John Waters

This article is about the American filmmaker born in 1946. For other uses, see John Waters (disambiguation).

John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974). Waters wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical and a 2007 musical film. Other films he has written and directed include Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), and Cecil B. Demented (2000). His films contain elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism.

John Waters
Waters in May 2014
Born	John Samuel Waters Jr. (1946-04-22) April 22, 1946 (age 78) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Education	Calvert Hall College High School Maryland Institute College of Art
Occupations	Filmmaker writer actor artist
Years active	1964–present
Organization	Dreamland Productions
Relatives	George P. Whitaker (great-great-great-grandfather)
Signature

As an actor, Waters has appeared in Sweet and Lowdown (1999), 'Til Death Do Us Part (2007), Mangus! (2011), Excision (2012), Suburban Gothic (2014), and has appeared in the Child's Play franchise with Seed of Chucky (2004) and third season of the television series Chucky (2024). He hosted and produced the television series John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You (2006). Throughout his career, Waters has often collaborated with actor and drag queen Divine and his regular cast of the Dreamlanders.^[1] More recently, he performs in his touring one-man show This Filthy World.

Waters also works as a visual artist and across different media, such as installations, photography, and sculpture. The audiobooks he narrated for his books Carsick and Mr. Know-It-All were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015 and 2020, respectively.^[2] In 2018, Waters was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.^[3] He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.^[4]

Early life and education

Waters was born on April 22, 1946, in Baltimore, Maryland, one of four children born to Patricia Ann (née Whitaker) and John Samuel Waters, a manufacturer of fire-protection equipment.^[5] He was raised Catholic by his mother, though his father was not Catholic.^[6] Through his mother, who immigrated to the United States from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada as a child, he is the great-great-great-grandson of George P. Whitaker of the Whitaker iron family.^[5][7] Waters grew up in Lutherville, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. His boyhood friend and muse, Glenn Milstead, later known as Divine, also lived in Lutherville.^[8] Waters lived at 313 Morris Avenue in Lutherville from his early teenage years until he moved out in his early twenties. Waters and Milstead shot many of their early films at the house, dubbing the front lawn the "Dreamland Lot".^[9]

The film Lili inspired an interest in puppets in the seven-year-old Waters, who proceeded to stage violent versions of Punch and Judy for children's birthday parties. Biographer Robrt L. Pela says that Waters's mother believes the puppets in Lili had the greatest influence on Waters's subsequent career (though Pela believes tacky films at a local drive-in, which the young Waters watched from a distance through binoculars, had a greater effect).^[10]

Cry-Baby was also a product of Waters's boyhood, because of his fascination as a seven-year-old with the "drapes" then receiving intense news coverage because of the murder of Carolyn Wasilewski, a young "drapette", and his admiration for a young man living across the street who had a hot rod.^[11][12]

Waters was privately educated at the Calvert School in Baltimore. After attending Towson Jr. High School in nearby Towson,^[13] and Calvert Hall College High School, he graduated from Boys' Latin School of Maryland.^[14] While still a teen, he made frequent trips into downtown Baltimore to visit Martick's, a beatnik bar, where he and Milstead met many of their later film collaborators.^[15] He was underage and could not enter the bar proper, but loitered in the adjacent alley, where he relied on the kindness of patrons to slip him drinks.^[16]

Career

Early career

Waters's first short film was Hag in a Black Leather Jacket.^[17]

MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939) had a profound effect on Waters' creative mind. He said about it:

I was always drawn to forbidden subject matter in the very, very beginning. The Wizard of Oz opened me up because it was one of the first movies I ever saw. It opened me up to villainy, to screenwriting, to costumes. And great dialogue. I think the witch has great, great dialogue.^[18]

Waters has stated that he takes an equal amount of joy and influence from high-brow "art" films and sleazy exploitation films.^[19]

In January 1966, Waters and some friends were caught smoking marijuana on the grounds of New York University, and he was soon kicked out of his dormitory. He returned to Baltimore, where he completed his next two short films, Roman Candles and Eat Your Makeup. They were followed by the feature-length films Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs.^[20]

Waters's films became Divine's primary star vehicles. All of Waters's early films were shot in the Baltimore area with his company of local actors, the Dreamlanders—which, in addition to Divine, included Mink Stole, Cookie Mueller, Edith Massey, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Susan Walsh, and others. Waters met Edith Massey while she was a bartender at Pete's Hotel.^[21]

Waters's early campy movies present exaggerated characters in outrageous situations with hyperbolic dialogue. Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Desperate Living, which he labeled the Trash Trilogy, pushed hard at the boundaries of conventional propriety and censorship.

