Divine

Divine

Born: October 19, 1945
Died: March 7, 1988
in Towson, Maryland, USA
Divine (19 October 1945 – 7 March 1988), né Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. 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 character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters 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 the world."

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, into a conservative, wealthy middle class family, he became involved with John Waters and his acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, in the mid-1960s and starred in a number of Waters's early films such as Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. These films have since become cult classics. In the 1970s, Milstead made the transition to theater and appeared in a number of productions, including Women Behind Bars and The Neon Woman, while continuing to star in such films as Polyester, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray.

The New York Times said of Milstead's '80s films: "Those who could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performance discovered that the actor/actress had genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing and an uncanny gift for slapstick." He was also described as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century… was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom." Since his death, Divine has remained a cult figure, particularly with those in the LGBT community.

Movies for Divine...

Disclosure
Title: Disclosure
Character: Edna Turnblad (archive footage)
Released: June 19, 2020
Type: Movie
An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.
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BEAT. Contour. Snatched. How Drag Queens Shaped the Biggest Makeup Trends
Title: BEAT. Contour. Snatched. How Drag Queens Shaped the Biggest Makeup Trends
Released: December 11, 2018
Type: Movie
How drag queens sharing tips and tricks in dressing rooms shaped the face of today’s mainstream makeup industry.
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Studio 54
Title: Studio 54
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: June 15, 2018
Type: Movie
Studio 54 was the epicenter of 70s hedonism - a place that not only redefined the nightclub, but also came to symbolize an entire era. Its co-owners, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, two friends from Brooklyn, seemed to come out of nowhere to suddenly preside over a new kind of New York society. Now, 39 years after the velvet rope was first slung across the club's hallowed threshold, a feature documentary tells the real story behind the greatest club of all time.
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Howard
Title: Howard
Character: Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson (archive footage)
Released: April 22, 2018
Type: Movie
Though legendary lyricist Howard Ashman died far too young, his impact on Broadway, movies, and the culture at large were incalculable. Told entirely through rare archival footage and interviews with Ashman’s family, friends, associates, and longtime partner Bill Lauch, Howard is an intimate tribute to a once-in-a-generation talent and a rousing celebration of musical storytelling itself.
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Discolocos
Title: Discolocos
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: December 31, 2016
Type: Movie
The high energy movement in Mexico is visited without prejudice through its places and its protagonists. The icon Pascal Languirand is one of them.
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Night Flight: Born Again
Title: Night Flight: Born Again
Character: Self
Released: April 10, 2016
Type: Movie
Documentary tribute to what VH1 called “the single greatest rock omnibus program ever aired” and Brooklyn Vegan named “the most consistently weird and awesome thing on cable television in the ’80s.” This ‘Best Of’ episode features some of the most memorable moments of Night Flight's near-decade long run including restored interviews and segments from Kate Bush, New Wave Theatre, David Lynch, Prince, Wendy O Williams, Divine, Billy Idol, Johnny Rotten, and much more Night Flight treasures from the archive.
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Tab Hunter Confidential
Title: Tab Hunter Confidential
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 15, 2015
Type: Movie
In the 1950s, Tab Hunter is number one at the box office and number one on the music charts. He is Hollywood’s most sought-after star and America’s boy next door. Natalie Wood, Debbie Reynolds and Sophia Loren are just a few of the actresses he is romantically linked to. Nothing, it seems, can damage Tab Hunter’s career. Nothing, that is, except for the fact that Tab Hunter is secretly gay. Now, Tab Hunter’s secret is out. We will meet, for the first time, the real Tab Hunter as he shares with us the whole story of a happy, healthy survivor of Hollywood’s roller coaster.
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Title: Cachitos de hierro y cromo
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 27, 2013
Type: TV
Cachitos de hierro y cromo is a Spanish musical-themed documentary program, directed by Jero Rodríguez and hosted by Virginia Díaz. It is an unapologetic musical display of RTVE's sound legacy in the form of performances on the set of programs such as 'Aplauso', 'Galas del Sábado', 'Mapa Sonoro', 'Zona Franca' or 'Los Conciertos de Radio 3'. For nearly 60 years, artists and other specimens have stormed viewers' screens. The result is a polyphony of images and memories that includes everything from James Brown to Camela, from Perales to REM, from Gabinete to Violent Femmes. And so all the time. Our secret weapon has been the historical archive of TVE, the repository of Spanish collective memory for more than half a century.
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I Am Divine
Title: I Am Divine
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 9, 2013
Type: Movie
Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground hero. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized icon, recording artist, and character actor of stage and screen. Glenn went from the often-mocked, schoolyard fat kid to underdog royalty, standing up for millions of gay men and women, drag queens and punk rockers, and countless other socially ostracized misfits and freaks. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture.
