Name
Divine
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1945-10-19
Deathday
1988-03-07 (43 years old)
Place of Birth
Towson, Maryland, USA
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.
Known For
6.1
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymon...
7.826
An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans fe...
7.289
Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground...
6.3
The Cavalcade of Perversion, a traveling freak show, acts as a front for Divine, who is ou...
6.9
Teenage delinquent Dawn Davenport, incensed after her parents do not give her the cha-cha ...
5.57
A deranged killer wearing a clown mask begins preying on a group of young women working at...
6.9
Documentary about the gender-bending San Francisco performance group who became a pop cult...
7.2
Throughout the 1950s, Tab Hunter reigned as Hollywood’s ultimate male heartthrob. But th...
- 1972 Pink Flamingos as Divine / Babs Johnson
- 1988 Out of the Dark as Det. Langella
- 1985 Trouble in Mind as Hilly Blue
- 1976 Female Trouble as Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson
- 1981 Polyester as Francine Fishpaw
- 2000 Divine: Shoot Your Shot & Live at the Hacienda as Self (archive footage)
- 1990 The Neon Woman as Flash Storm (archive footage)
- 1985 Lust in the Dust as Rosie Velez
- 2015 Tab Hunter Confidential as Self (archive)
- 2000 Divine Trash as Self
- 2007 DIVINE R.I.P. as Self (archive footage)
- 2021 My Life with the Waters as Self
- 2014 I Am Divine as Self (archive)
- 1980 The Alternative Miss World as Self - Guest of Honour
- 2016 Discolocos as Self (archive footage)
- 1987 Queen: The Magic Years vol. 3 as Self
- 1987 Queen: The Magic Years vol. 1 as Self
- 1987 Queen: Magic Years - A Visual Anthology as Self
- 2011 The British Guide to Showing Off as Self (archive footage)
- 2018 Howard as Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson (archive footage)
- 2002 The Cockettes as Self (archive footage)
- 2020 Disclosure as Edna Turnblad (archive footage)
- 2016 Night Flight: Born Again as Self
- 2010 Uncle Bob as Self
- 1979 Tally Brown, New York
- 1976 Underground and Emigrants as Self
- 1995 Divine: Shoot Your Shot
- Soon Divine: Live at the Hacienda
- 1992 Rhythm Divine: The Story of Disco as Self (archive footage)
- 1999 In Bad Taste as Self (archive footage)
- 1988 Hairspray as Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile
- 1970 Multiple Maniacs as Lady Divine
- 1968 Eat Your Makeup as Jacqueline Kennedy
- 1969 Mondo Trasho as Divine / Greaser in Alley
- 1967 Roman Candles as Party Guest / Man with Scarf
- 1970 The Diane Linkletter Story as Diane Linkletter
- 1985 Divine Waters as Self
- 1998 Soul Ache as Actriz cantante (Singer actress)
- 2018 BEAT. Contour. Snatched. How Drag Queens Shaped the Biggest Makeup Trends as Self
- 2018 Studio 54 as Self (archive footage)
- 2025 Too Disgusting To Be Confused as Self
- 2012 The Sex of Death e o Homem Invisível as Singer (archive footage)
- 2018 Crime and Beauty: Making ‘Female Trouble’ as Self (archive)
- 2008 Starz Inside: In the Gutter as Self (archive)
- 2007 The Roots of 'Hairspray' as Self (archive)
- 2018 Crime and Beauty: Remembering "Female Trouble" as Self (archive)
- Soon New Line: Independent Legacies as Self (archive footage)
- 1984 Tales from the Darkside ( 1 episode )
- 2013 Cachitos de hierro y cromo ( 1 episode ) as Self (archive footage)
- 2005 Girls and Boys - Sex and British Pop ( 4 episodes ) as Self
- 2004 Sex 'n' Pop ( 6 episodes ) as Self (archive footage)
- 1988 The Incredibly Strange Film Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1982 Late Night with David Letterman ( 1 episode ) as Self - Guest
