,

wrapped in a sheet that he had peed,

so the whole neighborhood could see

that he peed his bed.

- He said that his mom was cruel to him

when he was young.

He said that she, I don't know.

I don't know if I should say.

Think a P.E. coach finally
found out about it.

One time when he was, he wouldn't,

he kept on refusing to take showers.

So they finally made him take a shower

and they saw he had marks on him.

- As I think back on
it, I believe that's why

I was known as the perfect child,

because I would do nothing wrong

because I didn't want to
suffer what he was suffering.

I left right after my 18th birthday.

I eloped.

My mother did not want me to leave.

I was to stay and help raise the children

and be there as her right hand.

When I left, things started falling apart.

Albert left, Harriet wound up having

a boyfriend and having a
child and getting married.

And it just kind of went
downhill after that.

- It's hard enough for
two domineering people

to live together.

But you get three domineering people,

something had to give.

So I bailed at 16.

Because my parents were teaching me about

it important to get an education,

I stayed in school.

And I worked hard to get my education,

maintain my A average.

Got an academic scholarship
to Florida State University.

I went there for a couple years, but I dropped
out and joined the Navy.

I enlisted in April, May of '73.

And there's a real nice military
picture of me in a uniform.

One of the few pictures
of me without my beard.

Because during the military, the only time

I haven't had this.

- After those parts of his life,

he started his nomad
life, of being able to

really figure out who he was,

and what he wanted out of life.

So what Mom and Dad did to him,

he was his own man.

He was in charge of his life.

He was in control.

Now I know where all that showing off,

all that negative
behavior was coming from.

Saying I'm a person, I am somebody.

- Albert is the little boy.

Albert is the persona he
had as a young person.

And I don't think he liked Albert.

That's why he wanted to change his name.

He was ready to live.

He loved that being in the spotlight.

- [Woman] You know, the motto of Austin

is "Keep Austin Weird."

- [TV Host] Do you notice a weirdness

around you when you're in Austin?

- [Connie] I do.

Well for instance,
there's a guy in Austin,

who they call the mayor of Austin,

who's not actually the mayor of Austin,

but they call him the mayor.

- [TV Host] Of course, why not?

- Which is weird.

And he walks around town and everybody

knows his name except for me.

I just call him the mayor.

But he walks around town in a thong,

and a very short tank top.

- [TV Host] That may be a little
too weird for me, honestly.

- Howdy, folks.

Welcome to the campaign.

- Leslie was very serious
about running for mayor

and honestly believed that
he had a shot at winning it.

- This is a very bold
move by a homeless person,

to actually consider
running for the position

of mayor of the city of Austin.

And it shows a lot of gumption,

shows a lot of guts.

(rock music)

- [Cindy] The "American
Statesman" didn't think

he was a serious candidate.

He was kind of an interesting side story.

- Leslie certainly put
himself in opposition

with other candidates on certain issues.

He was an advocate for keeping the Austin

sense of place, that was rapidly changing,

and a lot of people knew
it was rapidly changing.

- Hey folks, check out
all the traffic over here.

See all that traffic?

We got a lot of traffic on this road.

And you look down here,
we got a lot of traffic

coming down Lamar too.

We're at Sixth and Lamar and we're looking

and we're talking about smart growth.

What other people are
talking about growth?

We're being overcrowded right now

with an influx of people, and we need

to do something about this so we can

have a little more livable condition

for those who live here.

We need to get the light rail

and put it in as soon as possible.

- In 2000, he was talking
about corporate subsidies,

about politicians just
bending over backwards

to bring these large corporations to town.

He had seen already, and
was already witnessing,

how wealthy individuals was pricing out

the working class, artist class,

the people that made this city great.

- [Woman] I'd vote for you!

- Appreciate it, thank you.

Hey don't forget to vote for me tomorrow.

There's eight people on the ballot.

Leslie Cochran, number seven
on the ballot out of eight.

- [Joshua] One of the first
times he ran it was Kirk Watson

and later on, it was Will Wynn.

- And even though times are tough

and everybody knows it, and
folks are hurting right now,

the community--
- And both those individuals

were very keen on making Austin

a business-friendly, tech-friendly,

walkable, livable, desirable downtown.

