The risqué movies provided Milstead and his character Divine with a vehicle for fame and notoriety. (No one who’s seen Pink Flamingos will ever forget the infamous scene when Divine as Babs Johnson eats dog feces.) By the mid-1960s, he had embraced the city’s countercultural scene and befriended filmmaker John Waters, who gave him the name “Divine” and the tagline of “the most beautiful woman in the world, almost.” After appearing in several short films, Divine took a lead role in Waters’ early films including Mondo Trasho (1969), Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974), all of which have achieved cult status over the years, but at the time created a stir with film censors. “He was getting the legitimate screen and television offers that showed the industry had finally accepted him as the very good character actor he always knew he was.”Īccording to Jay, Milstead had had a medical checkup the previous week and was declared in excellent health, other than his weight, “which had been a constant problem throughout his life.”īorn in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 19, 1945, to a conservative middle-class family, Milstead developed an early interest in drag while working as a women’s hairdresser. “He was finally getting respect within the industry,” said Milstead’s manager, Bernard Jay, shortly after Milstead’s death. We call it “Disgraceland.” So we’ll all be together.On March 7, 1988, Harris Glenn Milstead – better known as Divine, the larger-than-life drag queen – died in his sleep of a heart attack attributed to his obesity, at the Regency Plaza Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard in a Los Angeles, where he was staying as a guest. “So did Pat, so did Mink Stole, so did Dennis Dermody. “We’re going to spend eternity with him because I bought a gravestone where Divine’s buried,” he explained. Such a defining part in fact, that Waters wants them to be together forever – literally. And also, when you have your first success, which we did with those first movies basically, it’s incredibly exciting, and he was a huge part of it.” It’s just that he was in our personal lives. “I’m shocked every day still he’s dead because he had been such a big part of my life. It’s been 27 years since Divine died and Waters still thinks of him often. They were square then, they wanted to be Miss America and be their mothers.” His legacy was that he made all drag queens cool. His legacy, according to Waters, was that he made drag “cool”. He is so iconic that he’s almost mainstream. And now every drag queen, every one that’s successful today is cutting edge.”Ībsolutely no one can question the influence he had on the drag world. “Divine frightened drag queens because he would show up with a chainsaw and makeup artist Van Smith would put fake scars on his face, wearing mini skirts when you’re 300 pounds. ![]() ![]() That didn’t stop the character terrorising the other queens. At least half his friends were definitely straight, and he got along with everybody. ![]() ![]() He didn’t just have gay friends - he lived with a gangster once. “He was a quiet gentleman who liked to eat and smoke pot, and was very loyal to his friends. “Divine was not at all like the character Divine,” he reminisced. To commemorate him, Waters – as well as fellow Dreamlander Pat Moran – gave an interview to Baltimore magazine about who Divine was.Īs such good friends, Waters knew the real Divine intimately, not just the brassy queen who stole the screen. Sadly, Divine died of a heart attack at the age of 42 and next week, on October 19, it would have been his 70th birthday. Fabulously attired, bold, and deliciously vile, the drag queen was the unquestioned star in some of Waters’ most celebrated and career defining films early on. Or you’ve at least got the mental image stored in there. If you’re clued up on John Waters’ legacy you may have heard of Divine.
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