Divine(1945-1988)
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Originally born Harris Glen Milstead just after the end of WWII,
Baltimore's most outrageous resident eventually became the
international icon of bad taste cinema, as the always shocking and
highly entertaining transvestite performer, Divine.
Milstead met maverick film director & good friend,
John Waters, at high school in
Baltimore, and the two combined to star in and direct several ultra low
budget, taboo breaking cult films of the early 1970s. Their first
efforts included
Roman Candles (1967),
Eat Your Makeup (1968) and
Mondo Trasho (1969)....however,
their most infamous work together was the amazing
Pink Flamingos (1972), in which
Divine starred as "Babs Johnson", the "filthiest person alive" living
in a pink trailer with her egg-eating grandmother, chicken-loving son
and voyeuristic daughter.
Divine also starred as career criminal Dawn Davenport in
Female Trouble (1974), as bored
housewife Francine Fishpaw in
Polyester (1981), as outlaw gal Rosie
Velez in Lust in the Dust (1984)
and in Waters' loving (but still slightly bizarre) salute to teen dance
TV shows as Ricki Lake's mother in the superb
Hairspray (1988).
Milstead's health deteriorated due to to his obese frame, and he passed
away in his sleep from a combination of heart attack and apnea in 1988.
Baltimore's most outrageous resident eventually became the
international icon of bad taste cinema, as the always shocking and
highly entertaining transvestite performer, Divine.
Milstead met maverick film director & good friend,
John Waters, at high school in
Baltimore, and the two combined to star in and direct several ultra low
budget, taboo breaking cult films of the early 1970s. Their first
efforts included
Roman Candles (1967),
Eat Your Makeup (1968) and
Mondo Trasho (1969)....however,
their most infamous work together was the amazing
Pink Flamingos (1972), in which
Divine starred as "Babs Johnson", the "filthiest person alive" living
in a pink trailer with her egg-eating grandmother, chicken-loving son
and voyeuristic daughter.
Divine also starred as career criminal Dawn Davenport in
Female Trouble (1974), as bored
housewife Francine Fishpaw in
Polyester (1981), as outlaw gal Rosie
Velez in Lust in the Dust (1984)
and in Waters' loving (but still slightly bizarre) salute to teen dance
TV shows as Ricki Lake's mother in the superb
Hairspray (1988).
Milstead's health deteriorated due to to his obese frame, and he passed
away in his sleep from a combination of heart attack and apnea in 1988.