Divine

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artist's impression
Harris Glenn Milstead (1963)

Divine (born October 19, 1945 in Towson , Maryland , † March 7, 1988 in Los Angeles , California ; real name: Harris Glenn Milstead ) was an American actor and singer, who mainly appeared in female roles. He was considered the most famous drag queen of his time, but saw himself more as a character actor. He first achieved fame through his appearances in the films of John Waters , in the 1980s he was successful as a singer of Hi-NRG songs.

life and career

youth

Milstead was born to the couple Bernard (1917-1993) and Diana Francis Milstead (1920-2009) into a conservative middle class family. Even as a child he liked to play with dolls and wore women's clothes. His mother said that at some point a doctor told her that her son was more female than male. She also stated that he had always liked to eat. Glenn, as he was then called, was beaten a lot in school.

When Milstead was twelve years old, his family moved to Lutherville , a suburb of Baltimore . There he met the filmmaker John Waters at a young age , who was then 17 years old. He and Waters had a love for films, especially Russ Meyer's films . He later also watched films on LSD with him. Milstead went to a fancy dress ball with his high school girlfriend at the time and dressed up as Elisabeth Taylor .

Milstead first worked as a hairdresser, according to his mother, he should take responsibility. He organized parties for his friends and often did not pay the bills that his parents often got; when asked about it, however, he protested his innocence and even passed a polygraph test. According to his friends, Divine smoked a lot. When he confessed to his parents that he was gay and used drugs, they disowned him. It wasn't until much later that his mother found out that her son was Divine and called him to reconcile with him.

actor

From 1966 Divine worked as a member of the Dreamlanders film crew in the films of his childhood friend John Waters. Films like Pink Flamingos , Female Trouble and Polyester were made under his direction . In these comedies, Divine, appearing in his female roles, deliberately crossed the line of "good taste" on a regular basis. The scene in Pink Flamingo , in which Divine eats dog poop in order to be named the dirtiest person in the world, became famous . In the thriller Trouble in Mind he appeared for the first time without a woman's costume and played a gang boss at the side of Kris Kristofferson . Shortly before his death in 1988, he played a double role in John Waters' Hairspray : one male, the other the mother of the main character. Hairspray also marked the breakthrough for Waters and Divine with a wide audience.

Music career

In the early 1980s, Divine began recording a few records with New York producer Bobby Orlando and hit the charts in the US, Europe and Australia. Divine was one of the first artists to establish a sound in the charts that would later become popular as a dance floor . This was followed by appearances in large discos in Europe, the United States and Asia, including in Vienna's U4 . During her career, Divine also met Elton John and asked her to perform at one of his concerts at Madison Square Garden .

In the United States, Divine's top-ranked songs were Native Love (number 21 on the Club Play charts) and Shoot Your Shot (number 39 on the Club Play singles). Divine's early UK releases on Design Kommunikation were Love Reaction , Shake It Up and Shoot Your Shot . The song You Think You're a Man , produced by Stock Aitken Waterman , was Divine's top UK hit, reaching number 16. The song also became a top 10 hit in Australia, reaching number 8. Divine released on the proto label in the UK the songs I'm So Beautiful (the follow-up single to You Think You're a Man ), Walk Like a Man and Twistin 'the Night Away . These proto-label tracks were released on the album Maid in England . In German-speaking countries he was most successful with Shoot Your Shot , which reached number 15 in Germany and even made it into the top ten in Switzerland and Austria. In Germany, Divine also appeared with his titles in the television shows Formula One and Flashlights .

Death and afterlife

Milstead's grave in Towson , Maryland

Divine died of a serious heart attack while sleeping on March 7, 1988 in a Los Angeles hotel on Hollywood Boulevard at the age of 42. At the time of his death, he weighed about 170 pounds. Shortly before his death, Divine was slated for the role of Al Bundy's uncle Otto in the series A Terribly Nice Family , for which he would have been in front of the camera the next morning. The 22nd episode of the second season was dedicated to her.

