Cookie Mueller
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Karen "Cookie" Mueller (March 2, 1949 – November 10, 1989) was an underground American
actress, writer
and Dreamlander, who starred in many of filmmaker John Waters
' early films, including Multiple Maniacs
,
Pink Flamingos
, Female Trouble
and Desperate Living
.
suburbs in a house near the woods, a mental hospital and railroad tracks. She was nicknamed Cookie as a baby: "Somehow I got the name Cookie before I could walk. It didn't matter to me, they could call me whatever they wanted." During her childhood Cookie, along with her parents, brother Michael, and sister Judy, took road trips across the country:
Mueller had many pets as a child, including many turtles (one named Fidel), a dog named Jip, snakes, and tadpoles. Cookie began to write at age 11, when she wrote a 321-page book about the Johnstown flood
of 1889. She stapled it together, wrapped it in butcher paper and Saran wrap, and placed it on the shelves of a local library in what would have been its proper place. The book was never seen again.
With a swath of pivotal events in Mueller's life--including her brother's death at age 14, the result of climbing a dead tree, which collapsed on him in the woods near their home--she went on to pursue her writing, and in high school hung out with the hippie
crowd. One of Mueller's idiosyncrasies as a teen was that she constantly dyed her hair: "Whenever you're depressed, just change your hair color," she [her mother] always told me, years later, when I was a teenager: I was never denied a bottle of hair bleach or dye. In my closet there weren't many clothes, but there were tons of bottles."
She took a small job at a Baltimore men's department store and saved up enough funds to head to Haight-Ashbury, where she continued the hippie lifestyle.
; British Columbia
; San Francisco; Pennsylvania
; Jamaica
; and Italy
. In 1969, Mueller first met film director John Waters
at the premiere of his film Mondo Trasho
. Mueller subsequently starred in Waters' films, including a major role as "Cookie the Spy" in Pink Flamingos
. After her underground film status had faded, she moved to New York
and put down stakes as a writer, journalist, and columnist.
. When she was hospitalized for pelvic inflammatory disease
in Provincetown, Waters and Mink Stole
visited Mueller. "What happened, Cook?" Waters asked. "Just a little female trouble, hon," she replied.
From 1976 up until her death, she remained a close friend, artistic collaborator, and photographic subject of Nan Goldin
. Goldin created and widely exhibited The Cookie Portfolio 1976-1989, a series of fifteen portraits, after Mueller's death. One photograph, "Cookie and Vittorio's Wedding" (1986), documents Mueller's wedding to Vittorio Scarpati, an Italian artist and jewelry designer from Naples who died of AIDS
just seven weeks before Mueller. Both of them were heroin addicts, a contributing cause for AIDS.
Mueller wrote the health column "Ask Dr. Mueller" for the East Village Eye and later served as art critic for Details
. Mueller's books, Ask Doctor Mueller (1996), a collection of her writings; Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black (1990), a memoir; and Garden of Ashes (Hanuman Books, 1990) are cult classics. Other works include the novella Fan Mail, Frank Letters and Crank Calls (Hanuman Books, 1988) and several collections of short prose.
-related causes on November 10, 1989 in New York City
, aged 40. Her ashes are interred on the beach near Provincetown; in the flowerbed of the Church of St. Luke in the fields in Greenwich Village
; alongside those of Vittorio and her dog Beauty in the Scarpati family crypt in Sorrento, Italy
; under the statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado
in Rio de Janeiro
; in the South Bronx
; and in the holy waters of the Ganges River
. She was survived by her son, Max Wolfe Mueller, who appeared in Pink Flamingos
.
The last of Mueller's quotes, an elegy of her intent and existence, was written shortly before her death:
"Fortunately I am not the first person to tell you that you will never die. You simply lose your body. You will be the same except you won't have to worry about rent or mortgages or fashionable clothes. You will be released from sexual obsessions. You will not have drug addictions. You will not need alcohol. You will not have to worry about cellulite or cigarettes or cancer or AIDS or venereal disease. You will be free."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and Dreamlander, who starred in many of filmmaker John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
' early films, including Multiple Maniacs
Multiple Maniacs
Multiple Maniacs is a 1970 comedy film by American cult filmmaker John Waters; his second feature film. The film features several actors who were part of the Dreamland acting troupe for Waters' films, including Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and Cookie...
,
Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 transgressive black comedy film written, produced, composed, shot, edited, and directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made. It made an underground star...
