Divine Harris Glenn Milstead Harris Glenn Milstead, better known by his stage name Divine (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988), was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Closely associated with the independent filmmaker John Waters, Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical appearances, and adopted a female drag persona for his music career. Divine, the 300-pound transvestite star of ''Pink Flamingos,'' ''Hairspray'' and other John Waters films, was found dead yesterday morning in his room at the Regency Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. He was 42 years old. The Los Angeles County Coroner's office is investigating the cause of death. According to John West, a spokesman for ''Hairspray,'' Divine died of a heart attack. Divine, whose real name was Harris Glenn Milstead, became a cult figure as Mr. Waters's longtime leading performer. He generally portrayed garishly dressed women. Mr. Milstead was born in a suburb of Baltimore on Oct. 19, 1945. He met Mr. Waters in high school, and the two became ''refugees from the fraternity and sorority life,'' Mr. Waters once said. He took the name Divine while acting in such early films by Mr. Waters as ''Roman Candles'' (1966), ''Eat Your Makeup'' (1968), ''Mondo Trasho'' (1969) and ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), and first gained relatively widespread attention in ''Pink Flamingos'' - a 1972 film that became a classic of studied bad taste. Mr. Milstead subsequently starred in Mr. Waters's ''Female Trouble'' (1974) and ''Polyester,'' (1981), and in Paul Bartel's ''Lust in the Dust'' (1985). He played a non-transvestite role in Alan Rudolph's ''Trouble in Mind,'' in 1986. In ''Hairspray,'' a comedy that opened last month, Mr. Milstead played both a tawdrily dressed mother and a bigoted male television-station owner. Mr. Milstead said in a 1976 interview that he was part of the time-honored tradition of men playing women's roles. ''I don't do Judy Garland or Mae West, and I'm not a female impersonator,'' he said. ''I'm an actor.'' Mr. Milstead appeared on stage in ''Women Behind Bars'' (1976) and ''The Neon Woman'' (1978). He made 11 recordings of disco music and performed in a solo cabaret act. He was in Los Angeles to appear in an episode of the current Fox television series, ''Married . . . With Children.'' Mr. Milstead is survived by his parents, Harris and Frances Milstead, who live in Florida. Photos of Divine in the films ''Trouble in Mind'' and ''Hairspray'' Interment Prospect Hill Cemetery Townson, Maryland