Edith Massey
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| Edith Massey | |
|---|---|
 Edith Massey as Ida Nelson in Female Trouble |
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| Born | May 28, 1918 San Francisco, California  |
| Died | October 24, 1984 (aged 66) Los Angeles, California |
| Years active | 1940-1984 |
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] Early life
Born in New York, Edith Massey (nee Dornfield) was raised in an orphanage in Denver, Colorado. According to 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 she eventually relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where she was a barmaid at Pete's Hotel. John Waters met Massey while she was working at Pete's Hotel and offered her a role as herself in the film Multiple Maniacs. In the early '70s, she quit her job at Pete's and opened a thrift store called Edith's Shopping Bag. When poor health demanded she move to California near the end of her life, Massey moved her thrift store there as well.
[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 with the money she earned from acting in Waters' films. 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. This documentary, along with extra footage and commentary by the director is available at [1]. This is a director's authorized version re-mastered from his original 16mm color film footage.
- Edith also appeared in John Cougar Mellencamp's music video This Time, as his true love after a string of beautiful floozies. She was also on the album cover of his 1980 album 'Nothin' Matters and What if it Did'.
