Mink Stole on Serial Mom and the Legacy of John Waters

Mink Stole embraces her place as a Dreamlander, which is the term iconic queer filmmaker John Waters uses to refer to his resident company of actors. Stole has easily earned her title as a Dreamlander after appearing in every one of Waters’ feature films — an honor shared only with Mary Vivian Pearce and Pat Moran.

Early Waters efforts like the now legendary Pink Flamingos (1972) and its follow-up Female Trouble (1974) were released through Dreamland Productions, the production company Waters started in the 1960s to make his self-written, self-produced, and independently-financed movies. He often cast his friends in the unique, groundbreaking roles, which continue to be branded into queer minds across the globe.

Waters’ films focus on the filthy and debaucherous, and highlight the counter-culture that attracts not only the LGBTQ community but also those who don’t identify with the mainstream. Topics include queer people, drugs, drag, serial killers, art, abortions, racism, dancing, and Baltimore.

“I’m a part of something — I’m part of John’s alternate vision of the world,” Stole told OUT FRONT. “I’m very comfortable with that. I fully embrace it. Young men have come up and thanked me for making it OK for them to be misfits. It’s very humbling.”

Stole, who is also a musician, was born as Nancy Stoll in Baltimore, where Waters also hails from. When she was younger, she was given the nickname Mink Stole as a pun off of the fashion statement. It stuck, and now everyone just calls her Mink.

In one of Waters’ most recognizable films, Serial Mom, Stole took on the role of suburban divorcee Dottie Hinkle, who’s being tormented by a series of obscene phone calls coming from her psychotic neighbor Beverly, played by Hollywood A-lister Kathleen Turner.

In a series of sidesplitting sequences, Beverly calls Dottie and harasses her with some hilariously dirty words that Dottie finds “distasteful.” The scenes can still be heard quoted around bars and parties after more than 20 years.

It’s a 360 degree turn from Stole’s role in Waters’ Polyester (1981), where Stole’s character, her hair done up in corn rows, tormented the late drag queen Divine.

Stole recalled that she had no problem with the language Serial Mom’s scenes required, though such words are not part of her everyday speech. Although she would throw a tantrum a day and has no problem raising her voice, she chooses not use the language from the scenes because it “makes you sound stupid.”

That might be shocking coming from a Dreamlander. Waters is the king of pushing boundaries. He once convinced Divine — his muse — to eat actual poodle poop in Pink Flamingos’ most envelope-pushing scene and a cow heart in Multiple Maniacs.

“John has no problem crossing lines,” she said. “It’s hard to say what his legacy will be.”

Being a Dreamlander is much more than just appearing in Waters’ films. The ensemble of people started out their careers as friends, and that hasn’t changed over time. Stole shared her memories of working with 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 recalled. “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.”

“She really was a worthy adversary on screen. A really great actor,” Stole said.

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.”

Mink Stole is also happy with the role she’s played in that same subculture. She parlayed her cult fame into a full time acting career, appearing in many films outside of the Waters universe. Stole’s extensive filmography includes a number of gay independent films like But I’m A Cheerleader, Another Gay Movie, and Eating Out. No matter where she’s drifted to, she’ll always be a Dreamlander, and she’s really, really proud of that.

“Without the misfits, the world would be a less interesting place,” she said.

Serial Mom, a mad send-up of the slasher and gore flicks that Waters had admired since his youth, is now available on Blu Ray in a brand new 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 a newly shot, on-screen chat with Waters, Kathleen Turner, and Stole.