Welcome Back, Mink Stole: John Waters’ Star Returns In New Gaycentric Film

You know this is not the first time I’ve played the mother of an unhappy gay person,” said Mink Stole on a recent Zoom call from her home in Los Angeles.

A regular in the idiosyncratic films of John Waters, Stole, now 77, was talking about a new independent film “Sex, Love Venice.” Written and directed by Steve Balderson, in which she has a scene as a mother of a gay son who is questioning his ability to have a real relationship.

The other films she was referring to were the four sequels to the 2004 gay sex comedy “Eating Out.” “Being a sympathetic elder to gays is completely in my wheelhouse,” she says laughing.

She first worked with Balderson in his 2009 indie film “Stuck!” which starred Karen Black and which was an homage to film noir women-in-prison melodramas.

But it’s the films of John Waters — whose archives are held at Wesleyan University in Middletown — that has given her a special place in independent films history— not to mention her name. (She was born Patrica Paine Stoll.)

She has appeared in all of Waters’ feature films (except for the early short films “Hag in a Black Leather Jacket,” “Eat Your Makeup,” and “The Diane Linkletter Story.” Her Waters’ career began as a party guest in his 1967 film “Roman Candles.”

One critic called Stole “the Barbara Stanwyck of Baltimore Filth” for her work in such comically deranged works as Waters’ “Mondo Trasho,” “Pink Flamingos,” “Desperate Living,” “Female Trouble,” “Polyester” and “Hairspray,” the latter launching the alternative film auteur into the mainstream (kinda) — and which later was adapted into smash Broadway musical and major motion picture starring John Travolta as Edna Turnblad. Her last Waters film was the director’s final one — so far: 2004’s “A Dirty Shame.”

Beyond acting, Stole’s eclectic life includes a stint at Baltimore City Paper writing a column titled "Think Mink”; as the lead singer of Mink Stole and Her Wonderful Band, and as a wedding officiate.

Subhead here: Moviemaking madness

Stole looks back of her prime Waters years as a time of fun and wildness, “in which the work just carried us through without thought of where it was all leading,” although, she adds, Waters’ laser-sharp ambition was clear from the beginning.

“I'm glad we didn’t know what we know now because if we had, it would have changed us. Plus I would have been insufferable.”

Like Waters, now 79, Balderson makes films with little resources but the indie scene has changed dramatically since she began in Waters world. Then there were midnight movie events, drive-ins and underground showings where beginner filmmakers could — if they were lucky — gradually find a following.

“Now anybody with a decent iPhone can make a movie,” she says. “But that doesn't mean it's going to be good. What happens after the movie is made depends on what kind of play it gets and Steve hustles. He gets his movies in festivals. He works it.”

It’s the same sort of drive that Waters possessed, she says “John’s ambition pulled me along, and I'm very grateful to it.”

Stole did not meet Waters in Baltimore when she and he grew up — and ground zero for his films. They first met in Provincetown.

“I don't actually remember the actual moment that we met there,” she says. “You know, it wasn't like the skies opened up. I had gone up there in ’66 to visit my sister who was spending the summer there. I hadn't planned to stay but we ran into John on the street and she knew him casually from Baltimore. I ended up staying, getting a job in a little boutique, and by the end of the summer, John and I and my sister and quite a few other people were all living together in this wonderful compound at the end of town.

Subhead: A Different Kind of Camp

That same sort of quirky camaraderie is echoed at Camp John Waters, where Stole is a regular every summer in Kent, Connecticut in Litchfield Country. Since 2017 it has been a rural gathering spot for Water’s devoted adult fan base where they "relive their sleep-away camping days" with an "extra-campy theme weekend.” Drop-in guests over the years have included Debbie Harry, Patricia Hearst, Kathleen Turner and Randy Harrison.

“I thought it was the silliest thing when I first heard it,” she says. “I thought it was the stupid idea — but I was wrong. The people who go there — and there’s hundreds of them — are some of the nicest people in the world. What they have established there is a community that is very tight-knit. They see each other at other times of the year. They have their own Facebook page.

“The campers are free to behave however they like, whether it's misbehaving or good -behaving, It’s a safe zone for a weekend. You don’t have to drive anywhere, John does a q and a, he previews his stand-up show, I will do something. There’s food. Some people drink. I'm sure lots of drugs are taken, but I'm not doing that. Not that I wouldn't, but I don't there.”

But Stole was not always the independent rebel, she says.

“I was a kid from the Baltimore suburbs from a very conservative neighborhood, not necessarily Republican, but conservative — knee highs with matching cardigan sweaters and madras outfits. I actually loved madras. I miss madras. I had a jacket. I just flashed on it. Oh, where is that jacket? Oh, well. Yeah. It's gone. It's gone. It's long gone. You know I haven't seen real madras in a long, long time. I don't even know what madras is, really. But it bled. But, anyways… I was looking to break away from that environment. I was certainly looking for adventure.”

She still is. When she turned 70 she and Waters dropped acid again.

“We did — and it was actually great,” she says. “We did it so much when we were younger but neither of us had ever had a bad trip or a negative experience. But I’ve tried all kinds of drugs. I shot heroin once, you know? But it never became a problem for me. So we figured taking acid again was safe. We sat on the deck of his apartment in Provincetown and looked down over the water and just relaxed looking out and it was so beautiful. Beautiful. it was a very actually very relaxing. Oh, that's it's beautiful. Yeah. I loved it. It was really great. I haven't done acid since then. I do like gummies. Yeah. I really like those. But I only do them if I don't have to drive. Right. Of course. And I do my research.”

Before our talk ended, Stole had a kind of a news flash.

“Oh, did you know I got married? In August of 2023. I love being married — and I have married the nicest man. We’ve known each other for a very long time, then lost touch and then reconnected. I never made an official announcement. People just either know or they don’t.”

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