- We've gone upon a greedy growth plan

and the greedy growth plan is killing

a large part of our culture.

We must protect--

The one way I differed
from the other candidates

is I said, hey, let's keep Austin Austin.

The candidates that put
in on the city charter

to keep Austin Austin,
was doing everything

it can kill what is Austin.

They're saying what people wanna hear,

but they're doing just the opposite.

And that's the trouble with politicians.

They have a habit of doing that.

- There were a percentage of people

who voted for him because he was funny.

Austin being the way it is.

There's a certain kick
or weirdness to Austin.

Why not vote for Leslie for mayor?

The number of votes he got tended

to fall off each time he ran.

And was terribly depressed every time

he ran and wasn't elected.

- If the people of Austin pulled it off

and made me the mayor, I got

nothing but work, work, work.

I mean, I got nothing but work.

And you know what?

I'll work my ass off for this town.

- Leslie could not dwell on bad stuff.

He was always more than willing

to move on, to let's have fun.

- [Ruby] How's it going?

- Oh pretty good.
- Good.

- Good to see you again.

- [Ruby] Good to see you,
what's going on today?

- Well, I'm sitting back, relaxing,

I'm avoiding work.

I've got to clean up
all that mess out there

and I'm waiting for it to cool off.

- [Ruby] Where do you get everything?

- I get most of it from the garbage,

except for the DVDs.

- [Ruby] You've got lamps,

all your clothes are so organized.

- Yep, it will be eventually.

- Leslie lived in a few different places.

A lot of times, it was
in his sleeping bag.

He lived on people's couches.

Another time he lived in a
beautiful house in Westlake.

This was very typical Leslie.

One of his friends had a house for sale,

so she let him stay there
for probably two months.

- Ah, the master bedroom.

I love the mirrors, aren't they great?

- I think he probably got along better

in Westlake, because Westlake was fancy

and Leslie was fancy.

He related and they related to him.

During the time I knew him, Leslie seemed

to cope pretty well.

But then with me he had a home base

and had a pace to sleep in peace.

- [Leslie] I really like being
housed more than not housed.

But not having the money or the means

to be housed, doesn't stop me from

living a very full and beautiful life.

Hey, soon as I can, I'll
be out of the street.

But in the meantime, while I'm here

I might as well make the best of it.

- [Ruby] He had a friend that
was remodeling her house.

He did a lot of work for her.

That's how he bought one of his sheds.

He redid all of her floors.

- You ain't taking pictures
of my butt, are you?

- My sense of why people would welcome

Leslie into their homes, or include them

in their lives, is that he
made that very easy to do.

There was Leslie on, and then there was

just plain Leslie.

That sounds so ordinary, (chuckling)

and I almost feel Leslie
tapping on my shoulder

saying, "I was never ordinary."

I didn't hold back any
of myself from Leslie.

I don't have the sense he
held back himself from me.

We were just friends that kind of clicked.

Leslie taught me a lot about myself.

He was a very good friend, and listening

and helping me sort things out.

- [Friend] Leslie, when
you know him really well,

you get to see all the sides of him.

- [Man On TV] This gun was hand-crafted

to my specifications, and I rarely

draw it unless I mean to use it.

(dramatic music)

- Leslie and his movies.

He has a great interest in western movies.

Which is something you
wouldn't think of about him.

- I think when he was a
child, watching westerns

that was a happier part of his childhood.

- [Friend] It was always
about fighting injustice.

(gentle piano music)

- Trapper was just Trapper.

A long-haired hippie boy.

And, you know, he was called
Trapper Al for a reason.

He was a guy.

I mean, he was definitely a guy.

We hung in different groups.

But you know, it's a little town.

You run into each other all the time.

- Trapper was who Leslie was in the '70s

in Oak Creek, Colorado.

My image of him is more
of a hippie/mountain man.

- Trapper, I love that,
that's so charming.

- [Ruby] Yeah?

- [Ruby] Leslie hitchhiked
all over the country.

And he showed up in Oak Creek
and it felt like home to him.

- I was working for
the town in, let's see,

I think it was 1977, for $2.50 an hour.

In the '70s when the hippies were here,

it was much more laid back.

- [Ruby] Years later, I got a letter from

one of Leslie's friends from Oak Creek,

and she told me about
this part of his life.

His friend Cheryl Lynn said, "Trapper Al

"just showed up one day."

They never knew where he came from,

just that he had been hitchhiking.

Trapper Al would play
his guitar in Oak Creek

and Steamboat and that's
how he made some money.

I wasn't surprised to learn from her

that he always had his flask with him.

- I mean, it's nothing
like it was in those days.

In those days, everybody partied all night

and worked all day.

Thursday nights became Boogie Night.

Band would be on break
and you'd walk up on stage

and there'd be people
boinking behind the drum set,

you know? (chuckling)

Crazy.

- People from Craig,
and Steamboat, and Vail

would all come and the
place would be packed

for Boogie Night.

It was a good night to
just go out and have fun.

(motorcycle engine puttering)

(tires squealing)

- He was riding his
motorcycle and hit a deer

and basically split the deer in half

on his motorcycle.

And he probably shouldn't have survived.

- And he was in a coma.

They contacted my mother.

My mother went to Colorado
and never left his bedside

until he recovered.

I think that's when Mom realized how much

she truly loved her son.

She realized that Albert wasn't

responsible for John's death, you know?

And the thought of losing him

was more than she could deal with.

She would not let go of him.

- [Leslie] We all have mysteries, I guess.

In 1977 I woke up in a hospital.

I had been in a coma for 11 days.

I woke up with damaged memories.

It's sort of strange waking up and having

a big question about
who in the fuck you are.

And you can't tell anybody,
because it's a scary thing,

not knowing who you are.

- My mother talked about everything a lot

to try to get those
connections back with him.

- [Leslie] I think I got it all back.

Well, no, I know I don't got it all back

because I have bad memories, or had 'em.

But a good thing about
waking up with no memory,

you can remember what
you want to remember.

You don't have to remember the nightmares.

I know they're there, and I
sort of got parts of them.

I remember the good times.

They're the only ones worth remembering.

- [Alice] I think the head injury caused

a shift in his thought processes.

He just wanted to find
something better in his life.

- It was maybe the impatience
from his brain trauma.

He was not afraid to live his life

the way he wanted to.

Your drive to live your life fully

and with enjoyment becomes top priority,

- Now check this out.

You saw this one.

Have you seen this one yet?

- [Ruby] I saw the second one.

I haven't seen the--

- You will love this one.

It's a little more intriguing

because it starts off with a guy,

a fish out of the ocean,
and he has amnesia.

He doesn't know his name, he doesn't know

anything about himself.

So you will love that.

It's a great...

- Leslie, he always thought about today

and not about tomorrow.

So if he had money for some booze

and a pack of cigarettes, then he'd worry

about tomorrow tomorrow.

Today he had the money for he needed.

- Ooh, hasta luego.

If I get back to something important.

Got it. (laughing)

Sobriety is a rotten
excuse not to get drunk.

Trust me, I know.

- [Ruby] So do you think
you're an alcoholic?

- Oh no.

They go to meetings, I
don't go to meetings.

It's not what you do, it's how you do it.

- Gorgeous.

- Gorgeous.

Will you take your right heel and put it

in the middle of your left foot?

- Fantastic, excellent.

(camera clicking)

- I think in the beginning stages,

I don't think that Leslie really thought

that this was something
that was going to be

seriously pursued, or
that there would really be

a follow-through on it.

- [Reporter] It all
started in this independent

book store, but the
image of the half-dressed

Austin queen has now made it to retailers

in over 58 Texas cities and 23 states.

- You know, it took almost
from the time that it.

Magnetic paper dolls originated as a joke

into an actual product.

- [Leslie] Yeah see, you
take the basic thing,

you pick out the outfits
and what they wear

for the day.

- Right now the supply
can't meet the demand.

They're just flying off the shelves

at every retailer that
they're at here in Austin.

- Leslie's part of Austin, so that's why

we have (muffled speech)

- He's getting a percentage of the sales,

and from what I understand
he's doing quite well.

- [Woman] What about those
magnets at (muffled speech)?

- Jay Leno showed 'em on national TV.

(mumbles)

(audience clapping)

- What have you got here?

- Well, while we were down there, Jay,

we bought this wonderful
souvenir from Leslie,

we thought we'd present that to you.

