John Waters
- Style
- Pencil
- Peak Era
- 1970s
- Born
- 1946
- Fan Votes
- 0 legendary · 0 meh
About John Waters
John Samuel Waters Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1946, and has spent his career making that city the capital of gleefully bad taste. Working with a repertory company of friends (most famously the drag performer Divine), he made a series of underground shockers, including Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974), that became midnight-movie legends.
In the 1980s and 1990s his films moved toward the mainstream without losing their bite: Polyester (1981, released in "Odorama"), Hairspray (1988), which later became a Tony-winning Broadway musical, Cry-Baby (1990) with Johnny Depp, and Serial Mom (1994) with Kathleen Turner. William S. Burroughs dubbed him "the Pope of Trash," and he has never argued.
Waters is also a prolific author and touring raconteur, with books including Shock Value (1981), Role Models (2010), and Carsick (2014), an account of hitchhiking across America. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
Why the Stach Became Iconic
The Waters pencil mustache is the thinnest line in show business and the most deliberate. It is a homage to Little Richard and the 1930s matinee idols, drawn with the precision of someone who has thought very hard about trash and wants it done right.
It is also the rare mustache that tells you everything about its owner before he says a word: witty, devious, and impeccably groomed for the occasion of being outrageous.
Appearances
- Pink Flamingos (1972)
- Female Trouble (1974)
- Polyester (1981)
- Hairspray (1988)
- Cry-Baby (1990)
- Serial Mom (1994)
- Pecker (1998)
- A Dirty Shame (2004)
- He has said he touches up the mustache with eyebrow pencil to keep it perfectly thin.
- Hairspray (1988) was adapted into a Broadway musical that won eight Tony Awards in 2003, and then into a second film in 2007.
- Polyester (1981) was released with "Odorama" scratch-and-sniff cards keyed to moments in the film.
- He hitchhiked from Baltimore to San Francisco in 2012 and wrote about it in the book Carsick.
- He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