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The British Guide to Showing Off
Title: The British Guide to Showing Off
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 11, 2011
Type: Movie
Documentary about British artist Andrew Logan as he attempts to put on the 2009 edition of his Alternative Miss World. The film also presents a history of the contest (which has run eccentrically since 1972) which was set up firstly as an excuse to have a good party, but has grown into a celebration of alternative lifestyles and sexualities. The documentary mixes archive footage, animated inserts, with talking head interviews and a fly-on-the-wall look at the organisation of the 2009 event
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Uncle Bob
Title: Uncle Bob
Character: Self
Released: June 26, 2010
Type: Movie
Robert Oppel's documentary about the life and murder of his uncle and namesake, Robert Opel, the man who streaked the Academy Awards in 1974.
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Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
Title: Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: May 4, 2010
Type: Movie
For decades, Freddy Krueger has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters, scaring up over half a billion dollars at the box office across eight terrifying, spectacular films.
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DIVINE R.I.P.
Title: DIVINE R.I.P.
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: August 9, 2007
Type: Movie
Drag Queen Divine Tribute
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Title: Girls and Boys - Sex and British Pop
Character: Self
Released: October 23, 2005
Type: TV
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Title: Sex 'n' Pop
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: July 15, 2004
Type: TV
Looks at the overwhelming impact pop music has had since the 90s and how our media saturated society has allowed pop music to become an overtly commercial product. The kids' have been subjected to, and manipulated by sophisticated marketing ploys from the pop music industry in order to maintain their huge profits. What kind of effect does this have on youth culture? What kind of youth do adolescents get to enjoy today, if their world seems to be one reality talent show after another? How much are adolescents affected by the stereotypes portrayed in pop video culture? Sex'n'Pop seeks to find answers to these questions.
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The Cockettes
Title: The Cockettes
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 16, 2002
Type: Movie
Documentary about the gender-bending San Francisco performance group who became a pop culture phenomenon in the early 1970s.
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Divine: Shoot Your Shot & Live at the Hacienda
Title: Divine: Shoot Your Shot & Live at the Hacienda
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 2000
Type: Movie
This DVD combines two concerts filmed at the Hacienda in 1983. Both were previously available on separate VHS releases. Shoot Your Shot is more dimly lit, but Divine really revs up the show toward the end, with the audience crowding the stage for the closing "Love Reaction." Recorded nine months earlier, Live at the Hacienda is better lit and Divine is more animated throughout. Both concerts feature a hardworking, sweating Divine obscenely bantering with the audience. Both concerts are about 40 minutes and feature Divine performing "Jungle Jezebel," "Born to be Cheap," "Alphabet Rap" and more.
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In Bad Taste
Title: In Bad Taste
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 3, 1999
Type: Movie
A documentary on the career of filmmaker John Waters. Featuring interviews with actors and fellow film-makers. The life and death of the actor Divine is also discussed.
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Soul Ache
Title: Soul Ache
Character: Actriz cantante (Singer actress)
Released: August 14, 1998
Type: Movie
Aitor is a director making a film about a lonely man looking for love, called “Soul Ache.” While he uses his auditions to meet women, he really longs to cast actress Myriam Mezieres in the film.
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Divine Trash
Title: Divine Trash
Character: Himself
Released: January 18, 1998
Type: Movie
The life and times of Baltimore film maker and midnight movie pioneer, John Waters.
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Divine: Shoot Your Shot
Title: Divine: Shoot Your Shot
Released: January 1, 1995
Type: Movie
This show was filmed in Manchester, England in 1983, just as Divine's recording career was taking off, and shows him at his tasteless and tacky best. From his appearance in 1966 in his first John Waters film until his death in 1988, Divine always courted controversy. Love him or hate him you can't help but find him talented and very funny.
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Divine: Live at the Hacienda
Title: Divine: Live at the Hacienda
Released: January 1, 1994
Type: Movie
On 16 February 1983, Divine performs a seven-song set at the Hacienda Club in Manchester. His peroxide blond hair sticks in all directions; he's dressed in a skin-tight, short, off-one-shoulder, sparkling dress that he says he got from the Queen, who wouldn't wear it. The set includes Gang Bang (the name-game song), Jungle Jezebel, Born To Be Cheap, Alphabet Rap, Native Love, Shake It Up, and, for an encore, Shoot Your Shot. The band, whom we never see, is techno-rock. Between songs, Divine chats up the audience, usually talking about sex.
