Divine

Known for ActingBorn 1945-10-19Died 1988-03-07Towson, Maryland, USA

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.Read more

Movies & web series

Discolocos

Queen: The Magic Years vol. 1

The Incredibly Strange Film Show

Disclosure

In Bad Taste

Cachitos de hierro y cromo

Divine: Live at the Hacienda

I Am Divine

Divine Waters

Tab Hunter Confidential

Tally Brown, New York

Divine Trash

Eat Your Makeup

Tales from the Darkside

Howard

The Cockettes

Queen: The Magic Years vol. 3

Polyester

Underground and Emigrants

Hairspray

Studio 54

Female Trouble

Roman Candles

The British Guide to Showing Off

Queen: Magic Years - A Visual Anthology

Multiple Maniacs

Late Night with David Letterman

Lust in the Dust

Pink Flamingos

Trouble in Mind

Out of the Dark

Divine: Shoot Your Shot

Mondo Trasho

The Alternative Miss World

Soul Ache

The Diane Linkletter Story

Starz Inside: In the Gutter

Uncle Bob

Sex 'n' Pop

Too Disgusting To Be Confused

My Life with the Waters

BEAT. Contour. Snatched. How Drag Queens Shaped the Biggest Makeup Trends

Crime and Beauty: Making ‘Female Trouble’

Crime and Beauty: Remembering "Female Trouble"

Night Flight: Born Again

The Sex of Death e o Homem Invisível

DIVINE R.I.P.

The Roots of 'Hairspray'