Divine (performer)

Harris Glenn Milstead, better known by his stage name Divine , was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Closely associated with the independent filmmaker John Waters, Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical appearances, and adopted a female drag persona for his music career.

Harris Glenn Milstead was born on October 19, 1945, at the Womens Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Harris Bernard Milstead , after whom he was named, had been one of seven children born in Towson, Maryland to a plumber who worked for the Baltimore City Water Department. Divines mother, Frances Milstead , was one of fifteen children born to an impoverished Serb immigrant couple who had grown up near Zagreb before moving to the United States in 1891. When she was 16, Frances moved to Baltimore where she worked at a diner in Towson, here meeting Harris, who was a regular customer. Entering into a relationship, they were married in 1938 before both gaining employment working at the Black and Decker factory in Towson. Due to his problems with muscular dystrophy, Harris was not required to fight for the U.S. armed forces in the Second World War, and instead Harris and Frances worked throughout the war in what they saw as good jobs. Attempting to conceive a child, Frances suffere

Source: Wikipedia