Edith Massey

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Edith Massey (born May 28, 1918 in New York City or San Francisco , † October 24, 1984 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress and singer who became known through her collaboration with director John Waters in five films .

life and career

The information about Edith Massey's early life is partly contradicting. According to her brother Morris, both her real father and stepfather died during their childhood, so the financially helpless mother put her five children in a Denver orphanage and then disappeared. Massey was placed by the orphanage in various adoptive families, but ran away from them several times and moved to California, where she initially unsuccessfully tried to get into the film business, as she explained in the documentary Divine Waters . Massey married the soldier Silvio Gigante in 1946, the marriage was divorced in 1953 at Massey's request. After temporarily working as a dancer, she settled in Baltimore as a shop clerk and bar girl .

She had wanted to become a movie star since she was a child, but it was not until she was over 50 that Massey got to the cinema through her acquaintance with underground director John Waters . She became a cult actress through her five films under Waters' direction: In addition to her unmistakable appearance, Massey was particularly recognizable by her idiosyncratic and acting unprofessional speaking style, which was also the result of a failed dental operation. Massey caught the eye of the eccentric actors known as "Dreamlanders" in Waters films and was quickly known. The documentaries Love Letter to Edie (1974) and Edith's Shopping Bag (1975) were shot about her, in the former she gives information about her life and in the latter she can be seen opening her own second-hand shop Edith's Shopping Bag in Baltimore .

Her role in Pink Flamingos as Divine's mother, sitting in a cage and eagerly waiting for the egg man, earned her the nickname "The Egg Lady". Her other Waters film appearances were: A double role as bar girl and mother of Jesus in Mutiple Maniacs (1970), the portrayal of the lesbian leather fetishist "Aunt Ida" in Female Trouble (1974), the somewhat stupid village ruler "Queen Carlotta" in Desperate Living (1977) ) as well as the lovable “Cuddles” in polyester (1981) , who rose from cleaning lady to millionaire . She impersonated her last film role and the first without the direction of Waters with the role name Dr. Diarrhea in the science fiction comedy Mutants in Paradise (1984) starring Brad Greenquist .

In addition to acting, Massey also had her own band called "Edie and the Eggs" from the mid-1970s, with whom she toured across the United States, where she often appeared on stage in bizarre costumes. Musically, the band was assigned to punk rock , but ironically they also released a song called Punks Get Off The Grass . In 1982 they recorded a cover version of the Four Seasons hit Big Girl's Dont Cry . Edith Massey died in October 1984 at the age of 66 from complications from lymphatic cancer.

Filmography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edith Massey | Robert Maier.us. Retrieved March 26, 2019 (American English).
  2. ^ John Waters: Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste . Philadelphia 1981, p. 188 .
  3. ↑ Edith Massey | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved March 26, 2019 (American English).
  4. ↑ Sunny G, erson | July 11, 2015 at 3:13 pm | Reply: Edith Massey, "Edie the Egg Lady" the Underground Movie Star: Her Life as an Orphan | Robert Maier.us. Retrieved March 26, 2019 (American English).
  5. ↑ Edith Massey | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved March 26, 2019 (American English).
  6. ↑ Edith Massey at Find A Grave
  7. ↑ Edith Massey | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved March 26, 2019 (American English).
  8. ↑ YouTube: Edith Massey - Big Girls Don't Cry 1982. June 17, 2009, accessed March 26, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Lodi News-Sentinel - Google News archive search. Retrieved March 26, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Massey, Edith
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actress and singer
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City or San Francisco
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 1984
Place of death Los Angeles , California