This is a list of famous persons who are, or who were said to be, prostitutes, madams and courtesans. In some (not all) cases these claims are (or were) disputed by the person. Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ... A courtesan is a person paid and/or supported for the giving of social companionship and intimate liaisons to one or more partners. ...

Real-life and historical

• Polly Adler New York Madam, 1920s -1940s
• Aspasia, hetaera companion of Pericles
• Laura Bell, the "Queen of London whoredom"
• Theresa Berkeley, 19th-century dominatrix
• Divine Brown, caught in a compromising situation with Hugh Grant
• Sydney Biddle Barrows, the Mayflower Madam
• Annie Chapman, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
• Claudia Drexelius, German prostitute exposed through national TV
• Andrea Dworkin, American feminist author. Her time as a prostitute may have fueled her activism against pornography.
• Heidi Fleiss, the Hollywood Madam
• Veronica Franco, Venetian courtesan and poet
• Jeff Gannon, Republican activist
• Nell Gwynne, courtesan to Charles II of England
• Debroah Harry'former lead singer of BLONDIE
• Xaviera Hollander, the Happy Hooker
• Janie Jones, entertainer and madam
• Christine Keeler, involved in the Profumo Affair
• Mary Jane Kelly, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
• Mata Hari (born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle)
• Gerda Munsinger, Soviet spy
• Natalia!, rubber fetishist
• Mary Ann Nichols, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
• Cynthia Payne
• Barbara Payton, 1940s film starlet who turned to prostitution in the late 1950s after the end of her career and collapse of her marriage
• Cora Pearl, 19th century French courtesan
• Phryne, Greek hetaera
• Grisélidis Réal, Swiss prostitute and writer
• Sally Stanford, Dean of San Francisco Madams, Restaurauter and Mayor of Sausalito, California
• Valerie Solanas, street prostitute turned attempted assassin
• Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of Sid Vicious, murder victim
• Lindi St. Claire, also known as Miss Whiplash.
• Elizabeth Stride, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
• Su Xiaoxiao, Chinese courtesan of 5th century
• Martha Tabram, a possible victim of Jack the Ripper
• Michelle Tea, author, has written extensively about her experiences as a prostitute
• Sunset Thomas, porn star
• Thais, Greek hetaera who lived during the time of Alexander the Great
• Saint Thais, repentant Egyptian courtesan
• Theodora, Empress of Byzantium
• Tulasa, Nepali child rescued from a Mumbai brothel.
• Aileen Wuornos, serial killer executed in Florida in 2002, subject of the movie Monster

