john waters biography...........................................................................................................................................................................................................
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john waters was born on april 22, 1946 in baltimore, maryland. (the city in took pride in its famous resident by naming february 7, 1985 as 'john water's day.') john waters is a prolific film director, author, photographer and sometime actor. he is best known for his films, the content of which have sometimes shocked and always entertained an international audience. waters writes all his own films. present in many of his films are the plastic sincerity and squashed innocence of late 50's and early 60's americana. drugs, queers, abortion, religion - nothing is sacred in his field of vision. waters' films waters made his first film, a 8-mm short, 'hag in a black leather jacket' in 1964, followed with 'roman candles' in 1966, the first of his films to star divine and mink stole. in 1967, he made his first 16-mm film 'eat your makeup', the story of a deranged governess and her lover who kidnap fashion models and force them to model themselves to death. 'mondo trasho', waters first feature length film, was completed in 1969. in 1970, waters completed what he described as his first 'celluloid atrocity', 'multiple maniacs'. in 1972 waters created what would become the most notorious film in the american independent cinema of the 1970s, 'pink flamingos', the ultimate trash masterpiece. waters borrowed the money to make ' pink flamingos' from his mom and dad, but forbid them from ever seeing it. in 1974 he created 'female trouble', 1977 marked the premiere of 'desperate living', in 1981 waters completed 'polyester' - filmed in glorious 'odorama', ticket buyers were given scratch on sniff cards that allowed the audience to smell along with the characters in their fragrant search for romantic happiness. 'hairspray' (1988), 'cry-baby' (1990), 'pecker' (1998) 'cecil b. demented' (2000) 'divine trash' (2000) 'pie in the sky: the brigid berlin story' (2001) for a complete list of his films see http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/celeb/195391 dreamland http://www.dreamlandnews.com waters' favorite actor waters's favorite actor, a 'terrorist drag queen' who appeared in nine of his movies, in which he was raped by a giant lobster (multiple maniacs); fell in love with tab hunter (poIyester); performed a trampoline act while condemning audience members to death (female trouble); played jackie in a reenactment of the kennedy assassination (eat your makeup); and, most famously, ate actual dog shit (pink flamingos). divine died in 1988, shortly after the release of 'hairspray'. critics tend to divide waters's work into two categories: his darker, earlier projects, and his later, more commercial movies, starting with hairspray. the earlier films are filled with passionate, if not always convincing, cross-dressing, close-up crotch shots, occasional blasphemy; the later movies are sweeter and bigger-budget, and feature hollywood stars ( johnny depp, kathleen turner) and a variety of pop-culture figures (deborah harry; patricia hearst). interviews, articles and books waters has contributed many essays and articles to publications such as newsweek, american film, and playboy. read some articles by john waters http://www.northcoast.com/~shojo/Waters/articles.html interviews and his books http://www.dreamlandnews.com/print/index.html --- john waters' photographs --- kennedy sculptures --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------	john waters © photo greg gorman courtesy galleria emi fontana, milan