The obese transvestite character-actor Divine personified self-consciously campy underground films and ushered in a new threshold of bad taste in cinema. Starring mainly in the films of offbeat director John Waters, Divine cultivated an outrageous drag queen image, with gaudy makeup, a blonde mane the texture of cotton candy, and tight dresses on his more-than-300-pound frame. In the majority of his films, he played female characters and dressed in women's garb during his short-lived career as a singer. Though Divine was poised to break through into mainstream film and television at the end of his life, most of his appearances were in films with shocking subject matter. He will likely remain famous for his role as the Filthiest Person Alive" in the 1972 Waters film Pink Flamingos, especially due to the notorious scene at the end in which he consumes freshly excreted poodle dung."

Divine (right...