Pearl Polly Adler (April 16, 1900 - 1962) was a Russian-born madam and author. ... Aspasia Aspasia (c. ... Hetaera (Greek: singular: Εταίρα Hetaera, plural: Εταίραι Hetaerae)In ancient Greece, hetaerae were courtesans, that is to say, sophisticated companions and prostitutes. ... Pericles or Perikles (ca. ... Laura Bell (1829-1894) was a famous courtesan of Victorian England. ... The 19th century British dominatrix Mrs Theresa Berkley (died September 1836) ran a brothel in at 28 Charlotte Street, just to the north of Soho, specialising in flagellation. ... Mugshot of Brown taken after the arrest Mugshot of Grant taken after the arrest Divine Brown (born Estella Marie Thompson, 9 August 1969) is an American prostitute who gained considerable public recognition in 1995 when Hugh Grant, a British actor, was caught having oral sex with her in a car... Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960 in London, England) is an English film actor who tends to play the American stereotype of an Englishman. ... Sydney Biddle Barrows (born January 14, 1952), also known as the Mayflower Madam, was a modern American madam. ... Annie Chapman (September, 1841 - September 8, 1888) is widely believed to be the second victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ... Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... Claudia Drexelius (b. ... Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist and extremist writer. ... Heidi Fleiss (born December 30, 1965), known as the Hollywood Madam, was convicted in connection with her prostitution ring with charges including pandering and tax evasion. ... Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was a poet and courtesan of Venice during the sixteenth century. ... James Guckert, a. ... Nell Gwyn (or Gwynn or Gwynne), was born Eleanor Gwynne, (February 1650 - 14 November 1687), the most famous of the many mistresses of King Charles II, was called pretty, witty Nell by Samuel Pepys. ... Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was the King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland from 30 January 1649 (de jure) or 29 May 1660 (de facto) until his death. ... Xaviera Hollander [Vera de Vries] (born June 15, 1943 in Surabaya, Indonesia, of a Jewish father and Roman Catholic mother) is a former call girl/madam, best known as the author of The Happy Hooker: My Own Story (1971, ISBN 0060014164). ... Janie Jones was a famous madam in London in the 1970s. ... Christine Keeler, the woman that shook the British government Christine Keeler (born February 22, 1942) was a British model and showgirl. ... The Profumo Affair was a political scandal of 1963 in the United Kingdom. ... Mary Jane Kelly (c. ... Mata Hari, exotic dancer and convicted spy, made her name synonymous with femme fatale during World War I. For the Indonesian supermarket/department store chain, see Matahari. ... Gerda Munsinger (c. ... Natalia! is a famous German rubber fetishist and prostitute. ... Two women in rubber miniskirts and tops Rubber fetishism is the fetishistic attraction to people wearing rubber clothing, or in certain cases, to the garments themselves. ... Sexual fetishism is a form of paraphilia where the object of affection is a specific inanimate object or part of a persons body. ... Mary Ann Polly Nichols is widely believed to be the first victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ... Cynthia Payne (December 24, 1932 in Bognor Regis, England) was a renowned British madam who made the headlines in the 1970s and 1980s for her brothel at 32 Ambleside Avenue, in Streatham, in the south-west of London. ... Barbara Payton Born November 16, 1927 in Cloquet, MN, Barbara Payton headed for Hollywood in search of a career in movies at the age of nineteen in 1948. ... // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... The 1950s were a decade that spanned the years 1950 through 1959, although some sources say from 1951 through 1960. ... Cora Pearl (1835-1886) was a famous courtesan of 19th century France. ... Phryne was a famous courtesan of ancient Greece who adjusted her prices for customers depending upon how she felt about them. ... Grisélidis Réal Grisélidis Réal (11 August 1929 - 31 May 2005) was a writer and prostitute from Geneva, Switzerland. ... (1903) - (1982) Madam, restaurateur, Mayor of Sausalito California. ... Sausalito is a city located in Marin County, California. ... Valerie Jean Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 26, 1988) was an American feminist writer. ... Nancy Spungens childhood picture Nancy Spungen on the cover of her mothers book. ... Sid Vicious in a 1978 mugshot related to his arrest for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. ... Lindi St. ... Elizabeth Stride is believed to be the third victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ... Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... Su Xiaxiao in a detail from a Ming porcelain dish, ca 1630 Su Xiaoxiao (蘇小小), also known as Su Xiaojun and sometimes by the appellation Little Su, was a famous courtesan and poet from Qiantang city (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China) in the South Qi Dynasty (479-502). ... Martha Tabram (May 10, 1849 - August 7, 1888) is considered by some to be a possible early victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London. ... Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... Michelle Tea is an American author. ... Sunset Thomas , Pet of the Month March 1996 (as Diane) Sunset Thomas (born Diane Fowler on February 19, 1972) is an American porn film star and prostitute. ... A pornographic actor or a porn star is somebody who appears in pornographic movies, live sex shows or peep shows. ... Alexander the Great (Greek: Μέγας Αλέξανδρος Megas Alexandros; July 356 BC — June 11, 323 BC), also known as Alexander III, king of Macedon (336–323 BC), is considered one of the most successful military commanders in world history, conquering most of the world known to the ancient Greeks before his death. ... Theodora, depicted on a Byzantine mosaic Empress Theodora (c. ... Tulasas Father Tulasa Thapa was a 12-year old Nepali girl who was kidnapped from her home village of Thankot near Kathmandu in 1982, smuggled into Mumbai via the border town of Birganj in Parsa District, and sold into prostitution. ... Aileen Carol Wuornos (born Aileen Carol Pittman) (February 29, 1956 – October 9, 2002) was an American serial killer who was sentenced to death by the state of Florida in 1992. ... Movie poster for Monster Monster is a 2003 American movie about the life of prostitute-turned-serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in 2002 for killing seven men, in the late 1980s-early 1990s. ...

