Divine. Or Not? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Divine Role

Harris Glenn Milstead was born on October 19, 1945 in Baltimore, Maryland. He developed a flair for cross dressing while working as a hairdresser. Milstead got the name from filmmaker John Waters, another Baltimore native. Waters' goal was to make "the trashiest films ever made" and Divine starred in several of them, debuting in "Roman Candles" (1966) as a smoking nun.

In "Eat Your Makeup" (1968), Divine starred as a fictionalized version of former first lady Jackie Kennedy. How fictionalized? She kidnapped models and forced them to eat makeup.

Divine's next two films with Waters were "The Diane Linkletter Story" (1969), which tells the story of the drug-induced suicide of Art Linkletter's daughter and "Mondo Trasho" (1969) in which Milstead basically plays Divine.

Answer: Non Divine Role

Jared Leto won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing Rayon, a transgender activist in "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013). The film tells the true story of Ron Woodruff, an AIDS activist who fought the FDA to get fellow AIDS patients medication in the 1990s. Matthew McConaughey won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Woodruff.

Answer: Divine Role

Viewed by many people as the most disgusting film of all time, "Pink Flamingos" (1972) stars Divine as Babs Johnson, a woman competing for the title of "most disgusting person in the world". Because this is a family site, it would not be appropriate to discuss the plot.

Answer: Non Divine Role

Dustin Hoffman was nominated for playing Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in "Tootsie" (1982). Dorsey, an unemployed actor, finds work on a soap opera by dressing as a woman. Jessica Lange won Best Supporting Actress for playing his romantic interest, an actress on the show. "Tootsie" was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress (Lange and Teri Garr) and Screenplay.

Answer: Divine Role

"Female Trouble" (1974) stars Divine as teenage delinquent Dawn Davenport, who ends up being executed in the electric chair. Milstead also played his first male role, Earl Peterson, and in a highly unusual scene, the actor actually has sex with himself (Earl has sex with Dawn).

Answer: Non Divine Role

Robert Preston received his only Academy Award nomination as Caroll "Toddy" Todd, an aging female impersonator in Paris. Toddy comes up with the idea of passing off singer Victoria (Julie Andrews) as a man, who then performs as a woman. "Victor/Victoria" (1982) received seven Academy Award nominations (Preston, Andrews and Leslie Ann Warren) and won for Best Original Song.

Answer: Divine Role

"Polyester" (1981), directed by John Waters, marked a departure for Milstead, who played Francine Fishpaw, a put-upon housewife with a cheating husband who has a romance herself with Tab Hunter. A very bizarre film, even by Water's standards.

Answer: Non Divine Role

1982 was a big year for cross dressing, as John Lithgow was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Roberta Muldoon, a transgender football player in "The World According to Garp" (1982). The film stars Robin Williams as an author/professor with a very strange life and is based on the novel by John Irving. Glenn Close was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for playing Jenny Fields, Garp's mother.

Answer: Divine Role

Divine's last major film was "Hairspray" (1988), John Water's adaptation of the Tony winning musical set in Baltimore. The film starred Ricki Lake as Traci Turnblad, with Divine as her stage mother Edna and Jerry Stiller as her father Wilbur. The film was probably the cleanest work Waters ever did, earning a PG rating, as the overall musical is rather wholesome, despite dealing with serious themes such as racism.

Glenn Milstead died at the age of 42 in March 1988 from heart failure. He had been in Los Angeles for a taping of "Married With Children". The show's tasteless ethic was a perfect fit for the legendary drag queen.

Answer: Non Divine Role

Tim Curry plays extra-terrestrial tran-sexual Dr Frank-N-Furter in the cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975). The film follows a naïve young couple (Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon) and their encounters at a very strange mansion, run by Curry's mad scientist. "Rocky Horror" became one of the most popular "Midnight Movies" of all time, and was still popular almost five decades later.