Mink Stole embraces her role as a "Dreamlander," which is how iconic gay filmmaker John Waters refers to his rep company of actors. Early Waters efforts like Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974) were released as Dreamland productions. Stole is one of three performers who have appeared in every Waters film, Pink Flamingos onward. She's parlayed her Waters fame into a full-time acting career, appearing in many films outside the Waters universe. Stole's extensive filmography includes a number of gay independent films.
"I'm part of something," Stole told the B.A.R., promoting the BluRay release of Waters' 1994 film Serial Mom. "I'm part of John's alternate vision of the world. I'm very comfortable with that. I fully embrace it." Stole is often told by people who don't fit into what society considers normal how much her and Waters' work has meant to them. "Young men have come up and thanked me for making it OK for them to be misfits," she said. "It's very humbling."
Stole was born Nancy Stoll in Baltimore, Waters' hometown. "Mink Stole was a pun when we were younger. It was a fashion statement that stuck. Now everyone calls me Mink."
In Serial Mom, she plays suburban divorcee Dottie Hinkle, tormented by a series of obscene phone calls coming from her psychotic neighbor Beverly (Kathleen Turner). In side-splitting sequences, Beverly tricks Dottie into responding with the same "dirty" words that Dottie finds "distasteful." It's a 360-degree turn from Stole's role in Waters' Polyester (1981), where Stole's character, her hair done up in cornrows, tormented the late drag queen Divine. Waters has called Divine his "muse."
Stole had no problem with the language the scenes required, though the words are not part of her everyday speech. "I was a child who had a tantrum a day," she said. "Screaming is not that difficult. I just choose not to use those words a lot because they make you sound stupid."
She spoke fondly of her mentor Waters. "John has no problem crossing lines," she said of the filmmaker who convinced Divine to eat poodle shit in Pink Flamingos. "It's hard to say what his legacy will be. He's offered an alternative vision of the world."
Stole also shared her memories of Divine and Edith Massey, who captured the hearts of many as the bizarre "egg lady" in Pink Flamingos. Massey appeared in all of Waters' films until her death from cancer in 1984.
"Divine had such an appetite for life," Stole said. "John never asked me to do the terrible things that Divine was asked to do. There we were making a movie for no money, and Divine ate a cow heart [in Multiple Maniacs]!" According to Stole, Divine never got her due. "She really was a worthy adversary on screen. A really great actor. I had to work hard in scenes with Divine because of the visuals."
And Massey? "Edith was exactly what you saw on screen," Stole said. "She never read a book, yet had a certain savvy-ness. She had illusions about being a movie star, and she was, within a certain subculture." Stole is happy with the role she's played in that subculture. "Without the misfits, the world would be a less interesting place."
Serial Mom, a mad send-up of the slasher and gore flicks Waters has admired since his youth, is now on BluRay in a Collector's Edition from Shout Factory. The disc includes a short documentary on the career of Herschell Gordon Lewis, whose film Blood Feast (1963) partially inspired Waters' film. Also included is an onscreen chat with Waters, Turner and Stole.