Mink Stole

Mink Stole was part of the original motley crew of cast players in underground shock master John Waters ‘ bare-bones 8mm, 16mm and 35mm cult camp romps during the late 60s and early 70s, and she would remain a thoroughly offbeat, outrageous presence in counterculture films for six decades. She was born with the All-American name of Nancy Stoll on August 25, 1947, in Baltimore, Maryland. Waters took her under his wing in 1966 wherein she started “acting out” a number of his deviant creations for gross-out effect alongside other outré members that included break-out drag star and actor Divine and the must-be-seen-to-be-believed Edith Massey. Calling themselves the Dreamland Players, Stole would become known as both the hysterical foil and vengeful nemesis of “leading lady” Divine, playing her annoying repulsive characters as pure evil incarnate. Her role in the infamous Pink Flamingos (1972) as Connie Marble, the carrot-domed villain complete with outlandish cats-eye glasses and seedy fur coat, set the tone for her subsequent gallery of grotesques, including the tantrum-throwing girl-child Taffy Davenport in Female Trouble (1974) , murderous housewife-on-the-lam Peggy Gravel in Desperate Living (1977), and corn-rowed hussy Sandra Sullivan in Polyester (1981) , which was the first Waters film to star a legit actor—Tab Hunter. Mink has appeared in nearly every one of his films. From 1994 on, she did bits in his wide releases of Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), Cecil B. Demented (2000), A Dirty Shame (2004), Stuck! (2009), and Hush Up Sweet Charlotte (2015). Over the years, Mink has made the rounds on the experimental stage. She played Van Helsing in a production of Dracula and the title papal role in Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, not to mention bizarre, contemporary treatments of the Bard’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and A Winter’s Tale. She attracted attention in the play Sleeping with Straight Men in the New York and Los Angeles productions. In recent years, Mink has portrayed Trinket Dugan in Tennessee Williams’ The Mutilated to rave reviews at the Contemporary Art Center New Orleans, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, and off-Broadway in New York. Currently, Mink’s cabaret/ storytelling/ interview show Idol Worship with San Francisco filmmaker and midnight movie emcee Peaches Christ is touring the US and Internationally.