Divine

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Birthday:

19 October 1945, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Birth Name:

Harris Glen Milstead

Height:

188 cm

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 (1966), 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 (1985) 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. Show less «

"All my life I wanted to look like Elizabeth Taylor. Now Elizabeth Taylor looks like me".

"He's one of my finest leading ladies" - Tab Hunter [who co-starred with Divine in Polyester (1981)].

People who used to make fun are now fans. I had the last laugh.

Of course the last thing my parents wanted was a son who wears a cocktail dress that glitters, but they've come around to it.

My favorite part of dressing in drag is getting out of it. Drag is my work clothes. I only put it on when someone pays me to.

I think I've always been respectable. What I do onstage is not what I do in my private life... It's an act... It's how I make my living. Peo...Show more »

I think I've always been respectable. What I do onstage is not what I do in my private life... It's an act... It's how I make my living. People laugh, and it's not hurting anyone. Show less «

"Divine" and "Glenn Milstead" are both just names. Glenn is the name I was brought up with, Divine is the name I've been using for the past ...Show more »

"Divine" and "Glenn Milstead" are both just names. Glenn is the name I was brought up with, Divine is the name I've been using for the past 23 years. I guess it's always Glenn and it's always Divine. Do you mean the character Divine or the person Divine? You see, it gets very complicated. There's the Divine you're talking to now and there's the character Divine, which is just something I do to make a living. She doesn't really exist at all. Show less «

[on Pink Flamingos (1972)'s infamous final scene, in which he consumes dog feces]: [People think that I] run around doing it all the time. I...Show more »

[on Pink Flamingos (1972)'s infamous final scene, in which he consumes dog feces]: [People think that I] run around doing it all the time. I've received boxes of dog shit - plastic dog shit. I have gone to parties where people just sit around and talk about dog shit because they think it's what I want to talk about. Show less «

[1973] Divine. That's my name. It's the name John [John Waters] gave me. I like it. That's what everybody calls me now, even my close friend...Show more »

[1973] Divine. That's my name. It's the name John [John Waters] gave me. I like it. That's what everybody calls me now, even my close friends. Not many of them call me Glenn at all anymore, which I don't mind. They can call me whatever they want. They call me fatso, and they call me asshole, and I don't care. You always change your name when you're in the show business. Divine has stuck as my name. Did you ever look it up in the dictionary? I won't even go into it. It's unbelievable. Show less «

[on Pink Flamingos (1972)'s infamous final scene]: I followed that dog around for three hours just zooming in on its asshole.