Found in fiction and literature

• Belle Watling, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Chandramukhi, Devdas
• Darla, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
• Elisabeth Rouset, Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant
• Fanny Hill, Fanny Hill by John Cleland
• Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (more of a kept woman than a prostitute proper)
• Inara Serra, from Firefly
• Lozana, Portrait of Lozana by Francisco Delicado
• Josefine Mutzenbacher
• Nana, Nana by Emile Zola
• Juliette, in the Marquis de Sade's "Juliette"
• Tra La La, Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby
• Tamara Sperling in Robert A. Heinlein's Time Enough For Love.
• Sonya Marmeladova, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Mrs. Rosemary Palm, head of the Guild of Seamstresses in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels
• Rahab, Biblical prostitute who assisted the Hebrews in capturing Jericho
• Satine in Moulin Rouge! by Baz Luhrman a story of love based in the Paris nightclub of the same name.
• Tamar (Bible, Genesis 38) posed as a prostitute
• Tilt, from The Monolith
• Tristessa, Tristessa by Jack Kerouac
• Talanta, Talanta by Pietro Aretino
• Nately's Whore, from Catch-22
• Eccentrica Gallumbits, the Triple-Breasted Whore Of Eroticon Six from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Nancy, "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens
• Liza, "Notes from Underground" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Gone with the Wind, an American novel by Margaret Mitchell, was published in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. ... Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 - August 16, 1949) was the American author who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her immensely successful novel, Gone with the Wind, that was published in 1936. ... 2002 incarnation of Devdas starring Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, and Madhuri Dixit. ... Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an American television series inspired by the 1992 movie of the same name. ... Angel was the highly successful spin-off from the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Boule de Suif is a short story by the late-19th century French writer Guy de Maupassant. ... Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (IPA: ) (5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular 19th-century French writer. ... Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, also known as Fanny Hill is a novel by John Cleland. ... Professor John Cleland is a consultant researcher from Hull who specialises in cardiology. ... Holly Golightly (born Holly Golightly Smith) is an English alternative punk-rock singer-songwriter. ... Breakfast at Tiffanys is a novella by Truman Capote, published in 1958. ... Truman García Capote (pronounced ) (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics. ... Inara Serra is a character from the science-fiction television series Firefly, created by Joss Whedon. ... Firefly is a science fiction television series that premiered on television in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ... The Portrait of Lozana: The Lusty Andalusian Woman (original title in Spanish: Retrato de la Loçana Andaluza) is a book written in Venice by the Spanish editor of the Renaissance Francisco Delicado in 1528, after he escaped from Rome due to the anti-spanish sentiment that uprose after the sack... Francisco Delicado (or Delgado) (c. ... Josefine Mutzenbacher is a famous fictional Austria courtesan in an erotic fictional autobiography novel which was published in Vienna in 1906. ... Nana book cover Nana is a novel by the French naturalist author Emile Zola. ... mile Zola (April 2, 1840 - September 29, 1902) was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France. ... Juliette was written by the Marquis de Sade and published in 1797, and charts the exploits of Justines sister. ... Portrait of the Marquis de Sade by Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo (c. ... Hubert Selby, Jr. ... Heinlein autographing at the 1976 Worldcon Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential and controversial authors of hard science fiction. ... Time Enough for Love is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1973. ... Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступление и наказание) is a novel written and published in 1866 by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. ... For other uses, see Crime and Punishment (disambiguation). ... Fyodor Dostoevsky. ... Terence David John Pratchett OBE is an English fantasy author (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England), best known for his Discworld series. ... Cover art of The Colour of Magic by Josh Kirby Discworld is a series of thirty-four fantasy novels and a number of shorter works by Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld, a flat world on the back of a giant turtle that adheres (loosely) to the conventions of classical... Rahab, (Heb. ... Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Academy Award winning musical film directed by Baz Luhrmann. ... Baz Luhrmann (born Mark Anthony Luhrmann, New South Wales, 17 September 1962) is an Australian film director. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city For other uses, see Paris (disambiguation). ... Tamar - תָּמָר Palm tree, Standard Hebrew Tamar, Tiberian Hebrew Tāmār The daughter-in-law of Judah, to whose eldest son, Er, she was married (Gen. ... The Gutenberg Bible owned by the United States Library of Congress The Bible (Hebrew: תנ״ך tanakh, Greek: η Βίβλος hÄ“ biblos) (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Work of God, The Word, The Good Book or Scripture), from Greek (τα) βίβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the name used by Jews and Christians for their... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin), also called The First Book of Moses, is the first book of Torah (five books of Moses), and is the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of... Fans and scholars of 2001: A Space Odyssey refer to the mysterious big, black slab as The Monolith. ... Tristessa cover Tristessa is a short novel by Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac set in Mexico City. ... Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922, Lowell, Massachusetts – October 21, 1969, St. ... Talanta is a monthly international journal of pure and applied analytical chemistry, in English, published by Elsevier. ... Categories: People stubs | 1492 births | 1556 deaths ... Catch 22 can refer to: A book by Joseph Heller, or the movie based on the book; see Catch-22. ... There are many minor characters in the 5-part fictional trilogy The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. ... The cover of the first novel in the Hitchhikers series, from a late 1990s printing. ... Douglas Noël Adams (March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001) was a cult British comic radio dramatist, amateur musician and author, most notably of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series (HHGG or H2G2). ... Location within France Nancy (pronounced in French) (German: Nanzig) is a city and commune which is the préfecture (capital) of the Meurthe-et-Moselle département, in the Lorraine région of northeastern France. ... Dickens redirects here. ... Fyodor Dostoevsky. ...