, Female Trouble
Female Trouble
Female Trouble is a 1974 dark comedy film co-composed, filmed, co-edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, Michael Potter, Cookie Mueller, and Susan Walsh....
and Desperate Living
Desperate Living
Desperate Living is a 1977 American crime comedy fantasy horror film directed, produced, written, and photographed by Baltimore, Maryland filmmaker John Waters starring Liz Renay, Jean Hill, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and Mary Vivian Pearce.-Plot:...
.
Early life
Cookie Mueller grew up with her parents Frank Lennert Mueller and Anne Sawyer Mueller in the BaltimoreBaltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
suburbs in a house near the woods, a mental hospital and railroad tracks. She was nicknamed Cookie as a baby: "Somehow I got the name Cookie before I could walk. It didn't matter to me, they could call me whatever they wanted." During her childhood Cookie, along with her parents, brother Michael, and sister Judy, took road trips across the country:
"In 1959, with eyes the same size, I got to see some of America traveling in the old green Plymouth with my parents, who couldn't stand each other, and my brother and sister, who loved everyone. [Cookie's brother Michael actually died in an accident on March 20, 1955.] I remember the Erie CanalErie CanalThe Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
on a dismal day, the Maine coastline in a storm, Georgia willow trees in the rain, and the Luray CavernsLuray CavernsLuray Caverns, originally called Luray Cave, is a large, celebrated commercial cave just west of Luray, Virginia, USA, which has drawn many visitors since its discovery in 1878. The underground cavern system is generously adorned with speleothems...
in the Blue Ridge MountainsBlue Ridge MountainsThe Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
of Virginia where the stalagmites and -tites were poorly lit."
Mueller had many pets as a child, including many turtles (one named Fidel), a dog named Jip, snakes, and tadpoles. Cookie began to write at age 11, when she wrote a 321-page book about the Johnstown flood
Johnstown Flood
The Johnstown Flood occurred on May 31, 1889. It was the result of the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam situated upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, made worse by several days of extremely heavy rainfall...
of 1889. She stapled it together, wrapped it in butcher paper and Saran wrap, and placed it on the shelves of a local library in what would have been its proper place. The book was never seen again.
With a swath of pivotal events in Mueller's life--including her brother's death at age 14, the result of climbing a dead tree, which collapsed on him in the woods near their home--she went on to pursue her writing, and in high school hung out with the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
crowd. One of Mueller's idiosyncrasies as a teen was that she constantly dyed her hair: "Whenever you're depressed, just change your hair color," she [her mother] always told me, years later, when I was a teenager: I was never denied a bottle of hair bleach or dye. In my closet there weren't many clothes, but there were tons of bottles."
She took a small job at a Baltimore men's department store and saved up enough funds to head to Haight-Ashbury, where she continued the hippie lifestyle.
"Hippy Vagabond Days"
Mueller traveled across the country, living with groups of vagrants, and settled in places such as Provincetown, MassachusettsProvincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
; British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
; San Francisco; Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
; Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
; and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. In 1969, Mueller first met film director John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
at the premiere of his film Mondo Trasho
Mondo Trasho
Mondo Trasho is a 1969 16mm mondo black comedy film by Baltimore, Maryland filmmaker John Waters starring Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary and Mink Stole. It contains very little dialogue, the story being told mostly through musical cues.-Plot:...
. Mueller subsequently starred in Waters' films, including a major role as "Cookie the Spy" in Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 transgressive black comedy film written, produced, composed, shot, edited, and directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made. It made an underground star...
. After her underground film status had faded, she moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and put down stakes as a writer, journalist, and columnist.
Writing, credits, relationships
In his book Shock Value, John Waters credits Mueller with the title for his 1974 film Female TroubleFemale Trouble
Female Trouble is a 1974 dark comedy film co-composed, filmed, co-edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, Michael Potter, Cookie Mueller, and Susan Walsh....
. When she was hospitalized for pelvic inflammatory disease
Pelvic inflammatory disease
Pelvic inflammatory disease is a generic term for inflammation of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and/or ovaries as it progresses to scar formation with adhesions to nearby tissues and organs. This may lead to infections. PID is a vague term and can refer to viral, fungal, parasitic, though most...
in Provincetown, Waters and Mink Stole
Mink Stole
Nancy Paine Stoll better known by the stage name Mink Stole, is an American actress from Baltimore, Maryland. She began her career working for director John Waters, having appeared in all of his feature films to date...
visited Mueller. "What happened, Cook?" Waters asked. "Just a little female trouble, hon," she replied.
From 1976 up until her death, she remained a close friend, artistic collaborator, and photographic subject of Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin
Nancy "Nan" Goldin is an American photographer.-Life and work:Goldin was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the Boston, Massachusetts suburb of Lexington, to middle class Jewish parents whose ideas, moderately liberal and progressive, were put to the test when on April 12, 1965 their eldest...
