Mink Stole(I)
- Actress
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Part of the original motley crew of cast players in underground shock
master John Waters' bare-bones 8mm, 16mm and 35mm cult perversions during
the late 60s and early 70s, Mink Stole would remain a thoroughly offbeat, outrageous presence in counterculture films for five decades.
She was born with the All-American name of Nancy Stoll on August 25, 1947, in Baltimore, Maryland. Waters took her under his wing in 1966
wherein she started "acting out" a number of his deviant creations for
gross-out effect alongside other outré members that included
break-out star transvestite actor Divine, plus Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary, Cookie Mueller and the
must-be-seen-to-be-believed Edith Massey.
Calling themselves the Dreamland Players, Stole would become known as both the hysterical foil
and vengeful nemesis of "leading lady" Divine, playing her annoying
repulsive characters as pure evil incarnate. Her role in the infamous
Pink Flamingos (1972) as Connie Marble, the carrot-domed villain complete with
outlandish cats-eye glasses and seedy fur coat, set the tone for her
subsequent gallery of grotesques, including the tantrum-throwing
girl-child Taffy Davenport in Female Trouble (1974), murderous housewife-on-the-lam
Peggy Gravel in Desperate Living (1977), and corn-rowed hussy Sandra Sullivan in
Polyester (1981), which was the first Waters film to star a legit actor --
Tab Hunter.
Mink's movie time in Waters' campfests would grow less and
less as his movies/parodies grew more and more mainstream, but she
remained an altruistic player for Waters nevertheless, appearing in
nearly every one of his films. From 1994 on, she did bits in his wide
releases of Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), Cecil B. Demented (2000), A Dirty Shame (2004), Stuck! (2009) and Hush Up Sweet Charlotte (2015).
Moving ahead, Mink Stole appeared in numerous tongue-in-cheek cameos for other off-the-cuff directing talents as well, continuing her reign as a prime film outlaw. She appeared role in Another Gay Movie (2006) playing a character named Sloppi Seconds. Need we say more? Other films with tacky, tawdry titles that begged for straight-to-video release include Liquid Dreams (1991), The Crazysitter (1994), A Dirty Shame (2004), Sunny & Share Love You (2007) and Becoming Blond (2012). She also made appearances in the raunchy "Eating Out" series of comedy films: Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (2006), Eating Out: All You Can Eat (2009), Eating Out: Drama Camp (2011) and Eating Out: The Open Weekend (2011).
Over the years, Mink has made the rounds on
the experimental stage. She played Van Helsing in a production of
"Dracula" and the title papal role in "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It
All for You," not to mention bizarre, contemporary treatments of the
Bard's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "A Winter's Tale." She recently
attracted some attention in the play "Sleeping with Straight Men" which
was seen on both coasts from 2002-2004.
On the sly she has written an
advice column, of all things, called "Think Mink" for a Baltimore
newspaper.
master John Waters' bare-bones 8mm, 16mm and 35mm cult perversions during
the late 60s and early 70s, Mink Stole would remain a thoroughly offbeat, outrageous presence in counterculture films for five decades.
She was born with the All-American name of Nancy Stoll on August 25, 1947, in Baltimore, Maryland. Waters took her under his wing in 1966
wherein she started "acting out" a number of his deviant creations for
gross-out effect alongside other outré members that included
break-out star transvestite actor Divine, plus Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary, Cookie Mueller and the
must-be-seen-to-be-believed Edith Massey.
Calling themselves the Dreamland Players, Stole would become known as both the hysterical foil
and vengeful nemesis of "leading lady" Divine, playing her annoying
repulsive characters as pure evil incarnate. Her role in the infamous
Pink Flamingos (1972) as Connie Marble, the carrot-domed villain complete with
outlandish cats-eye glasses and seedy fur coat, set the tone for her
subsequent gallery of grotesques, including the tantrum-throwing
girl-child Taffy Davenport in Female Trouble (1974), murderous housewife-on-the-lam
Peggy Gravel in Desperate Living (1977), and corn-rowed hussy Sandra Sullivan in
Polyester (1981), which was the first Waters film to star a legit actor --
Tab Hunter.
Mink's movie time in Waters' campfests would grow less and
less as his movies/parodies grew more and more mainstream, but she
remained an altruistic player for Waters nevertheless, appearing in
nearly every one of his films. From 1994 on, she did bits in his wide
releases of Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), Cecil B. Demented (2000), A Dirty Shame (2004), Stuck! (2009) and Hush Up Sweet Charlotte (2015).
Moving ahead, Mink Stole appeared in numerous tongue-in-cheek cameos for other off-the-cuff directing talents as well, continuing her reign as a prime film outlaw. She appeared role in Another Gay Movie (2006) playing a character named Sloppi Seconds. Need we say more? Other films with tacky, tawdry titles that begged for straight-to-video release include Liquid Dreams (1991), The Crazysitter (1994), A Dirty Shame (2004), Sunny & Share Love You (2007) and Becoming Blond (2012). She also made appearances in the raunchy "Eating Out" series of comedy films: Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (2006), Eating Out: All You Can Eat (2009), Eating Out: Drama Camp (2011) and Eating Out: The Open Weekend (2011).
Over the years, Mink has made the rounds on
the experimental stage. She played Van Helsing in a production of
"Dracula" and the title papal role in "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It
All for You," not to mention bizarre, contemporary treatments of the
Bard's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "A Winter's Tale." She recently
attracted some attention in the play "Sleeping with Straight Men" which
was seen on both coasts from 2002-2004.
On the sly she has written an
advice column, of all things, called "Think Mink" for a Baltimore
newspaper.