How Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, became John Waters' cinematic muse and an international drag icon.How Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, became John Waters' cinematic muse and an international drag icon.How Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, became John Waters' cinematic muse and an international drag icon.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 3 nominations
- Self - Friend
- (as Sue Lowe)
- Self - Friend
- (archive footage)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film features the final interview with Frances Milstead, Divine's mother, who passed away shortly after.
- Quotes
Self - Friend & Production Designer: He'd do things like a huge, catered party at the Belvedere Hotel for all his friends. He loved being bigger than life, showing off.
John Waters: And then he would send the bill to his parents, but rip up the bill so his parents didn't know! They never saw the bills. He'd get the mail every day and just rip up all the bills until his parents' credit cards were cut off. And he would write bad checks. And the police busted him and took him home, and he said to his parents, "I did not do that.'' Just such a liar, right ? And they made him take a lie-detector test - and he passed. That's acting.
- Crazy creditsThe closing credits list certain people as "Perverts," "Maniacs" and "Sh*tkickers," among other designations.
- ConnectionsEdited into Crime and Beauty: Remembering Female Trouble (2018)
- SoundtracksNative Love (Step by Step)
Performed by Divine
In "I Am Divine" - It sure seemed to me that just about everyone (and their dog) who ever met Divine came out of the closet to gush over him and paint an almost unrealistic picture of this entertainer who (though he had a real foul mouth) was, in reality, as adorable (and harmless) as a Care Bear.
To say that Milstead (born 1945) played the Divine character to the absolute hilt would be a total understatement. But one could easily tell that as he matured into his 30's, the thrill of constantly reinventing this in-your-face persona clearly began to wane.
I think it's the ultimate irony-of-ironies that, as an actor, Glenn really only played the role of a man once in his lifetime (as Hilly Blue in 1985's Trouble In Mind). And when he finally did achieve respectability as an actor, he up and died, at 42, from a massive heart attack.
All-in-all - I'd say that under all of that mascara and over-the-top behaviour, Glenn Milstead was probably an alright guy with irritating idiosyncrasies just like everyone else.
- strong-122-478885
- Apr 13, 2015
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Ja sam Divajn
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $81,497
- Gross worldwide
- $115,739
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color