. Goldin created and widely exhibited The Cookie Portfolio 1976-1989, a series of fifteen portraits, after Mueller's death. One photograph, "Cookie and Vittorio's Wedding" (1986), documents Mueller's wedding to Vittorio Scarpati, an Italian artist and jewelry designer from Naples who died of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
just seven weeks before Mueller. Both of them were heroin addicts, a contributing cause for AIDS.
Mueller wrote the health column "Ask Dr. Mueller" for the East Village Eye and later served as art critic for Details
Details (magazine)
Details is an American monthly men's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, founded in 1982. Though primarily a magazine devoted to fashion and lifestyle, Details also features reports on relevant social and political issues.-History:...
. Mueller's books, Ask Doctor Mueller (1996), a collection of her writings; Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black (1990), a memoir; and Garden of Ashes (Hanuman Books, 1990) are cult classics. Other works include the novella Fan Mail, Frank Letters and Crank Calls (Hanuman Books, 1988) and several collections of short prose.
Death
Mueller died from AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
-related causes on November 10, 1989 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, aged 40. Her ashes are interred on the beach near Provincetown; in the flowerbed of the Church of St. Luke in the fields in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
; alongside those of Vittorio and her dog Beauty in the Scarpati family crypt in Sorrento, Italy
Sorrento, Italy
Sorrento is a small town in Campania, southern Italy, with some 16,500 inhabitants. It is a popular tourist destination which can be reached easily from Naples and Pompeii, as it lies at the south-eastern end of the Circumvesuviana rail line...
; under the statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado
Corcovado
Corcovado, meaning "hunchback" in Portuguese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The granite peak is located in the Tijuca Forest, a national park. It is sometimes confused with nearby Sugarloaf Mountain...
in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
; in the South Bronx
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....
; and in the holy waters of the Ganges River
Ganges River
The Ganges or Ganga, , is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it...
. She was survived by her son, Max Wolfe Mueller, who appeared in Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 transgressive black comedy film written, produced, composed, shot, edited, and directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made. It made an underground star...
.
The last of Mueller's quotes, an elegy of her intent and existence, was written shortly before her death:
"Fortunately I am not the first person to tell you that you will never die. You simply lose your body. You will be the same except you won't have to worry about rent or mortgages or fashionable clothes. You will be released from sexual obsessions. You will not have drug addictions. You will not need alcohol. You will not have to worry about cellulite or cigarettes or cancer or AIDS or venereal disease. You will be free."
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Multiple Maniacs Multiple Maniacs Multiple Maniacs is a 1970 comedy film by American cult filmmaker John Waters; his second feature film. The film features several actors who were part of the Dreamland acting troupe for Waters' films, including Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and Cookie... |
Cookie Divine/Cavalcade Patron | |
| 1972 | Pink Flamingos Pink Flamingos Pink Flamingos is a 1972 transgressive black comedy film written, produced, composed, shot, edited, and directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made. It made an underground star... |
Cookie | |
| 1974 | Female Trouble Female Trouble Female Trouble is a 1974 dark comedy film co-composed, filmed, co-edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, Michael Potter, Cookie Mueller, and Susan Walsh.... |
Concetta | |
| 1977 | Desperate Living Desperate Living Desperate Living is a 1977 American crime comedy fantasy horror film directed, produced, written, and photographed by Baltimore, Maryland filmmaker John Waters starring Liz Renay, Jean Hill, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and Mary Vivian Pearce.-Plot:... |
Flipper | |
| 1978 | Final Reward | ||
| 1979 | Seduction of Patrick | ||
| 1980 | Underground U.S.A. | ||
| 1981 | Downtown 81 Downtown 81 Downtown 81 is a film that was shot in 1980-1981.This film, directed by Edo Bertoglio, written and produced by Glenn O'Brien with post-production in 1999-2000 by Maripol, is a rare real-life snapshot of ultra-hip subculture of post-punk era Manhattan... |
2nd Go-Go Dancer | Alternative title: New York Beat Movie |
| Subway Riders | Penelope Trasher | ||
| Polyester Polyester (film) Polyester is a 1981 comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole... |
Betty Lalinski | ||
| 1982 | Smithereens Smithereens (film) Smithereens is a 1982 film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Susan Berman, Brad Rinn, and punk rock icon Richard Hell. The film follows a narcissistic young woman from New Jersey who comes to New York to join the punk subculture, only to find that it's gravitated towards Los Angeles; in... |
Horror Movie Sequence | |
| 1983 | Variety | ||