Rare in a lifetime does a persona come into history and change the look of film, fashion and artistic sensibility. The Drag Queen Divine is definitely one of those characters. Combining pop icon status as an actor, singer, female impersonator and comedian; is in a category with little company. The edgier side of the performing arts has produced many unique stars over the decades and Divine's persona will survive in good standing. His search for groundbreaking expression opens us to an anxious, often hilarious and sometimes vulgar territory full of wit and stretched boundaries. Being in Divine's presence twists us a bit and shifts our gaze. The American originality of Divine endures and those who experience his craft are not the same because of it. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's clothing in musical performances. Even so, he considered himself to be a c! haracter actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters. He grew up six houses away from John Waters, their friendship continued throughout their careers in show business. and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role. Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the most successful and in-demand disco performer in
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