My favorite book of 2010 was John Water’s delightful memoir- Role Models, & I am not surprised that the universe chose to have placed Divine’s childhood home, just a houses away from John Waters' place. In movies like Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, & Polyester, Harris Glenn Milstead was given starring roles by his high school friend & helped create his alter ego-Divine. It was Pink Flamingos that sent him into stardom, where he ate dog poop for real. It shocked everyone, & became the thing that legends are made of. In the 1970s, Divine made the transition to theater & appeared in Women Behind Bars & The Neon Woman, while continuing to star in the films Polyester, Lust in the Dust & of course the classic Hairspray.
When the public could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performances, they discovered an actor of genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing & an uncanny gift for slapstick. He was one of the few truly radical & essential artists of the 20th centur, an audacious symbol of man's quest for artistic liberty & freedom.
Divine released disco songs & albums, & he found true fame in Hairspray, & as Uncle Otto on Married With Children. on the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after Hairspray was released, Divine was staying at the Regency Hotel in L.A. After dining with friends & returning to the hotel, he died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at age 42. Among Divine’s many legacies, he was the inspiration of Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid.
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