Edith Massey - Biography

Edith Massey (May 28, 1918 – October 24, 1984) was an American actress and singer. Massey was best known for her appearances in a series of movies by director John Waters. Due to her work with Waters, she is considered one of the Dreamlanders, Waters' ensemble of regular cast and crew members.

Early life

She worked in several odd jobs through the years and she eventually relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where she was a barmaid at Pete's Hotel. John Waters met Massey while she was working at Pete's Hotel and offered her a role as herself in the film Multiple Maniacs. In the early 1970s, she quit her job at Pete's and opened a thrift store called Edith's Shopping Bag, which was located at 726 S. Broadway in the Fells Point area of Baltimore.

Collaboration with John Waters

Massey gained a cult following from her appearances in five films directed by John Waters: Multiple Maniacs (1970), in which she appeared as herself and, in a dream sequence, as the Virgin Mary; Pink Flamingos (1972), playing Divine's egg-loving mother, Edie; Female Trouble (1974), as Aunt Ida; Desperate Living (1977), as the evil Queen Carlotta of Mortville; and in her final role in a Waters film, Polyester (1981), as Cuddles Kovinsky.

Later career and death

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Massey capitalized on the infamy of Waters' films by touring as the lead singer of a punk band, Edie and the Eggs. She also posed for a series of greeting cards. Later, when the Baltimore winters became too much for her to endure, she moved to Venice, California, where she opened another thrift store with the money she earned from acting in Waters' films. The year she died, Edith starred in the film Mutants in Paradise. She had been cast in Paul Bartel's Western parody Lust in the Dust opposite longtime co-star Divine, but died before filming; she was replaced by Nedra Volz.

Massey died in 1984 due to cancer and complications from diabetes. Her body was cremated, and her ashes were interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, where other culturally prominent individuals such as Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin have also been buried.

Other media about Edith Massey

• Director Robert Maier made a documentary short about her in 1975 entitled Love Letter to Edie. There is also a director's authorized version re-mastered from his original 16mm color film footage.

• Edith also appeared in John Cougar Mellencamp's music video "This Time", as his true love after a string of beautiful floozies. She was also on the album cover of his 1980 album Nothin' Matters and What If It Did.

• A sample of Edith Massey's voice as "Aunt Ida" from the film Female Trouble appears in the track "The Days of Swine and Roses", on the album Confessions of a Knife by the band, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult.

• Dialogue from the film Female Trouble between Edith Massey's "Aunt Ida" character and Micheal Potter's "Gator", in which Aunt Ida tries to convince Gator to become a homosexual, was used as the intro to the 1989 song "I Don't Wanna Be a Homosexual" by the band Sloppy Seconds.

Filmography

• Multiple Maniacs 1970) as Bar Proprietor
• Pink Flamingos (1972) as Edie, "The Egg Lady"
• Female Trouble (1974) as Aunt Ida
• Desperate Living (1977) as Queen Carlotta
• Polyester (1981) as Cuddles Kovinsky
• Love Letter to Edie (1975) (as herself)
• Edith's Shopping Bag (1976) (as herself)
• Mutants in Paradise (1984) as Dr. Durchfall
• Divine Waters (1985) (Documentary) (as herself)
• In Bad Taste (2000) (Documentary) (as herself) [Archive Footage]

External links