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Rhythm Divine - History of Disco Music
Title: Rhythm Divine - History of Disco Music
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 20, 1992
Type: Movie
The evolution of disco music through interviews and clips - Acid House, House, Disco, Funk, Italo-Disco, Italodance. Interviewed – Baby Ford, Deee-Lite, Frankie Knuckles, Mark Moore, Mel Cheren Featuring 5000 Volts, Amii Stewart, Anita Ward, Baby Ford, Bananarama, Black Box, Cerrone, Communards, The, Deee-Lite, Donna Summer, Eartha Kitt, Edwin Starr, Evelyn Champagne King, Evelyn Thomas, Farm, The, Giorgio Moroder, Gloria Gaynor, Hot Gossip, Hues Corporation, Isaac Hayes, Kool And The Gang, Kylie Minogue, M, Michael Zager, Miguel Brown, Musique, New Order, Odyssey, S'Express, Shannon, Shirley & Co, Sylvester, Three Degrees, Trammps, Van Mccoy, Village People
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The Neon Woman
Title: The Neon Woman
Character: Flash Storm (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1990
Type: Movie
Produced in 1978, The Neon Woman is an “outrageous murder mystery” set in a run-down Baltimore burlesque house managed by a retired stripper, Flash Storm, the hottest stripper that ever lived who has gone legit, opened her own strip joint, and is trying to cope with whatever comes along. There's Kitty Larue, the stripper with an identity problem. There's the horny bible thumping senator who wants to pray with Divine but really wants something less spiritual. Finally, Divine's young virgin daughter returns from boarding school and within minutes is turned into an alcoholic, heroin addicted stripper who has been betrothed to the black janitor. There's more but as the cliché goes, it has to be seen to be believed! By the time of it's VHS release, the 12 year old live footage was already a bit raw and gritty, but still gives more than a fair idea as to why Divine was so loved as a performer. The production ran for eighty-four performances at the Hurrah Discotheque, New York.
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Title: The Incredibly Strange Film Show
Character: Self
Released: August 5, 1988
Type: TV
A series of documentaries focusing on the world of psychotronic movies; focusing on the lives of filmakers such as Hershell Gordon Lewis, Saim Raimi, Doris Wishman, Ed Wood Jr, and Tsui Hark. Covers weird movie genres, like Mexican wrestling movies and Hong Kong horror films.
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The Incredibly Strange Film Show: John Waters
Title: The Incredibly Strange Film Show: John Waters
Character: Self
Released: August 5, 1988
Type: Movie
The Pope of Trash is captured at the height of his popularity with the surprise mainstream hit Hairspray. Most of the contributors to Waters' underground Baltimore-based film collective "Dreamland Productions" are interviewed, including one of Divine's final interviews.
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Out of the Dark
Title: Out of the Dark
Character: Det. Langella
Released: June 2, 1988
Type: Movie
A deranged killer wearing a clown mask begins preying on a group of young women working at a phone-sex company.
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Hairspray
Title: Hairspray
Character: Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile
Released: February 26, 1988
Type: Movie
'Pleasantly plump' teenager Tracy Turnblad achieves her dream of becoming a regular on the Corny Collins Dance Show. Now a teen hero, she starts using her fame to speak out for the causes she believes in, most of all integration. In doing so, she earns the wrath of the show's former star, Amber Von Tussle, as well as Amber's manipulative, pro-segregation parents. The rivalry comes to a head as Amber and Tracy vie for the title of Miss Auto Show 1963.
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Queen: The Magic Years vol. 1
Title: Queen: The Magic Years vol. 1
Character: Self
Released: November 30, 1987
Type: Movie
This video is the first of a three volume documentary on the band.
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Queen: The Magic Years vol. 3
Title: Queen: The Magic Years vol. 3
Character: Self
Released: November 30, 1987
Type: Movie
This anthology chronicles Queen's 16 years. Footage includes "Live Aid" and the 1986 tour.
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Queen: Magic Years  - A Visual Anthology
Title: Queen: Magic Years - A Visual Anthology
Character: Self
Released: November 30, 1987
Type: Movie
This video trilogy documents the music group Queen. Videos in this set are Magic Years Vol. 1 - The Foundations Magic Years Vol. 2 - Live Killers in the Making Magic Years, Vol. 3 - Crowned in Glory
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Trouble in Mind
Title: Trouble in Mind
Character: Hilly Blue
Released: December 11, 1985
Type: Movie
The lives of an ex-con, a coffee-shop owner, and a young couple looking to make it rich intersect in the hypnotic Rain City.
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Lust in the Dust
Title: Lust in the Dust
Character: Rosie Velez
Released: March 1, 1985
Type: Movie
Assaulted by Third World outlaws, donkey-riding Rosie joins a silent drifter's search for gold.
