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Divine (Glen Milstead)

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Divine with dogs

Harris Glenn Milstead (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988) was better known by his drag persona Divine.

Contents

Early life

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Born in Towson, Maryland to Bernard and Diana Frances Milstead, at the age of 12 the family moved to Lutherville, a suburb of Baltimore. John Waters was a childhood friend who lived six houses down the street.

Film career

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, Female Trouble, Polyester, and Hairspray. Repeating their successful pairing in Polyester, in 1985 Divine appeared opposite Tab Hunter in their bigger hit Lust in the Dust.

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 the 1980s, Milstead's comedy records were hits through America, Europe, and Australia. The typical progressive type of synthesizer disco music was composed, created, performed and produced by Bobby Orlando. In Britain his Stock, Aitken and Waterman "You Think You're A Man" was his most successful hit, reaching #16.

In 1988, the British film The Fruit Machine (1988), a/k/a Wonderland (USA), utilized Milstead's songs in its 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 in non-drag 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).

Sudden death

In 1988, Milstead was chosen to portray the dual character of Peggy Bundy's Mother and her Uncle Otto on the new FOX prime-time series Married With Children. Quite unexpectedly, he died at age 42 from sleep apnea in Los Angeles, California. The cause was attributed to his obesity.

He was buried in Towson, Maryland, which was accompanied with a funeral procession attended by thousands.

"Glenn was born before civil rights, gay rights, or women's rights...God doesn't want people created out of a Xerox machine...The tragedy is that Glenn was cut off right at the point of becoming who he really was, and the world will never see how that flower could have unfolded."
–Reverend Leland Higginbotham at Divine's eulogy; Baltimore, Maryland, March, 1988

Filmography

Discography

(all produced by Bob Orlando)

Disco and Hi-NRG dance hits (music)

Trivia

Divine was in part the inspiration for the design of the character Ursula the Sea Witch from the Disney film The Little Mermaid.

References

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
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