Move toward the mainstream

 

John Waters signing a fan's jean jacket sleeve at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, 1990.

Waters's 1981 film Polyester starred Divine opposite former teen idol Tab Hunter.^[22] It was the first time that Waters was not the primary camera operator for his own work, as he had started collaborating with local film student David Insley.^[23][24] Since then, his films have become less controversial and more mainstream, although works such as Hairspray, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, Pecker and Cecil B. Demented still retain his trademark inventiveness. Hairspray, the last film he produced, became a hit Broadway musical that swept the 2003 Tony Awards;^[25] and a film adaptation of the Broadway musical was released in theaters on July 20, 2007, to positive reviews and commercial success.^[26] Cry-Baby, itself a musical, also became a Broadway musical.^[27]

In 2004, the NC-17-rated A Dirty Shame marked a return to Waters' earlier, more controversial work of the 1970s. Having received mixed reviews and bombing at the box-office, it would prove to be his last film as a director for almost two decades.

In 2007, Waters became the host ("The Groom Reaper") of 'Til Death Do Us Part, a program on America's Court TV network.

In 2008, he planned to make a children's Christmas film, Fruitcake^[28] starring Johnny Knoxville and Parker Posey.^[29] Filming was set for November 2008,^[30] but the project was shelved in January 2009.^[31] In 2010, Waters told the Chicago Tribune that "Independent films that cost $5 million are very hard to get made. I sold the idea, got a development deal, got paid a great salary to write it—and now the company is no longer around, which is the case with many independent film companies these days."^[32]

In October 2022, it was announced that Waters will adapt his novel, Liarmouth, into a film. Village Roadshow Pictures will produce, and Waters will write and direct.^[33]

Waters has often created characters with alliterated names for his films, such as Corny Collins, Cuddles Kovinsky, Donald and Donna Dasher, Dawn Davenport, Fat Fuck Frank, Francine Fishpaw, Link Larkin, Motormouth Maybelle, Mole McHenry, Penny and Prudy Pingleton, Ramona Ricketts, Sandy Sandstone, Sylvia Stickles, Todd Tomorrow, Tracy Turnblad, Ursula Udders, Wade Walker and Wanda Woodward.^[34]

On September 18, 2023, Waters was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dreamlanders Ricki Lake and Mink Stole were among the guest speakers.^[35]

Other ventures

 

Waters with historian Jon Wiener in 2010

Waters is a bibliophile, with a collection of over 8,000 books. In 2011, during a visit to the Waters house in Baltimore, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson observed:

Bookshelves line the walls but they are not enough. The coffee table, desk and side tables are heaped with books, as is the replica electric chair in the hall. They range from Taschen art tomes such as The Big Butt Book to Jean Genet paperbacks and a Hungarian translation of Tennessee Williams with a pulp fiction cover. In one corner sits a doll from the horror spoof Seed of Chucky, in which Waters appeared. It feels like an eccentric professor's study, or a carefully curated exhibition based on the life of a fictional character.^[36]

Waters has had his fan mail delivered to Atomic Books, an independent bookstore in Baltimore, for over 20 years.^[37]

Puffing constantly on a cigarette, Waters appeared in a short film, shown in film art houses, announcing that "no smoking is permitted" in the theaters. The spot was directed by Douglas Brian Martin and produced by Douglas Brian Martin and Steven M. Martin. They also created two other short films, for the Nuart Theatre (a Landmark Theater) in West Los Angeles, California, in appreciation for their showing Pink Flamingos for many years. It is shown immediately before any of Waters' films, and before the midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Waters played a minister in Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat, directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.^[38]

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.^[39] He is also 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.^[40][41]

He is a contributor to Artforum magazine and author of its year-end Top Ten Films list.^[42]

Waters hosts an annual performance, "A John Waters Christmas", which was launched in 1996 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, and in 2018 toured 17 cities over 23 days.^[43]

In 2014, Waters began hosting an annual "Camp John Waters" event in Kent, Connecticut. Adult fans from as far away as Australia and Chile "relive their sleepaway camping days" with an "extra-campy theme weekend."^[44] Notable guests have included Debbie Harry, Patricia Hearst, Kathleen Turner, Mink Stole and Randy Harrison.^[45][46]

