Today In History

I'm going back to my old trivia ways, just for a bit.........

Mar 7 1988

Transvestite actress Divine, who appeared in several John Waters films, dead from sleep apnea.

Harris Glenn Milstead

(October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988)

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

Divine, "As sure as there's trash, I was born to be cheap!"

Harris Glenn Milstead was nicknamed "Divine," by film director and childhood friend, John Waters. It was Pink Flamingos that sent her into stardom, because she ate dog dookie for real. It shocked everyone, and she became the thing that legends are made of.

Divine was notorious for being on time, when working . When he didn’t show up the next morning for his shoot on the show, Married…With Children, people became very concerned. His manager Bernard Jay went to the hotel at noon to check on Divine, and used his passkey to get in. That’s when he found him. Dead, nude, and covered with a blanket. He died in his sleep of heart failure. He was 42 years old.

The request was made that no money donated to charity in Divine’s name, but for people to buy flowers, because he loved them so much. Elton John sent a huge batch, as did Tab Hunter and Whoopi Goldberg – along with a card that read, "See what a good review will do?" The card from Fox and Married… with Children read, "If you didn’t want the job, why didn’t you just tell us?" I don't know about that one!!!

Most of Divine’s shit ended up being auctioned at Christies, to cover debts.

Trivia: As a teen, Divine used to throw parties on his parent’s credit cards, and decorate the room with flowers stolen from that very cemetery.

Divine’s mother Frances Milstead wrote a book called, My Son Divine. If you like Divine, you must get this book. It’s very touching, and full of great photographs.