- The laughs guy?

Well this is, there you go.

That is a lovely item to have.

- [Wayne] It goes on your refrigerator.

- Yeah, well thank you very much.

(audience clapping)

- That was the peak for
him, the peak in his life.

- [Ruby] How do you like being

Leslie the celebrity now?

- It is quite an honor.

When you come to places like Austin

which has the most dynamic people around,

and to have them do
something special, girl?

It went straight to my head.

- He bought a two-story storage shed.

It was like 12 by 12 by 12.

He bought it with the magnet money,

and he called it his house.

- I used to make money.

I used to make about $35,000 a year.

Back about 20 years ago.

I was about 35, 36.

(gentle music)

I was working for Safeway
Stores, Incorporated in Seattle.

Not in the stores, but in the warehouse.

It paid pretty good.

Everybody only knew me
as Trapper at Safeway.

I even bought cars under
the name of Trapper.

All my life, when I was working,

I paid into Social Security.

- When he was in Seattle, his life was

normal like any one of us.

He had a job, he was working at Safeway.

Everything was normal.

- Never met her.

We got an announcement
and I sent him a gift.

I sent him and her beautiful place mats

with napkin rings.

- [Ruby] How long were you together?

- Oh, I knew her for years
before we got married.

She lived in Seattle.

The marriage lasted about six months.

- [Ruby] What year was this?

- Forget that, gone.

- [Ruby] I know, but--

- I'm not talking, I'm not talking, okay?

- [Ruby] I want people to see--

- I don't care what
you want people to see.

It's my private life, and you know.

- [Ruby] Okay.

- It's not for, you know.

- [Ruby] Okay.

- [Leslie] Whatever.

- The marriage dissolved.

The job dissolved after that.

And that's when life really started

changing for my brother.

So whether the head injury ties in,

he didn't want to be
contained by the world,

and fit into a mold that people expected

him to be, he became uninhibited.

Being more free to be himself.

He became a modern-day gypsy.

Albert came to Atlanta,
where I was living,

and then to Tallahassee.

And then Albert went on his merry way

and he found Austin, and he fit right in.

- What exactly do you do?

What's your job
description here in Austin?

- Oh, I don't really work at all.

I'm just Leslie and I seem to have somehow

gotten the attention of
the people of Austin.

They love me and I go down and I just,

a lot of people come
up and want my picture.

A few of 'em tip, keeps me alive.

Just a traveler, and here I am.

- There were a couple years that I didn't

shoot with Leslie at all.

I needed a break.

He was doing his Leslie thing

and still getting lots of attention.

He did ads, movie cameos.

His magnets were still selling.

His fame was working for him.

But in 2009, I remember
getting a phone call

from Val saying that
Leslie was in the hospital.

(sirens wailing)

(beeping)

- The doctors, they didn't
think he was gonna make it.

That's when people thought he had died,

that he was gonna be a vegetable.

Because the hospital
gave a really grim view

of what was happening.

- [Leslie] I woke up in the hospital.

I had been in a coma for 11 days.

It's sort of strange waking up and having

big question about who the fuck you are.

(relaxing music)

- I had asked the doctors
whether they thought

he was beat up or not, and they said no.

They said it was most likely a seizure.

But he came back with a vengeance.

Yeah, he was determined.

Every day he was improving,
and his brain was waking up.

He's not a vegetable,
like the hospital thought.

- Leslie Cochran is back, okay?

He just wants to send his love

and he'd like to give
a little thanks here.

- [George] Well, he's
back, ladies and gentlemen.

He is back.

- I had him here at my home.

He was improving by the
hour and by the minute,

where he was just
getting his determination

to get back out there.

And the fifth day said,
"They're waiting for me."

And Leslie was gone.

You couldn't stop him.

I just came to a realization that Leslie

is going to live his life to
the fullest until he dies.

- We're out in front of the
Sweet Leaf Tea, the truck.

Or it's not even a truck.

It's like an oversized limo,

where they're giving away free tea.

And not only is that cool, Garrett,

what are you doing out here besides

taking advantage of the free tea?

- Well tonight, we're looking for

none other than Leslie Cochran.

I haven't seen him yet, but
we're gonna find him tonight.