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 Almodóvar, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan.^[47]

Fine art

Since the early 1990s, Waters has been making photo-based artwork and installations that have been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums. In 2004, the New Museum in New York City presented a retrospective of his artwork curated by Marvin Heiferman and Lisa Phillips. His most recent exhibition John Waters: Indecent Exposure was exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art from October 2018 to January 2019 and later traveled to the Wexner Center for the Arts.^[48][49] Prior to that, Waters exhibited Rear Projection in April 2009, at the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York and the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles.^[50] Waters has been represented by C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, since 2002 and by Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York since 2006.^[51][52]

 

Waters in 2007

Waters's pieces are often comical, such as Rush (2009), a super-sized, tipped-over bottle of poppers (nitrite inhalants), and Hardy Har (2006), a photograph of flowers that squirts water at anyone who traverses a taped line on the floor. Waters has characterized his art as conceptual: "The craft is not the issue here. The idea is. And the presentation."^[53]

In November 2020, 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. In recognition of the donation, the museum named its rotunda after Waters, but Waters also insisted the museum name an all-gender bathroom after him.^[54] Both the rotunda and the bathroom were renamed for Waters in time for the opening of the first exhibition of his bequeathed collection, Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection on November 20, 2022.^[55] Waters, who serves on the museum's board of directors, has stated the museum will fully acquire all of his art after his death.^[56]

Carsick

With the motif "My life is so over-scheduled, what will happen if I give up control?", Waters completed a hitchhiking journey across the United States from Baltimore to San Francisco, turning his adventures into a book titled Carsick.^[57] On May 15, 2012, while on the hitchhiking trip, Waters was picked up by 20-year-old Myersville, Maryland, councilman Brett Bidle, who thought Waters was a homeless hitchhiker standing in the pouring rain. Feeling bad for Waters, he agreed to drive him four hours to Ohio.^[58]

The next day, indie rock band Here We Go Magic tweeted that they had picked John Waters up hitchhiking in Ohio. He was wearing a hat with the text "Scum of the Earth".^[59] In Denver, Colorado, Waters reconnected with Bidle (who had made an effort to catch up with him); Bidle then drove him another 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to Reno, Nevada. Before parting ways, Waters arranged for Bidle to stay at his San Francisco apartment: "I thought, you know what, he wanted an adventure, too ... He's the first Republican I'd ever vote for."^[57]

Bidle later said: "We are polar opposites when it comes to our politics, religious beliefs. But that's what I loved about the whole trip. It was two people able to agree to disagree and still move on and have a great time. I think that's what America's all about."^[57]

Personal life

 

Waters in New York City, 2007

Although he has maintained apartments in New York City and San Francisco's Nob Hill, as well as a summer home in Provincetown,^[43] Waters mainly resides in Baltimore.^[60][61] All his films are set and shot there.^[62] He is recognizable by his trademark pencil moustache.^[60]

As a gay man, Waters is an avid supporter of gay rights and gay pride.^[63] In a 2019 interview, he said that he dislikes publicly discussing his personal life, adding that he had a partner but that they both preferred to keep the relationship private.^[64]

Waters was a great fan of the music of Little Richard when growing up. He has said that, ever since he shoplifted a copy of the Little Richard song "Lucille" in 1957, at the age of 11, "I've wished I could somehow climb into Little Richard's body, hook up his heart and vocal cords to my own, and switch identities." In 1987, Playboy magazine employed Waters, then aged 41, to interview his idol, but the interview did not go well, with Waters later remarking: "It turned into kind of a disaster."^[65]

Waters advocated for the parole of former Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, writing in his 2010 book Role Models, "Her crime was a long, long time ago and she has paid her dues to society".^{[66][67][68][69]}

Throughout his life, Waters has been open about his recreational drug use, including marijuana and LSD, particularly in regards to his creative process. Waters began using LSD as a teenager, "tak[ing] LSD and see[ing]...movies all the time".^[70] Waters was often on LSD while making his early films, claiming in a 2016 interview "I was on LSD [during Multiple Maniacs], I don't remember [how long it took to shoot the film]!"^[71] He tried LSD again in his 70s, and documented the experience in his 2019 book Mr. Know-It-All.^[72]

Waters was a smoker before quitting around 2004, saying "the only thing I've ever regretted in my whole life [was] smoking cigarettes. Because it was a nightmare giving up. It's the only thing the government ever told me that was true: It does kill you!"^[73] In 2022, Waters said that if he were to write his younger self a letter, he would say "quit smoking [cigarettes] and do everything else".^[74]

