Cookie Mueller
Nude

Despite her filmography being mostly based on existing as one of the “Dreamgirls” in cult director John Waters’ repertory company Dreamlanders, there’s nothing gross or shocking about the bizarre beauty ofCookie Mueller. Not even a vulgar visionary such as Waters could make this Cookie less than appetizing. Her wild hair and heavy mascara added sultry sex appeal to epic films including Multiple Maniacs (1970) where she danced and did most everything topless, Female Trouble (1974) and Polyester (1981), all featuring Divine, and Desperate Living (1977) with Mink Stole, featuring even more breast-revealing scenes. You can’t even feel bad about her kinky coupling that proves fatal to a fowl in Pink Flamingos (1972), either; Waters assures us the chicken was promptly plucked and eaten afterward. (Just try to ignore the chicken and focus on Cookie’s naked female form; it’s a better view than the squawking bird.) Aside from Waters’ skinematic treats, Cookie (real name Dorothy Karen) also had roles as Penelope Trasher in Subway Riders (1981) with Robbie Coltrane, and played in the horror movie sequence in Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens (1982). Cookie’s off-screen life was equally daring, as she traveled the world, became an art critic for Details magazine, a columnist for the East Village Eye, and an author. She was active right up until her death in 1989 at the age of 40, due to AIDS-related causes. Leaving one final film legacy, she appeared as a go-go dancer in the movie Downtown 81(2000), featuring real-life artist Jean Michel Basquiat; she was given an “in memory of” on-screen credit. Gone, but not easily forgotten in any way.