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Divine Waters
Title: Divine Waters
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
This documentary focuses on the careers of influential partners in trash film, John Waters and Divine. The film includes interviews with Waters' parents and sister, actress Edith Massey sings two songs (Punks, Get off the Grass and Fever), as well as a live performance of Divine performing his song Born to be Cheap.
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Title: Tales from the Darkside
Released: September 30, 1984
Type: TV
Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot twist. The series' episodes spanned the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and some episodes featured elements of black comedy or more lighthearted themes.
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Polyester
Title: Polyester
Character: Francine Fishpaw
Released: May 29, 1981
Type: Movie
Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine Fishpaw turns to the bottle as her life falls apart -- until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow.
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The Alternative Miss World
Title: The Alternative Miss World
Character: Self - Guest of Honour
Released: September 18, 1980
Type: Movie
A filmed record of the 1978 "Alternative Miss World" beauty pageant held in a circus tent on Clapham Common in South London.
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Tally Brown, New York
Title: Tally Brown, New York
Released: May 4, 1979
Type: Movie
Tally Brown, New York is a 1979 documentary film directed, written and produced by Rosa von Praunheim. The film is about the singing and acting career of Tally Brown, a classically trained opera and blues singer who was a star of underground films in New York City and a denizen of its underworld in the late 1960s. In this documentary, Praunheim relies on extensive interviews with Brown, as she recounts her collaboration with Andy Warhol, Taylor Mead and others, as well as her friendships with Holly Woodlawn, and Divine. Brown opens the film with a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes” and concludes with “Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide.” The film captures not only Tally Brown’s career but also a particular New York milieu in the 1970s.
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Underground and Emigrants
Title: Underground and Emigrants
Character: Self
Released: October 25, 1976
Type: Movie
In this film, outspokenly homosexual filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim has documented his encounters with friends in the New York "underground" arts movement, the better-known of whom are William Burroughs (who says nothing for the camera), Andy Warhol (seen in the distance) and Fernando Arrabal (who is interviewed in Spanish). The emigrants named in the title are notable Germans who left the country before World War II, such as Greta Keller and Grete Mosheim. Reviewers at the time of the film's release considered it to have been a sort of paid vacation for the filmmaker rather than a serious effort. (Clarke Fountain, Rovi)
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Female Trouble
Title: Female Trouble
Character: Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson
Released: October 4, 1974
Type: Movie
Dawn Davenport progresses from a teenage nightmare hell-bent on getting cha-cha heels for Christmas to a fame monster whose egomaniacal impulses land her in the electric chair.
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Pink Flamingos
Title: Pink Flamingos
Character: Divine / Babs Johnson
Released: March 17, 1972
Type: Movie
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".
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The Diane Linkletter Story
Title: The Diane Linkletter Story
Character: Diane Linkletter
Released: April 10, 1970
Type: Movie
This improvised film is based on the true-life suicide of TV personality Art Linkletter's daughter, Diane. Mr. and Mrs. Linkletter fret about their daughter's recent behaviour, which includes taking drugs and dating a lowlife named Jim. Eventually, the parents confront Diane… with tragic consequences.
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Multiple Maniacs
Title: Multiple Maniacs
Character: Lady Divine
Released: April 10, 1970
Type: Movie
The Cavalcade of Perversion, a traveling freak show, acts as a front for Divine, who is out for blood after discovering her lover's affair.
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Mondo Trasho
Title: Mondo Trasho
Character: Divine / Greaser in Alley
Released: March 14, 1969
Type: Movie
A day in the lives of a hit-and-run driver and her victim, and the bizarre things that happen to them before and after they collide (sexual assault by a crazed foot-fetishist, visions of the Virgin Mary, strange chicken-foot grafting operations).
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Eat Your Makeup
Title: Eat Your Makeup
Character: Jacqueline Kennedy
Released: February 23, 1968
Type: Movie
John Waters' first sixteen-millimetre film, about a deranged nanny who kidnaps young girls and forces them to 'model themselves to death' in front of her boyfriend and their crazed friends. It was never shown commercially.
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Roman Candles
Title: Roman Candles
Character: Party Guest / Man with Scarf
Released: May 10, 1967
Type: Movie
Shot on 8mm, and featuring the introduction of Divine, John Waters' sophomore film is a plotless collage of random incidents involving sex, drugs, religion and The Wizard of Oz, it was shown with an equally random soundtrack mixing “obnoxious radio advertisements, rock 'n' roll and press conferences with Lee Harvey Oswald's mother”. It was shown three times publicly, but never released commercially.
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My Life with the Waters
Title: My Life with the Waters
Character: Herself
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
Vito Zagarrio, who in 1985 directed the famous documentary "Divine Waters", after 40 years goes again through it's relationship with John Waters and it's family, giving a new and intimate insight.