Filmography

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	DOP	Editor	Notes	Ref.
1964	Hag in a Black Leather Jacket	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film	^[75]
1966	Roman Candles	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		^[76]
1968	Eat Your Makeup	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		^[76]
	Dorothy, the Kansas City Pot Head	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Abandoned after two days of filming
1969	Mondo Trasho	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		^[77]
1970	The Diane Linkletter Story	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film	^[78]
	Multiple Maniacs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		^[78]
1972	Pink Flamingos	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		^[79]
1974	Female Trouble	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		^[80]
1977	Desperate Living	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		^[81]
1981	Polyester	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No		^[82]
1988	Hairspray	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No		^[83]
1990	Cry-Baby	Yes	Yes	No	No	No		^[84]
1994	Serial Mom	Yes	Yes	No	No	No		^[85]
1998	Pecker	Yes	Yes	No	No	No		^[86]
2000	Cecil B. Demented	Yes	Yes	No	No	No		^[87]
2004	A Dirty Shame	Yes	Yes	No	No	No		^[88]
2007	Hairspray	No	No	No	No	No	Co-producer and consultant	^[89]
TBA	Liarmouth	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Author of source material	^[90]

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1969	Mondo Trasho	Reporter	Voice cameo; uncredited
1972	Pink Flamingos	Mr. J	Voice; uncredited
1986	Something Wild	Used car salesman	Cameo	^[91]
1988	Hairspray	Dr. Fredrickson
1989	Homer and Eddie	Robber No. 1	Cameo	^[92]
1994	Serial Mom	Ted Bundy	Voice cameo; uncredited
1998	Pecker	Pervert on phone
1999	Sweet and Lowdown	Mr. Haynes		^[93]
2000	Cecil B. Demented	Reporter	Cameo; uncredited	^[87]
2002	Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat	The Reverend	Cameo	^[94]
2004	Seed of Chucky	Pete Peters		^[95]
2006	Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea	Narrator	Voice; documentary	^[96]
	This Film Is Not Yet Rated	Himself	Documentary	^[97]
	Jackass Number Two	Himself		^[98]
2007	Hairspray	Flasher	Cameo	^[89]
	The Junior Defenders	Narrator	Voice; direct-to-DVD	^[99]
	In the Land of Merry Misfits	Narrator	Voice	^[100]
2011	Mangus!	Jesus Christ		^[101]
	Of Dolls and Murder	Narrator	Voice; documentary	^[102]
2012	Excision	William		^[103]
2014	Suburban Gothic	Cornelius		^[104]
2015	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip	Airplane passenger	Cameo	^[105]
2017	Mansfield 66/67	Himself	Documentary	^[106]
TBA	Mugworth	Sir Butler	Voice	^[107]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1990	21 Jump Street	Mr. Bean	Episode: "Awomp-Bomp-Aloobomb, Aloop Bamboom"	^[108]
1993, 1995	Homicide: Life on the Street	Bartender; R. Vincent Smith	2 episodes	^[109]
1997	The Simpsons	John	Voice; episode: "Homer's Phobia"	^[110]
1998	Frasier	Roger	Voice; episode: "The Maris Counselor"
2006	John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You	Himself (host)	13 episodes	^[111]
2006–2007	'Til Death Do Us Part	Groom Reaper	Main; 14 episodes	^[112]
2007	My Name Is Earl	Funeral director	Episode: "Kept a Guy Locked in a Truck"	^[113]
2011	Superjail!	Quetzalpocetlan	Voice; episode "Ghosts"
2012	Fish Hooks	The Yeti Lobster	Voice; episode: "Rock Yeti Lobster"
2013, 2018	Mickey Mouse	Wadsworth Thorndyke III	Voices; 2 episodes
2014	Mr. Pickles	Dr. Kelton	Voice; episode: "Coma"
2015	RuPaul's Drag Race	Himself	Guest judge; episode: "Divine Inspiration"	^[114]
2016	Clarence	Captain Tom	Voice; episode: "Plane Excited"
	Hairspray Live!	—	Associate producer
2017	Feud: Bette and Joan	William Castle	Episode: "Hagsploitation"	^[115]
2018	The Blacklist	Himself	Episode: "Sutton Ross (No. 17)"	^[116]
	Liverspots and Astronots	O-Dor	Voice; episode: "The Exorcism of O-Dor"
2019	Tigtone	Fertile Centaur	Voice; episode: "...and the Freaks of Love"
2020–2021	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Floyd Cougat (also credited as "Pornmonger man")	2 episodes	^[117]
2021	Finding Your Roots	Himself (guest)	Episode: "To the Manor Born"	^[118]
2022	Search Party	Sheffield^[119]	2 episodes	^[120]^[121]
	The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel	Lazarus	Episode: "Interesting People on Christopher Street"	^[122]^[123]
	Bubble Guppies	Baron Von Bland	Episode: "Taste Buddies!"
2024	Chucky	Wendell Wilkins	Episode: "Final Destination"
	Helluva Boss	TBA	TBA	^[124]

