Acclaimed Cult Filmmaker, John Watersâ¦ Drops Dead at 67!
One of the worldâs greatest filmmakers John Waters was found dead in his home early this morning by his domestic staff. Authorities believe Waters died of natural causes but are awaiting autopsy results. Waters began his entertainment career at age seven when he performed violent versions of Punch and Judy at childrenâs birthday parties. Though it was suspected that Waters may have had a serious physiological disorder, such things simply were not talked about in those days. After attending Towsontown Jr. High School in Towson, Maryland, Waters was privately educated at the Calvert School in Baltimore, Calvert Hall College High School in nearby Towson, and ultimately graduating from Boysâ Latin School of Maryland. For his sixteenth birthday, Waters received an 8mm movie camera from his maternal grandmother, Stella Whitaker, which in effect launched the filmmakerâs career. His first film, Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (1964) filmed in Baltimore, Maryland, starring Mona Montgomery and Mary Vivian Pearce was a short film that pushed racial boundaries in America at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The film plot depicted a black man and a white girl (Mona Montgomery) who are wed on a rooftop. He courts her by carrying her around in a trash can and chooses a Ku Klux Klansman to perform the wedding. Known as the âKing of Bad Taste,â the âPope of Trash,â and the âPrince of Puke,â Watersâ films grew in reputation for shocking his audiences with extraordinary scenes of foul and offensive footage. In his classic family movie, Pink Flamingos (1972) a transgressive black comedy exploitation film, conservatives and God fearing Christians were outraged due to the wide range of perverse acts performed in explicit detail. It has since become one of the most notorious films ever made. It made an underground star of the flamboyant drag queen actor, Divine. Since its release, Pink Flamingos has had a rather devoted cult following and is one of Watersâ most iconic films.Â Of the long running success of Pink Flamingos, Waters said, âI donât think itâs my best movie, but God knows the day I die it will be in the first paragraph of my obituary. It helped make trash more respectable. It lasted longer than I ever would have imagined. I still meet young kids who have just seen it and they react with the same disbelief that people did the first time.â The writer, director, and actor began making feature films in 1969 with his first big success, Mondo Trasho. Divine, a regular star in many of Watersâ films starred as a hit-and-run driver who looks after her dead victim. Waters was arrested on the eve of its premiere and charged with âconspiracy to commit indecent exposure.â Other classic Waterâs film include, Multiple Maniacs (1970),Â  Female Trouble (1974). Waters toned down the shock factor and made films less controversial when he crossed over to mainstream films such as, Polyester (1981), Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), Cecil B. Demented (2000), and A Dirty Shame (2004). UnfortunatelyÂ none of these mainstream films has the true John Waters sandy grit and sleazeÂ that is seen inÂ his earlyÂ films. Waterâs early moviesÂ are well known for having offended,Â disgusted, and violated theÂ ears and eyes of conservative, ChristianÂ Americans from coastÂ to coast which was Waters particular signatureÂ trademark in his early films, and is now likely outlawed which goes a long way to explain his mainstream works. NoÂ one can do whatÂ Waters has done today. NowÂ laws are in place to protect the general public and the innocent impressionable eyes of AmericaâsÂ pure and virtuous teens fromÂ the purity of Watersâ trash.Â John Waters will be remembered asÂ the worldâs greatest cult filmmaker and he will forever hold a place in my heart.Â The world has lost a great man who put his garbage on film for all to see,Â and Satan has gained an esteemed colleague. Rest in peace John.