Soon after that Divine starred in one of Waters’ early short films called Roman Candles (1966) in which he played a smoking nun. It was Waters that gave Glenn the name Divine along with the tagline “the most beautiful woman in the world, almost”, and it stuck.

It was during this time that Glenn was introduced to John Waters and the two became fast friends, bonding with each other over a mutual admiration for counter-culturalism and the arts. After graduating high school in 1963 he went to beauty school to learn hair styling and began working in local salons. As a child Divine, or Glenn as he preferred to be called back then, was overweight and routinely bullied for his size and effeminacy.

He also found success as a disco artist and was a celebrated stage actor and performer.īorn on October 19 th, 1945, Divine came from an upper middle-class background in Baltimore Maryland. March 7 marks the 34 th anniversary of the death of the beloved Harris Glenn Milstead, better known to us as Divine.Ī character actor at heart, Divine became a cult figure during the ’70s and ’80s for his over-the-top performances as female characters in a string of independent films directed by longtime collaborator John Waters.