Documentary appearances

• American Cinema
• The Andy Warhol Diaries
• Beautiful Darling^[125]
• Biography
• Celebrity Ghost Stories^[126]
• The Cockettes
• Divine Waters
• Divine Trash
• The Drexel Interview^[127]
• I Am Divine^[128]
• Love Letter to Edie
• E! True Hollywood Story
• Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
• Le Grand Journal (Canal+)
• Guest of Cindy Sherman^[129]
• HBO's First Look
• Here's Looking at You, Boy – The Coming Out of Queer Cinema
• How Porn Conquered the World
• The Incredibly Strange Film Show
• Inside Deep Throat^[130]
• Intimate Portrait
• It Came From Kuchar
• Little Castles
• Little Richard: I Am Everything
• Lynch/Oz
• Mansfield 66/67
• Mansome
• Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
• Of Dolls and Murder
• Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
• Queens of Disco (BBC Four)
• SexTV
• Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
• Tab Hunter Confidential^[131]
• The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!
• That Man: Peter Berlin
• These Amazing Shadows: The Movies That Make America
• This Film Is Not Yet Rated^[132]
• Tracks
• VH1 Behind the Music (Blondie)
• William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

Other credits

• This Filthy World – Waters's touring one-man show, made into a feature film directed by Jeff Garlin^[133]
• Mommie Dearest (1981) – Audio commentary on film's "Hollywood Royalty Edition" DVD release (2006)^[134]
• The Little Mermaid Special Edition DVD (2006) – Interview on 'making of' documentary about Howard Ashman, the theatre (i.e. Little Shop of Horrors), and the inspiration behind the character Ursula: Divine
• A Date with John Waters (2007), a CD collection of songs Waters finds romantic^[135]
• Christmas Evil DVD release (2006) – Audio commentary^[136]
• Breaking Up with John Waters – Waters's third CD compilation rumored as "currently in the works" in 2004^[137]
• The Other Hollywood – Commentary and opinions about pornography throughout the book^[138]
• "The Creep" (featuring Nicki Minaj) – Appeared on a television set in The Lonely Island's music video "The Creep", which made its debut on Saturday Night Live. Waters gives the introduction to the song and he is credited as a featured artist on the album.^[139]
• Art:21 – Introducing Host for Season Two, "Stories" episode – PBS DVD series^[140]

Published works

• Waters, John (1981). Shock Value. New York: Dell Pub. Co. ISBN 0-440-57871-X.
• Waters, John (1986). Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0-02-624440-3.
• Waters, John; Hainley, Bruce (2003). Art: A Sex Book. New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-28435-0.
• Waters, John (2010). Role Models. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-25147-5.
• Waters, John (2014). Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-29863-0.
• Waters, John (2017). Make Trouble. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. ISBN 978-1-61620-635-2.
• Waters, John (2019). Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-21496-8.

Novel

• Waters, John (2022). Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-18572-5.

Screenplays

• Waters, John (1988). Trash Trio: Three Screenplays: Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, Flamingos Forever. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-394-75986-9.
• Waters, John (2005). Hairspray, Female Trouble and Multiple Maniacs: Three More Screenplays. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-702-4.

Photo collections

• Waters, John (1997). Director's Cut. New York: Scalo. ISBN 3-931141-56-X.
• Waters, John (2006). Unwatchable. New York: Marianne Boesky Gallery. ISBN 0-9779503-0-1.

