John Waters rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble.
41 Facts About John Waters
2.
John Waters wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray, which was an international success and was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical.
3.
John Waters has written and directed other films, including Polyester, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, Pecker, and Cecil B Demented.
4.
John Waters's films contain elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism.
5.
John Waters often worked with actor and drag queen Divine and his regular cast of the Dreamlanders.
6.
In 2018, John Waters was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
7.
John Waters was raised Roman Catholic by his mother, though his father was not.
8.
John Waters grew up in Lutherville, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore.
9.
John Waters lived at 313 Morris Avenue in Lutherville from his early teenage years until he moved out in his early twenties.
10.
The film Lili inspired an interest in puppets in the seven-year-old John Waters, who proceeded to stage violent versions of Punch and Judy for children's birthday parties.
11.
John Waters was privately educated at the Calvert School in Baltimore.
12.
John Waters was underage and couldn't enter the bar proper, but loitered in the adjacent alley, where he relied on the kindness of patrons to slip him drinks.
13.
John Waters has stated that he takes an equal amount of joy and influence from high-brow "art" films and sleazy exploitation films.
14.
John Waters returned to Baltimore, where he completed his next two short films, Roman Candles and Eat Your Makeup.
15.
John Waters met Edith Massey while she was a bartender at Pete's Hotel.
16.
In 2007, John Waters became the host of 'Til Death Do Us Part, a program on America's Court TV network.
17.
In October 2022, it was announced that John Waters will adapt his novel, Liarmouth, into a film.
18.
Village Roadshow Pictures will produce, and John Waters will write and direct.
19.
John Waters is a bibliophile, with a collection of over 8,000 books.
20.
John Waters has had his fan mail delivered to Atomic Books, an independent bookstore in Baltimore, for over 20 years.
21.
John Waters played a minister in Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat, directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
22.
John Waters is a board member of the Maryland Film Festival, and has selected and hosted a favorite film there each year since its launch in 1999.
23.
John Waters is on the advisory board of the Provincetown International Film Festival, and has hosted events and presented awards there every year since it was founded in 1999.
24.
John Waters is a contributor to Artforum magazine and author of its year-end Top Ten Films list.
25.
In 2019, the Film Society of Lincoln Center celebrated its 50th anniversary at a gala where John Waters spoke in tribute to the Center along with Martin Scorsese, Dee Rees, Pedro Almodovar, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan.
26.
Since the early 1990s, John Waters has been making photo-based artwork and installations that have been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums.
27.
John Waters's pieces are often comical, such as Rush, a super-sized, tipped-over bottle of poppers, and Hardy Har, a photograph of flowers that squirts water at anyone who traverses a taped line on the floor.
28.
In November 2020, John Waters promised to donate 372 artworks from his personal collection, including some of his own work as well as pieces by 125 artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Cy Twombly, Cindy Sherman and more, to the Baltimore Museum of Art.
29.
John Waters, who serves on the museum's board of directors, has stated the museum will fully acquire all of his art after his death.
30.
On May 15,2012, while on the hitchhiking trip, John Waters was picked up by 20-year-old Myersville, Maryland, councilman Brett Bidle, who thought John Waters was a homeless hitchhiker standing in the pouring rain.
31.
The next day, indie rock band Here We Go Magic tweeted that they had picked John Waters up hitchhiking in Ohio.
32.
John Waters was wearing a hat with the text "Scum of the Earth".
33.
In Denver, Colorado, John Waters reconnected with Bidle ; Bidle then drove him another 1,000 miles to Reno, Nevada.
34.
An openly gay man, John Waters is an avid supporter of gay rights and gay pride.
35.
John Waters was a great fan of the music of Little Richard when growing up.
36.
In 2009, John Waters advocated the parole of former Manson family member Leslie Van Houten.
37.
John Waters devotes a chapter to Van Houten in his book Role Models.
38.
In 1999, John Waters was honored with the Filmmaker on the Edge Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival.
39.
In 2014, John Waters was nominated for a Grammy for the spoken word version of his book, Carsick.
40.
In 2016, John Waters received an honorary degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore during the college's undergraduate commencement ceremony.
41.
In 2018, John Waters was named an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a cultural award from the French government.