The appearance of the sea witch Ursula in Disney's Ariel, the Mermaid (1989) was inspired by Divine. His mother later wrote a book about her son Divine.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1982 My first album DE35 (11 weeks)
DE
- - - -
First published: 1982

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Other albums:

  • 1982: Jungle Jezebel
  • 1984: The Story So Far
  • 1988: Maid in England

Singles

year Title
album
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1983 Shoot Your Shot
My First Album
DE15 (21 weeks)
DE
AT9 (12 weeks)
AT
CH8 (5 weeks)
CH
- -
First published: January 1983
Shake It Up
The Story So Far
DE26 (11 weeks)
DE
- - UK82 (6 weeks)
UK
-
First published: April 1983
Love Reaction
The Story So Far
DE55 (7 weeks)
DE
- - UK65 (4 weeks)
UK
-
First published: September 1983
1984 You Think You're a Man
The Story So Far
DE32 (9 weeks)
DE
- CH9 (10 weeks)
CH
UK16 (11 weeks)
UK
-
First published: July 1984
I'm So Beautiful
The Story So Far
DE38 (8 weeks)
DE
- - UK52 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: October 1984
1985 Walk Like a Man
Maid in England
DE52 (6 weeks)
DE
- CH28 (1 week)
CH
UK23 (7 weeks)
UK
-
First published: April 1985
Twistin 'the Night Away
Maid in England
- - - UK47 (3 weeks)
UK
-
First published: July 1985
Hard Magic
Maid in England
- - - UK87 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: October 1985

More singles:

  • 1981: Born to Be Cheap
  • 1982: Native Love (Step by Step)
  • 1984: T Shirts and Tight Blue Jeans
  • 1987: Little Baby
  • 1987: Hey You!

CD reissues:

  • The Story So Far - (1988, Receiver Records, KNOB 3)
  • The Best Of & The Rest Of - (1989, Action Replay Records, CDAR 1007)
  • Maid in England - (1990, ZYX Records, CD 9066)
  • The Best of Divine: Native Love - (1991, "O" Records, HTCD 16-2)
  • The 12 "Collection - (1993, Unidisc Music Inc., SPLK-7098)
  • Jungle Jezebel - (1994, "O" Records, HTCD 6609)
  • The Cream of Divine - (1994, Pickwick Group Ltd., PWKS 4228) UK compilation featuring the Proto label 12 "versions.
  • Born to Be Cheap - (1994, Anagram Records, CDMGRAM 84) - Live album.
  • Shoot Your Shot - (1995, Mastertone Multimedia Ltd., AB 3013)
  • The Remixes - (1996, Avex UK, AVEXCD 29) - new remixes by Jon of the Pleased Wimmin, Mark Moore, Hybrid, Checkpoint Charlie, Hyper Go Go, & Aquarius.
  • The Originals - (1996, Avex UK, AVEXCD 30)
  • The Best of Divine - (1997, Delta Music, 21 024)
  • Greatest Hits - (2005, Unidisc Music Inc., SPLK-8004)
  • The Greatest Hits - (2005, Forever Gold, FG351) - Dutch compilation featuring some rare mixes.
  • Greatest Hits: The Originals and the Remixes - (2009, Dance Street Records, DST 77226-2) - US 2CD reissue of the 1996 Avex UK CDs.

Filmography

In Rosa von Praunheim's film Tally Brown, New York ( 1971 ), Divine can be seen during a stage appearance and in an interview with Tally Brown.

literature

Web links

Commons : Divine  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ^ Death Comes to a Quiet Man Who Made Drag Queen History as Divine . In: PEOPLE.com . ( people.com [accessed April 29, 2018]).
  2. Celebrating 30 Years Of 'Fresh Air': Character Actor Divine . In: NPR.org . ( npr.org [accessed April 29, 2018]).
  3. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  4. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  5. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  6. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  7. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  8. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  9. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  10. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  11. Divine | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved April 29, 2018 .
  12. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  13. I Am Divine | ARTE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  14. ^ Francis Milstead: My Son Divine . Alyson Books, ISBN 1-55583-594-5 .
  15. a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK