Edith Massey
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Edith Massey (May 28, 1918 - October 24, 1984) was an American actress and singer. Massey was best known for her appearances in a series of movies by director John Waters.
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[edit] Career
Massey experienced a number of challenges as a child.
According to death records from the state of California, Massey was born in New York; her father's surname was Dornfield and her mother's maiden name was Levi. (California Death Index).
She grew up in an orphanage in Denver, Colorado. In John Waters' book, Shock Value, she lived in this orphanage "until she was sent out to be a maid at the age of fifteen. Edie finally got fed up and ran away, but was captured by the police and put in a reformatory."
She moved to Los Angeles, California in an attempt to start a career in show business. She made her acting debut as an extra in the 1940 film Arise, My Love.
In 1946, she married a soldier (supposedly a Mr. Massey) in Reno, Nevada. In Shock Value, Edie recalls that the wedding was the happiest day of her life, despite the fact that "he went to the movies by himself right after the ceremony and I [Edie] went to the gambling casino alone." They separated in 1951 after Massey "got restless."
She worked in several odd jobs through the years, and eventually relocated to Baltimore, Maryland.
[edit] Collaboration with John Waters
Director John Waters met Edith while she was working as a bartender at Pete's Hotel in Baltimore; Massey was also the proprietress of a thrift store called Edith's Shopping Bag. Massey gained a cult following from her appearances in five John Waters films: Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972), Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living (1977), and Polyester (1981).
[edit] Later career and death
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Massey capitalized on the infamy of Waters' films by touring as the lead singer of a punk band, (Edie and the Eggs). She also posed for a series of greeting cards. Later, when the Baltimore winters became too much for her to endure, she moved to Venice, California, where she opened another thrift store. During the year of her death, Edith starred in the film Mutants in Paradise. Massey died in 1984 of cancer-related illness and complications from diabetes and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
[edit] Other media about Edith Massey
- Director Robert Maier made a documentary short about her in 1975 entitled Love Letter to Edie.
