Divine
Acting
Born 1945-10-19
Died 1988-03-07
Towson, Maryland, USA
53 credits
Read biography
Divine (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988), né Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's clothing in musical performances. Even so, he considered himself to be a character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role. Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world."
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, into a conservative, wealthy middle class family, he became involved with John Waters and his acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, in the mid-1960s and starred in a number of Waters's early films such as Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. These films have since become cult classics. In the 1970s, Milstead made the transition to theater and appeared in a number of productions, including Women Behind Bars and The Neon Woman, while continuing to star in such films as Polyester, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray.
The New York Times said of Milstead's '80s films: "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." He was also described as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century… was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom." Since his death, Divine has remained a cult figure, particularly with those in the LGBT community.
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Filmography
Acting
49 credits
Late Night with David Letterman
Pink Flamingos
Polyester
Hairspray
Cachitos de hierro y cromo
Girls and Boys - Sex and British Pop
Female Trouble
Studio 54
Disclosure
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
Howard
I Am Divine
Multiple Maniacs
The Cockettes
Trouble in Mind
Tab Hunter Confidential
Out of the Dark
Lust in the Dust
Divine Waters
Divine Trash
Roman Candles
Starz Inside: In the Gutter
The Roots of 'Hairspray'
Night Flight: Born Again
New Line: Independent Legacies
Eat Your Makeup
Mondo Trasho
In Bad Taste
Queen: Magic Years - A Visual Anthology
Rhythm Divine: The Story of Disco
Soul Ache
Uncle Bob
The British Guide to Showing Off
Sex 'n' Pop
Crime and Beauty: Remembering "Female Trouble"
Crime and Beauty: Making ‘Female Trouble’
The Diane Linkletter Story
The Alternative Miss World
Underground and Emigrants
Queen: The Magic Years vol. 1
My Life with the Waters
Queen: The Magic Years vol. 3
Too Disgusting To Be Confused
BEAT. Contour. Snatched. How Drag Queens Shaped the Biggest Makeup Trends
The Neon Woman
Divine: Shoot Your Shot & Live at the Hacienda
Discolocos
DIVINE R.I.P.
The Sex of Death e o Homem Invisível
Other credits
3 credits
Writing
2 credits
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