- [Reporter] Positive attitude,
they're gonna find Leslie.

- [Woman] Leslie, Leslie!

Over here!

- [Ruby] I saw Leslie one
day and one of the things,

I guess, that shocked me the most

was that he wasn't the same.

- Hey, how you doing?

- [Ruby] His age was starting to show.

- There we go.

- He was actually starting to look

a little more like a homeless man.

- I got two hundreds, I
just need one more hundred.

Yeah, one more hundred.

- [Ruby] How are your magnets going?

- Slowly.

And it's gonna get slower because this

time of year nobody has any money.

- I think the magnets
could have been marketed

much more widely than they were.

It could have given him a steady income,

I think, for a long time if he wanted it.

But I think at the bottom of it,

he doesn't trust anybody.

- I was willing to help for free,

but he was afraid I'd want a percentage.

- [Ruby] Where are you sleeping right now?

- I felt bad for him, because now

all of his stuff was in a storage unit.

He'd gotten kicked out
of his friend's backyard,

so he lost his shed.

- With Leslie, it gets
out of hand in a hurry.

The late hours, the junk.

Because nothing to Leslie was junk.

I moved to north of Annie.

His response to that
was to march up and down

my driveway for weeks on end.

Looking back on it, Leslie was already

not in control of himself
in the way that he had been.

At that point, I just
moved him out of my life.

I moved his cart to a nearby side street,

and moved him out of my life.

- [Ruby] Why do you think
people are homeless?

Why do you--

- [Ruby] What do you think causes them

to be homeless?

- [Ruby] Do you think maybe
because they were abused?

- I think he's estranged from his family.

You know, I thought that maybe his sister,

or not his brother, he
can't stand his brother.

I'm not aware of there being some person

or place out there that is sort of

a place that he can just
go and just hang out.

- He was in touch with his sister

after the 2009 incident, and would be

in touch with her a little bit.

So whatever that was with his family,

there was definitely some disconnect.

- We all stayed in contact, but it was

just like we were just a broken family.

Dad died in '74.

Mom moved to an apartment.

Albert would call my mother.

He would touch base.

And I have to say, as his big sister,

when he started the
cross dressing big time

I was embarrassed.

I was like (inhales) oh my.

I would be terribly upset by it.

And he also knew it would
get under my mother's skin,

and it did.

- He had a rough, difficult
relationship with his mom.

He came over the night she died.

He was pretty sad.

It was the only time I ever saw him cry.

- [Ruby] Were you close to your dad?

Well.

- During different conversations that

Leslie and I had, he had had alluded

to certain things, and some of that

he said he just didn't
really want to talk about.

But why he decided to share that then,

I really don't know.

I think Leslie spent his whole life

running from the pain he
experienced as a child.

But those memories were there.

- I only had one memory of something.

But it came later.

My father, he was abusing me,
he was abusing my siblings.

But he was an alcoholic
and he was mentally sick.

He came from severe abuse.

There's no healing, and there
wasn't counseling back then.

You didn't take your family to counseling.

The abuse stopped with
me and my sister Harriet.

It continued with Albert and Frieda.

They got the worst of it.

I mean, they were two babies.

Oh dear god. (cries)

He was having them having relations

when they were preschoolers.

It's beyond anything a
child should ever suffer.

And how my mother never knew,

unless she was just blinded
to it, I don't know.

I don't know.

The denial, I don't know.

My memory was protected, you know.

Because I think honestly
if had the full memories

like Albert had, I wouldn't be here today.

Albert had the knowing and the memories.

- Well when the tough get going,

oh no wait, when the tough gets rough,

the tough get going.

I just kept going. (laughs)

I got out, took care of myself.

- Leslie was very resilient.

He always comes back, you know?

He always comes back.

I knew he would again this time.

- Okay, I think this is gonna be good.

(upbeat rock music)

(screams)

♪ Hey mama won't you come with me ♪

- Very nice, very good

♪ Then don't you worry when I ♪

- I was worried about Austin
thinking Leslie was dead.

I didn't want him to have to think that.

So when I told Leslie, he said,

"Oh, I like it when they think I'm dead.

"I get to surprise 'em."

If you walk with Leslie, you
are walking with a movie star.

