Edith Massey

Edith Massey (born Edith Y. Dornfeld; 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. She was one of the Dreamlanders, Waters's stable of regular cast and crew members.

Early life Born as Edith Dornfeld on May 28, 1918, in New York City, she was the daughter of Ashkenazi Jews Bessie (née Lansnek, 1896–1925) and Samuel Dornfeld (1891–1918), an Austrian-born émigré. Samuel, who was a World War I veteran, died five months after Massey's birth due to complications as a result from a gas attack during the war. The following year, on March 9, 1921, Bessie married her second husband, Max Grodsky, in Denver, Colorado.

According to Massey's half-brother, Morris Grodsky, their parents "just threw up their hands one day, dropped off those who couldn't fend for themselves at a local orphanage or 'home,' and disappeared". According to Grodsky, who was also left there, the Jewish orphanage was not a terrible place, though he remembered being always hungry. leaving him about five years later because she got "restless". However, in Divine Waters, Massey said that the marriage lasted "about seven years. It was my fault; I left him for another man, so I blame myself for it."

She worked in several odd jobs through the years, and she eventually relocated to Baltimore, Maryland where she worked as a barmaid at Pete's Hotel in the Fell's Point neighborhood.

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's films by touring as the lead singer of a punk band, Edie and the Eggs. John Waters described her as an "outsider artist" and "definitely a novelty act.

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's films. In 1980, she was featured in John Mellencamp's music video for "This Time" and also appears on the cover of Mellencamp's album Nothin' Matters and What If It Did.

In 1982, Massey recorded a cover of The Four Seasons' "Big Girls Don't Cry" that was included on the compilation albums The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records and A Date With John Waters.

The year she died, Massey starred in her final film, Mutants in Paradise. She read for a role in Paul Bartel's Western parody Lust in the Dust (1985) opposite longtime co-star Divine, but actress Nedra Volz was cast instead.

Massey died of complications of lymphoma and diabetes on October 24, 1984, aged 66, in Los Angeles. Her body was cremated, and her ashes were scattered in the Garden of Roses at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

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

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1970 Multiple Maniacs Edith / Virgin Mary 1972 Pink Flamingos Edie 1974 Female Trouble Aunt Ida 1975 Love Letter to Edie Herself 1977 Desperate Living Queen Carlotta 1981 Polyester Cuddles Kovinsky 1983 My Breakfast with Blassie Herself Uncredited 1984 Mutants in Paradise Dr. Durchfall (final film role) 1985 Divine Waters Herself Documentary 2000 In Bad Taste Herself Archival footage 2005 Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream Herself Archival footage 2013 I Am Divine Herself Archival footage

Discography Singles + List of singles Title Year Album "Big Girls Don't Cry" 1982