Alleged prostitutes

• Louise Brooks- silent film star, who may have joined the profession when she couldn't do talkies.
• Catherine Eddowes, one of the "canonical five" victims of Jack the Ripper
• Billie Holiday, allegedly, when out of work early in her career
• Mary Magdalene
• La Malinche
• Sappho

Louise Brooks. ... Catharine (Kate) Eddowes (often spelled Catherine) is widely believed to be the fourth victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ... Billie Holiday photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949 For the Canadian broadcaster, see Billie Holiday (broadcaster). ... Mary Magdalene is described, both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament apocrypha, as a devoted disciple of Jesus. ... La Malinche (c. ... Ancient Greek bust of Sappho the Eresian. ...

Symbolic or allegorical prostitutes

• The Whore of Babylon
• Oholah and Oholibah
• The prostitute in The Harlot's Progress by William Hogarth

The Whore of Babylon rides the seven-headed Beast. ... Oholah and Oholibah (or: Aholah and Aholibah) are pejorative names given by the prophet Ezekiel to the kingdom of Israel and Judah, respectively. ... Oholah and Oholibah (or: Aholah and Aholibah) are pejorative names given by the prophet Ezekiel to the kingdom of Israel and Judah, respectively. ... William Hogarth, self-portrait, 1745 William Hogarth (November 10, 1697 – October 26, 1764) was a major English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited as a pioneer in western sequential art. ...

Male prostitutes

• Herbert Huncke, male prostitute, Beat Generation figure

Huncke on the cover of his anthology. ...

Alleged male prostitutes

• Dee Dee Ramone, rumored to have been a former rent boy
• Jeff Gannon, allegedly worked as a male prostitute

Dee Dee Ramone (born Douglas Glenn Colvin) (September 18, 1952 - June 5, 2002) was an American musician, best remembered as a founding member of The Ramones, an influential punk band. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ... James Guckert, a. ...

See also

• Hooker with a heart of gold
• Category:Royal mistresses