Author Simmons Dies

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/29/1997 at 12:00 AM EST

Author Dawn Langley Simmons, 77, who was born Gordon Langley Hall (the illegitimate son of a British aristocrat), has died in Charleston, S.C., reports the Associated Press. Simmons, whose 20 books include bios of First Ladies Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson, reportedly rocked Southern society 30 years ago when he underwent a sex change and married a black man, John Paul Simmons. The cause of death was not reported.