Divine Biography
Born: October 19, 1945
Died: March 07, 1988
Drag-queen and cult-movie star Divine, born Harris Glenn Milstead, was a high-school acquaintance of John_Waters in the early '60s. Waters indulged his chubby friend's penchant for crossdressing, and Divine's acting career was launched with Water's first films in the mid '60s, Roman_Candles and Eat_Your_Makeup both filmed while Divine still worked as a hairdresser. As Waters' work became more funny and outrageous with Mondo_Trasho(1969) and Multiple_Maniacs(1970), Divine's performances became richer and wilder; the two achieved immortality with the outrageously raunchy cult classic Pink_Flamingos(1972) in which Divine competes to become the "World's Filthiest Person." They continued working together during the late '70s and into the '80s making two of their best films, Female_Trouble(1974) and Polyester(1981). Divine also began appearing for other filmmakers, playing a woman in Paul_Bartel's Lust in the Dust(1985) and shedding his feminine garb to play a man in Alan_Rudolph's Trouble in Mind(1986). In his/her last appearance for Waters's, Hairspray(1988), Divine played a dual role, one male, one female, and was quite effective in both parts.Those who could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performance discovered that the actor/actress had genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing and an uncanny gift for slapstick. In 1989 Divine died suddenly of an enlarged heart at the age of 42 while preparing for a guest appearance on Fox TV's Married...With Children. Rovi
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