When she was 16, Frances moved to Baltimore where she worked at a diner in Towson, here meeting Harris, who was a regular customer. Divine's mother, Frances Milstead (née Vukovich April 12, 1920 – March 24, 2009), was one of fifteen children born to an impoverished Serb immigrant couple who had grown up near Zagreb (in today's Croatia) before moving to the United States in 1891. His father, Harris Bernard Milstead (May 1, 1917 – March 4, 1993), after whom he was named, had been one of seven children born in Towson, Maryland to a plumber who worked for the Baltimore City Water Department. Harris Glenn Milstead was born on October 19, 1945, at the Women's Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Having struggled with obesity throughout his Life, he died from cardiomegaly. He achieved international chart success with hits like " You Think You're a Man", " I'm So Beautiful", and " Walk Like a Man", all of which were performed in drag. In 1981, Divine embarked on a career in the disco industry by producing a number of Hi-NRG tracks, most of which were written by Bobby Orlando. Independent of Waters, he also appeared in a number of other films, such as Lust in the Dust (1985) and Trouble in Mind (1985), seeking to diversify his repertoire by playing male roles. Continuing his cinematic work, he starred in two more of Waters' films, Polyester (1981) and Hairspray (1988), the latter of which represented his breakthrough into mainstream cinema. He followed this with a performance in Tom Eyen's play Women Behind Bars and its sequel, The Neon Woman. midnight movie circuit, became a cult classic, and established Divine's fame within the American counterculture.Īfter starring as the lead role in Waters' next picture, Female Trouble (1974), Divine moved on to theater, appearing in several avant-garde performances alongside San Francisco drag collective, The Cockettes. Divine next starred in Waters' Pink Flamingos (1972), which proved a hit on the U.S. Again in drag, he took a lead role in both of Waters' early full-length movies, Mondo Trasho (1969) and Multiple Maniacs (1970), the latter of which began to attract press attention for the group. By the mid-1960s he had embraced the city's countercultural scene and befriended Waters, who gave him the name "Divine" and the tagline of "the most beautiful woman in the world, almost." Along with his friend David Lochary, Divine joined Waters' acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, and adopted female roles for their experimental short films Roman Candles (1966), Eat Your Makeup (1968), and The Diane Linkletter Story (1969). Born in Baltimore, Maryland to a conservative middle-class family, Milstead developed an early interest in drag while working as a women's hairdresser.
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