Divine

American actor, singer and drag queen (1945–1988)

Person · Open Library

Born: 1929
Works: 144

Top works

American Stories
NEW MyHistoryLab with Pearson EText -- Standalone Access Card -- for American Stories
American Story Myhistorylab Update, the, (Penguin Academic Series) Combined Volume
America's Past and Present
America Past And Present, Brief Edition, Combined Volume, Books A La Carte Plus Myhistorylab (7th Edition)

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Group
Country: GB
Active from: 1991

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 195,873
Total plays: 2,460,175

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

Global Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori Infection: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
· 2017 · cited 2,738x
The unit of analysis error in studies about physicians’ patient care behavior
· 1992 · cited 693x
Global Incidence of Acute Pancreatitis Is Increasing Over Time: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
· 2022 · cited 662x
Measurement of motor recovery after stroke. Outcome assessment and sample size requirements.
· 1992 · cited 563x
Ketamine-Induced Neuronal Cell Death in the Perinatal Rhesus Monkey
· 2007 · cited 510x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“In divine works, everything, even obstacles, are means.”
“What moments divine, what rapture serene.”
“Anything divine must come to us in worldly clothing, and so it comes to us altered. The divine is like rain striking the earth, and all our efforts at godliness are therefore muddy—all but those few seconds of complete inundation, the moments that the mystics describe, when we are nothing but rain.”
“Consider lost all the time in which you do not think of divinity.”
“You seem, Antiphon, to imagine that happiness consists in luxury and extravagance. But my belief is that to have no wants is divine; to have as few as possible comes next to the divine; and as that which is divine is supreme, so that which approaches nearest to its nature is nearest to the supreme.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born: Harris Glenn Milstead , ( 1945-10-19 ) October 19, 1945, Baltimore , Maryland, U.S.
Died: March 7, 1988 (1988-03-07) (aged 42), Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place: Prospect Hill Cemetery, Towson, Maryland , U.S.
Occupations: Actor, singer
Years active: 1966–1988
Website: divineofficial .com

via Wikipedia infobox

Official website

Home | Divine Official

The Official Website of Divine, actor (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, Hairspray), recording star and legendary drag icon, born Harris Glenn Milstead

divineofficial.com →

An indomitable icon of queer culture, Harris Glenn Milstead , better known by his stage name, Divine , was a trailblazing performer whose alter ego was rude, raunchy and outrageous: a joyously self-determined, deeply liberating figure. One of the most recognizable and celebrated counterculture artists, Divine performed mainly female roles in numerous films, most notably those of John Waters including Pink Flamingos , Female Trouble , Polyester and Hairspray . An irreverent symbol of brash, bold wit and in-your-face humor, Divine was also a nightlife fixture and commanded the stage in theatrical productions such as The Neon Woman . Divine also had a successful music career with international hit singles like "You Think You're A Man", "I'm So Beautiful" and "Walk Like A Man", all of which were performed as his female drag persona. He is widely viewed as a hero in both gay and punk culture, as well as one of the most significant drag performers of all time, People magazine described Divine as the "Drag Queen of the Century". The voice of a generation and an unshakeable champion of queer rights, Divine still represents an inspirational figure in the LGBTQ+ community and beyond.

Wikidata facts

Official website: divineofficial.com
Image: Pink Flamingos - Divine.jpg

Show 9 more facts

Commons category: Divine
date of birth: 1945-10-19
date of death: 1988-03-07
start of work period: 1966-00-00
social media followers: 12254
pseudonym: Divine
birth name: Harris Glenn Milstead
end of work period: 1988-00-00
name in native language: Divine

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Article

Harris Glenn Milstead (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988), better known by the stage name Divine, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Closely associated with independent filmmaker John Waters, Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical productions, and adopted a female drag persona for his music career.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, to a conservative middle-class family, Milstead developed an early interest in drag while working as a women's hairdresser. By the mid-1960s, he had embraced the city's countercultural scene and befriended Waters, who gave him the name "Divine" and the tagline of "the most beautiful woman in the world, almost". Along with his friend David Lochary, Milstead joined Waters's acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, and adopted female roles for their experimental short films Roman Candles (1968), Eat Your Makeup (1968) and The Diane Linkletter Story (1970). Again in drag, he took a lead role in both of Waters's early full-length movies, Mondo Trasho (1969) and Multiple Maniacs (1970), the latter of which attracted press attention for the group. Milstead next starred in Waters's Pink Flamingos (1972), which was a hit on the U.S. midnight movie circuit, became a cult classic and established Milstead's fame in the American counterculture.