And he thrives on that attention.

- In the last year, with the economy

the way it is right now, people will all

want to have a picture with him,

and they don't tip him.

So people would buy him a beer

and so he just mostly drinks.

- You know, he made money by performing.

And people would tip him.

He said that Austin was
changing too much for him,

but I think he was changing as well.

- Leslie had been in Austin forever,

was successful, and I'm
wondering if people understood

how much he needed financial support.

♪ The skies are taller in Louisiana ♪

♪ Skies are wider than Mexico ♪

♪ Skies in Texas kinda
split the difference ♪

♪ They don't suit me
no matter where I go ♪

♪ I ain't got a place ♪

♪ I ain't got a place in this world ♪

♪ I ain't got a place ♪

♪ I ain't got a place
in this world anymore ♪

- [Liz] I don't know why or
how I ended up with Leslie,

and he's never gone away.

- Well I will as long as he, you know,

goes by the boundaries, which is

you don't come in too late at night.

You don't come in here drunk.

You saw how crowded my house is.

There's no way that people falling down

can work in there.

- She exaggerates that a little bit.

- Well, there's been a couple times.

- Hell, I'd be sitting
here, I'd be sitting

in the chair right there awake,

and she comes and say, "Oh,
you can't be sleeping

in my front yard" and I'm not sleeping!

I'll try to be nice about it.

- [Ruby] Okay.

- And if I'm not, you can edit it out.

- Well try real hard, because I don't know

where else you're going right now.

- Yep.

- He wanted to live with me, but I don't

wanna live with alcohol.

And yeah, sometimes
I've asked him to leave

because it gets pretty intense.

But I always want to be
able to have him back.

So he's more than welcome at my home.

It's hard though.

- I always kept my boundaries with him,

because I knew how he was with him

taking more than was
comfortable with some people.

Because once you give Leslie
something, he wants more.

- Finding the right
answer, the right place

for him to go and to have some support,

something that he can deal with,

is not an easy task.

He's making excuses for everything.

Oh, that's too far out,
or it's too much money.

And then he doesn't want
to go through the process.

So every time, let's go
sit down and we'll apply

and do the process, he
doesn't want to do that.

I'm worried, but by the
same token, I can only

support him the way he
is asking for support.

- I think it's frustrating for the people

who are really close to him.

I think most people wouldn't, you know,

really want to put up with having

an ongoing friendship with him over time,

because it's kind of maddening.

- Oh (sighs loudly) guess who that is?

I better go see.

He owes me 40 bucks.

- [Bob] I know, I know.

I know, it's kinda hit and miss.

All righty.

- [Bob] I know.

- [Bob] What?

- [Bob] Man, you are so persuasive.

I don't know if I have a 10.

I have eight bucks.

- [Bob] So you owe me an odd number.

48 bucks, okay?

- [Leslie] Okay.

- [Bob] All right.

- [Bob] If you bring me
50, I'll give you two back.

I'll have two ones by then.

- [Bob] Okay.

(laughing)

- [Leslie] Thanks.

- All right.

Well, that is kind of
what he does all the time.

"I just wanted to say
hello, nothing special."

At the end it's like,
"You don't have 20 bucks?"

(laughs)

But, he always pays me back.

So I think it says something
about his character.

- I had to be real
creative to help Leslie.

'Cause I didn't want to make him feel bad.

He needed help, and I could help him

without thinking he was asking for help.

Well we threw a birthday
party, fundraiser for him.

That brought a lot of people.

The people who really cared.

- What's it like to have buddies like this

to actually--
- Oh man.

♪ I got a heart but it
don't work like it should ♪

♪ I got a heart but I just can't ♪

- It's as an important event as any.

You know, Leslie turning 60
is most certainly an event.

- Precarious job living
in a road like that.

You know, he's been doing it for decades.

- I actually hope that he has a place

to live right now, because it's tough

living in the streets, I'm sure.

♪ I hear the whistle but the
train ain't coming back ♪

- I helped Leslie apply for SSI

for his Social Security check.

- I'm calling to check on the status

of my SSI check and
when it's gonna be here.

Yeah!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

- And then he had regular money that he

could count on.

He just needed money to live on.

- Leslie represents what it
was like when I came here.