Discography

• A John Waters Christmas – A CD of Christmas songs compiled by Waters (2004)^[141]
• A Date With John Waters  – A CD of love songs for Valentine's Day compiled by Waters. New Line Records (2007)^[142]
• Role Models  – Audiobook narrated by Mr. Waters. Tantor Media (2010)
• Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America  – Audiobook narrated by Mr. Waters. Macmillan Audio (2014)
• Make Trouble  – Spoken word speech. Jack White's Third Man Records (2017).^[143] Produced by Grammy-winner Ian Brennan
• Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder  – Audiobook narrated by Mr. Waters. Macmillan Audio (2019)
• Prayer to Pasolini  – Spoken word speech recorded at the murder site of filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini on the outskirts of Rome. Sub Pop Records (2021).^[144] Produced by Grammy-winner, Ian Brennan.
• Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance (A Novel)  – Audiobook narrated by Mr. Waters. Macmillan Audio (2022)
• It's in the Book  – Spoken word tribute to comedian Johnny Standley. Sub Pop Records (2022).^[145] Produced by Grammy-winner, Ian Brennan.

Awards and nominations

In 1999, Waters was honored with the Filmmaker on the Edge Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival. In September 2015, the British Film Institute ran a programme to celebrate 50 years of Waters films which included all of his early films, some previously unscreened in the UK.

In 2014, Waters was nominated for a Grammy for the spoken word version of his book, Carsick. His follow-up record, Make Trouble, was produced by Grammy-winning producer, Ian Brennan, and released on Jack White's Third Man Records in the fall of 2017.^[146] Waters received his second Grammy-nomination in 2020 for Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder.^[147]

In 2015, he received the Ted M. Larson Award at the Fargo Film Festival for his contribution to filmmaking.^[148]

In 2016, Waters received an honorary degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore during the college's undergraduate commencement ceremony. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Baltimore in 2023.^[149]

In 2017, Waters received Timeless Star honors from the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (now GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics). The group's career achievement award goes to an entertainment figure "whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit."^[150]

In 2018, Waters was named an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a cultural award from the French government.^[151]

In 2023, Waters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His friends and collaborators Mink Stole, Greg Gorman, and Ricki Lake spoke at the induction. Waters brought a photo of his parents to the unveiling, dedicating the honor to them.^[152] Waters' star was placed in front of Larry Edmunds Bookshop on Hollywood Boulevard, a store Waters frequents.^[153]

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1988	Sundance Film Festival	Grand Jury Prize	Hairspray	Nominated	^[154]
1989	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Feature		Nominated
		Best Director		Nominated
2015	Grammy Awards	Best Spoken Word Album	Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America	Nominated	^[155]
2020			Mr. Know-It-All	Nominated

See also

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of self-identified LGBTQ New Yorkers

References

Citations

1. "Divine times: Mink Stole, the über-fabulous Dreamlander, recalls the heyday of trash". The Irish Times. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
2. Brady, Tara. "Divine times: Mink Stole, the über-fabulous Dreamlander, recalls the heyday of trash". The Irish Times. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
3. "John Waters and Dennis Lim to Receive Insignia of the Order of Arts and Letters". Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. April 16, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
4. "Baltimore filmmaker John Waters receives star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame | VIDEO" The Baltimore Sun. Published September 18, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
5. Rasmussen, Frederick N. (February 16, 2014). "Patricia Waters, mother of filmmaker, dies at 89". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
6. Egan 2011, p. 214.
7. Stated on Finding Your Roots, January 19, 2021
8. Kaltenbach, Chris. . The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
9. Gunts, Ed. "Filmmaker John Waters' Boyhood Home Goes up for Sale". Baltimore Fishbowl. Published July 17, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
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General bibliography

• Egan, James, ed. (2011). John Waters: Interviews. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-61703-182-3.
• Ives, John G. (1992). John Waters. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-033-X.
• Stevenson, Jack (1996). Desperate Visions 1: Camp America: The Films of John Waters & the Kuchar Brothers: Interviews & Essays. London: Creation Books. ISBN 1-871592-34-8.
• Pela, Robrt L. (2002). Filthy: The Weird World of John Waters. Alyson Publishing. ISBN 1-55583-625-9.
• Phillips, Lisa; Solondz, Todd (2004). John Waters: Change of Life. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-4306-9.
• Maier, Robert (2011). Low Budget Hell: Making Underground Movies with John Waters. Davidson, N.C.: Full Page Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9837708-0-0.

Further reading

• Connolly, Matt (November 29, 2022). "John Waters". Cinema and Media Studies. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OBO/9780199791286-0359. ISBN 978-0-19-979128-6.

External links

• Dreamland News site including current news, online archive, filmography, books and history
• John Waters at IMDb