Divine (actor)

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Harris "Divine" Milstead

Milstead as "Divine" at Disney.
Born Harris Glenn Milstead
October 19, 1945(1945-10-19)
Towson, Maryland, United States
Died March 7, 1988 (aged 42)
Los Angeles, California, United States

Harris Glenn Milstead (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988) was an actor and singer known by his drag persona Divine. He appeared in several of John Waters' films, including Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, and Hairspray, as part of Waters' regular troupe of actors known as Dreamlanders. The New York Times said of Milstead's films in the 1980s, "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."[1]

Contents


[edit] Early life

Milstead's high school yearbook photo at age 17.
Milstead's high school yearbook photo at age 17.

Divine was born Harris Glenn Milstead, the only surviving child born to Harris Bernard Milstead (1917-1993) and Diana Frances "Frances" Milstead (née Vukovich). Frances had suffered two previous miscarriages in 1940 and 1943.

Milstead spent his childhood in the suburbs of Baltimore. He was born in Towson and, at the age of twelve, his family moved to Lutherville, Maryland where he attended Towson High School (he graduated in 1963). It was during those years that he became acquainted with John Waters, who lived in his neighborhood.

[edit] Career

In the 1970s, Milstead starred as Divine in a number of New York City theater pieces, including Tom Eyen's classic camp women's prison drama, Women Behind Bars, which was a major off-Broadway hit in 1976, playing the lead role of the evil matron, Pauline. Divine returned to the stage in another Tom Eyen off-Broadway play, The Neon Woman, where he played the role of Flash Storm, the owner of a sleazy strip club plagued by a series of murders. Eyen's play was loosely based on famed burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee's book, The G-String Murders.

Milstead starred in a number of films and was part of the regular cast known as the Dreamlanders. The Dreamlanders appeared in many of John Waters' earlier works such as Pink Flamingos (in 1972), Female Trouble, Polyester, and Hairspray. In 1985 Milstead appeared opposite Tab Hunter in their hit Lust in the Dust, repeating their successful pairing in Polyester.

He is also remembered as a major character in the documentary homage Divine Trash by Steve Yeager, covering the life and work of John Waters.

In 1988, the British film The Fruit Machine, also known as Wonderland in the United States, used Milstead's songs in a nightclub disco dance sequence that showcased an early Robbie Coltrane in drag as "Annabelle", the club's owner (a cross between Divine and Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz).

Late in his career, Milstead also played male roles in his last three films: Trouble in Mind, Hairspray, and Out of the Dark. In Hairspray he played two roles, one male and one female (which he had first done in the earlier Female Trouble). He was also the inspiration for the design of Ursula the Sea-Witch in the Disney classic The Little Mermaid. [2]

He visited Bergen, Norway, in the mid-1980s. At that time, Polyester had been a great success at the local cinema. He was treated as a real superstar by the press and by the audience to his live show. He told in an interview with Bergen Gay Radio that this was one of only a few times when he had experienced this kind of appreciation. Usually he felt he was just some kind of industrial entertainer.

[edit] Death

In 1988 Milstead was cast as a character on the FOX prime-time series Married...With Children.

On the evening of March 7th he was in Los Angeles staying in the Regency Hotel, and the night before he was due on set he had dinner with friends. Afterwards he returned to the hotel, and before entering his room he leaned over the balcony and sang "Arrivederci Roma."

Milstead was known for being on time when working, so when he didn’t show up the next morning for his shoot on the show people became concerned. His manager Bernard Jay went to the hotel at noon to check on him and used his passkey to get in. The autopsy later found he had died in his sleep of heart failure, or an enlarged heart brought on by sleep apnea. He was 42 years old.[1]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Discography

In the 1980s, Divine released several dance music records which were club music hits in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Divine's records comprised synth-heavy disco music, most of it composed, created, performed, and produced by Bobby Orlando. In the United States, Divine's highest-charting songs were "Native Love", peaking at #21 on the Club Play Singles chart, and "Shoot Your Shot", which reached #39 among Club Play Singles. Divine's early U.K. releases on the Design Communications label included "Love Reaction" (which many said "borrowed" elements of New Order's big hit "Blue Monday")[citation needed], "Shake It Up", and "Shoot Your Shot". All of these releases were big gay club hits and minor mainstream chart hits[citation needed]. The Stock, Aitken & Waterman-produced song "You Think You're A Man" was Divine's most successful U.K. hit, reaching #16; the song was also a Top 10 hit in Australia, reaching #8. Among the material Divine released on the Proto label in the United Kingdom was "I'm So Beautiful" (the follow-up single to "You Think You're A Man"), "Walk Like A Man" and "Twistin' The Night Away". A compilation of tracks from his Proto catalogue, entitled The Essential Divine, is currently available on iTunes.

[edit] Albums

  • My First Album (1982)
  • Jungle Jezebel (1982)
  • The Story So Far (1984)
  • Maid in England (1988)
  • The Best of and the Rest of (1989) (compilation)
  • The 12" Collection (1993) (compilation)
  • Born to Be Cheap (1995) (live)
  • Shoot Your Shot (1995)
  • The Originals and the Remixes (1996) (2-CD compilation)
  • The Best of Divine (1997) (compilation)

[edit] Singles

Disco and Hi-NRG dance hits:

  • Native Love (Step By Step) (1982) (U.S. #21 Club Play Singles)
  • Shoot Your Shot (1983) (U.S. #39 Club Play Singles)
  • Love Reaction (1983) (U.K. #65)
  • Shake It Up (1983) (U.K. #82)
  • You Think You're A Man (1984) (U.K. #16, Australia #8)
  • I'm So Beautiful (1984) (U.K. #52)
  • Walk Like A Man (1985) (U.K. #23)
  • Twistin' The Night Away (1985) (U.K. #47)
  • Hard Magic (1985) (U.K. #87)
  • Hey, You! (1987)

[edit] References

 The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.
  1. ^ a b "Divine" biography. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  2. ^ Divine (answers.com)
  • Jay, Bernard (1994). Not Simply Divine. New York: Fireside. ISBN 0-671-88467-0. 
  • Milstead, Frances; Heffernan, Kevin; Yeager, Steve (2001). My Son Divine. Los Angeles: Alyson Books. ISBN 1-55583-594-5. 

[edit] External links