I don't know if he or I still represent

what it is now, but we're still here.

And that says amazing things about,

we have a culture here.

We may have to be going underground,

but we're still a culture.

- [Valerie] He was a star
at that birthday party.

- I want to thank you all because man,

you made me feel like I'm somebody.

- Happy birthday, Leslie, how 'bout that?

Cheers!
(cheering)

- Thank you, thank you, thank you.

♪ I got a heart but it
don't work like it should ♪

- I forgot to check the mail today.

- Oh, ah.

Oh!

Yeah, something impressive.

Couple checks here.

Oh, $2,022, ta da!

- Just like you said.

I think Leslie was ready for a home

and have his independence back.

Home means a place
where you can feel safe.

Where you can take off the face you might

have to be wearing out in public.

It's where you lay down.

(muffled speaking)

- [Nurse] So you're feeling okay?

- He's very stubborn.

You can't really tell him what to do.

Is that enabling at this point?

You know, I don't know.

I mean, I think he's made his choice.

I think he made his
choice a long time ago.

They say if he just keeps on this path

it's just a matter of time.

- The seizures are starting
to be more frequent.

And so it takes him longer
to recover from them.

His drinking doesn't help.

- I'm done, I'm over, I'm done with it.

He took his money and
went to the liquor store.

Right now we're watching him kill himself,

and that's too hard for me to do,

and I'm not gonna do it anymore.

He's not allowed at my house.

And then when he's gonna be out of money,

he's gonna be calling
you, you, me, and Valerie

and going, "Oh, I don't have any money,

"I have nowhere..."

He's gonna pull the same old routine,

and the only way we're gonna end it

is to cut him off.

I, number one, am not
gonna enable him any more.

- [Nurse] You have a serious condition,

which is why they want you
here in the first place.

- Are you sure you don't want
to spend one more night here?

Are you sure you don't want
to spend one more night here?

- [Nurse] You weren't
even conscious though,

until early this morning.

I mean, today's your first day you've had

a fully coherent day, that
you knew where you were

and the date and all that, so.

- [Ruby] Colorado was a
happy memory for Leslie.

So much so, that he actually
had gone back in 2006.

He just took off and
hitchhiked his way around

until he got back to Oak Creek.

But he went back as
Leslie, not as Trapper Al.

- He came in and sat down at the bar

and asked me if I remembered him,

and I didn't, until he told me who he was.

He was dressed very eccentric.

- [Ruby] So you showed up in this town

dressed in a Star Trek uniform?

- Oh yes, it was nice hitchhiking around

in my Star Trek outfit.

- Boy was he different.

He had on like Lieutenant
Uhura or something.

It was a Star Wars
outfit with the big boobs

and the long nails, and then full beard.

(laughing) You know?

You know here, I think, was a memory lane

sort of trip for him, but see, a lot

of those people aren't around anymore.

- It was Labor Day weekend.

The town folks all come out.

Everybody does the parade
and hangs out in the park,

and we have music and bands
and parties and stuff.

So he came strutting
by with fuck me pumps,

and a leopard skin short skirt thing,

and I believe it was a pink boa.

I did learn, just asking around,

"Who's the crazy guy
in the pink halter top

"I just met?"

- It's like, oh my grace, who is this?

It was kind of a shocking because this is

a little, kinda probably
a little redneck town,

if you wanna call it that.

There was some that didn't
really care for him.

"Where are you from?

"You need to go back
to where you're from."

Or whatever, you know.

So as long as he was in here, he was safe.

- [Ruby] What was your favorite thing

that happened while you were gone?

Did you have any awakenings?

- Yes and no.

- Tuesday I go to Denver, and here he was

just sitting up by the gas station.

He was hitchhiking.

I kind of looked over the gas station

to see who was there.

There was some guys
that probably, you know,

he probably wouldn't be
safe around, you know?

So I made a U, and I
came back, picked him up.

And I just felt that if I don't

get him out of town, he might get beat up

or something, so.

Dropped him off and that was it.

- You were hallucinating late last night.

- Yes, sir, yes, sir, yeah.

So, I mean, that's not
a normal state to be in,

which is why they wanted to keep you here

for observation and make
sure that's something

that's gone for good and not gonna return.

- Okay, well.

- I think he could tell what was coming,

and kind of starting to
get on survival mode.

He was telling everybody
he's going to Colorado,

because we weren't recognizing him

as famous anymore in Austin.

- Now that he's coming to the realization

that he's got serious health problems,

I'm not so sure he enjoys
being in the public eye

all the time like he used to.

He's just out there for
the whole world to see.

- It was on Valentine's Day

and I was here at the salon.

(trills)

And there was Leslie.

- And he said he was leaving.

You're really leaving right now?

- Yeah.

- [Ruby] Wait, you're leaving right now?

- Yeah.

- Even now, I'm surprised
at how hard it was

to say goodbye.

(train whistle blowing)

- Well known Austinite Leslie Cochran

is now in the hospital
in critical condition,

A spokesperson at St. David South Austin

Medical Center confirmed he is being

treated there now.

- [Reporter] He's been
talking lately of moving

to Colorado, but he was found unconscious

in a South Austin parking lot.

- [Reporter] Two weeks ago, and has been

at St. David South Austin Medical Center

where he...

- [Ruby] What do you
think is gonna happen now?

- [Man] The truth?

- [Ruby] Yeah.

- Well, I think that if
Leslie has a strong will,

he may hang on for a few weeks.

But I think that's probably about as long

as he can hold on.

- Hi everyone, KXAN News has confirmed

Leslie Cochran has died.

You may simply know him as Leslie,

the cross dressing homeless man.

He died early this morning at 1:00.

The mayor will proclaim
today as Leslie Day.

He was 60 years old.

- Now therefore, I, Lee Leffingwell,

mayor of the city of Austin, Texas,

do hereby proclaim March 8th, 2012,

as Leslie Cochran Day in Austin.

- I thank you for your graciousness

to my brother, and for
loving him as you have.

Thank you.

I had no idea to the magnitude

of how much he was loved here.

Had no idea.

The city came out.

There was a parade, and there was

a memorial service the day after.

I keep saying it is that of a dignitary,

not a homeless person.

They're forgotten, he wasn't.

And it really made a
difference in my heart.

And I asked forgiveness for
ever being ashamed of him.

- Leslie was a perfect Leslie.

He made a statement, he affected the city

in a beautiful and special way that

no one else has, and I
doubt anyone else ever will.

(cheering)

- Leslie was a real gift to me.

You were confronted with what does it mean

to feel compassion.

The person who's drunk and obnoxious

and a little out of control

who's sitting in front of you.

And he gives you the chance to learn

through the deeper meaning of how

to join his suffering.

That's a gift, it's a real gift.

- Do we need a Leslie?

I think we need original, creative people.

People with heart, people
who care about other people.

And he was all of that.

- Leslie was not planned.

Leslie did not sit down
at the drawing board

one day and draft out what this was

gonna look like.

That is true authenticity.

Yes, I miss him terribly.

And it's getting to that point

in the conversation.

- He was such a good friend.

I miss him immensely.

- Out of the night that covers me,

black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

for my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeoning of chance,

my head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

looms the horror of the shade.

And yet the menace of the years

finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how straight the gate,

or how charged with
punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate.

I am the captain of my soul.

(acoustic guitar music)

♪ Come back as my tree ♪

♪ I'll plant you close to me ♪

♪ We'll overlook the sea ♪

♪ If you please ♪

♪ If you please ♪

♪ Please come back to me ♪

♪ Come back as my pet ♪

♪ I'll make sure you are fed ♪

♪ You can sleep in my bed ♪

♪ If you please ♪

♪ If you please ♪

♪ Please come back to me ♪

♪ Tell your angels that you loved me ♪

♪ How you'd like to live alongside of me ♪

♪ Just come back as my friend ♪

♪ I'm broke but I can mend ♪

♪ It doesn't have to end ♪

♪ If you please ♪

♪ If you please ♪

♪ Please come back to me ♪

♪ Tell your angels that you loved me ♪

♪ How you'd like to live alongside of me ♪

♪ Come back as a fish ♪

♪ Or anything you wish ♪

♪ I won't put you in a dish ♪

♪ If you please ♪

♪ If you please ♪

♪ Please come back to me ♪

(somber music)