Elvira is instantly recognizable by her enormous black bouffant hairstyle and the plunging
neckline of her skin-tight vampiress gown.
But behind the vamp-camp drag image is a real woman with a storied history of her own.
Here's the untold truth of Elvira.
"Hi, this is Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the dark!"
As a child, young Cassandra Peterson suffered scalding burns over 35% of her body, resulting
in the need to have a host of skin graft surgeries.
This incident later caused her to feel marked, both physically and otherwise, as different,
and began her fascination with monsters and outcasts.
Growing up, Peterson developed a love of dancing and decided to become a showgirl.
Before she was even legally allowed to drink, she had auditioned to be a professional dancer
and made the cut, traveling all around the country dancing in bars and hotels.
Because of this, she spent a great deal of her teen years surrounded by gay men and drag
queens, an experience she credits wth giving her the foundation for the enduring camp persona
that became Elvira.
She also credits no less than Elvis himself for advising her to leave her Las Vegas dancing
job and look for something bigger.
"He is 100% responsible for me getting out of Vegas and going on with my career.
Elvis said to me, you don't want to stay here, this is not a town you should be in."
After appearing in small roles in several films and TV shows throughout the 1970s, Peteron
put the final piece of the puzzle together in 1979 when she joined the famed Groundlings
theater troupe, whose alumni include such luminaries as Kathy Griffin, Phil Hartman,
and Jon Lovitz.
Part of what makes Elvira so appealing is the fact that she's a parody.
But as always with parody, the person being parodied didn't necessarily like it, leading
to a major lawsuit that almost derailed Elvira's career before it began.
In 1981, television producers looking to start a weekly horror show hired 1950s horror host
Maila Nurmi to revive her character Vampira.
After they parted ways due to creative differences, however, the producers instead turned to Peterson
to host the show; she created Elvira for the role, and an instant icon was born.
Nurmi, however, thought Elvira's schtick was way, way too close to Vampira and sued.
In 1988 she made a rare appearance on a cable talk show to discuss the case.
"Cassandra Peterson claims that she has never seen your show.
Do you believe that?"
"I don't know for sure she saw them, except, in February '82 she proceeded to emulate my
performance exactly."
"There are at least 80 similarities.
It's identical, it's my show."
The judges ruled in Elvira's favor, in part because Vampira herself was modeled after
Morticia from The Addams Family, but Nurmi reportedly held a grudge for the rest of her
life.
"Did anyone ever tell you you look like…"
"Vampira?"
"Yeah!"
"No."
To some viewers, Elvira is thoroughly all about her sex appeal.
For many others particularly young women and gay men she is the marriage of sexiness, intelligence,
and campy humor.
Some of that is Peterson's performance, but a lot of it is Peterson's writing.
Besides performing on screen, Peterson has writing credits on most of her projects, including
the feature film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.
Along with her writing partner, fellow Groundlings alum John Paragon, Peterson also authored
three novels credited to Elvira.
And Peterson currently has an autobiography slated to come out for Halloween 2020, which
she reportedly has been working on for 15 years!
Obviously, Peterson is best-known and best-loved for her portrayal of the hilarious scream
queen, but she has also appeared in non-Elvira roles, even after the character's debut.
In Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, starring fellow Groundlings alum Paul Reubens, Peterson played
a small but memorable role as "Biker Mama" in a scene where Pee-Wee endears himself to
a seedy bar full of rough-and-tumble bikers.
She's also done appropriately weird things like the 2006 film Red Riding Hood, and the
absurd 2010 gorefest.
2010 All About Evil.
Those aren't her only non-Elvira roles, though.
She also has a successful side gig as a voice actor, working on everything from Super Robot
Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where she voiced the alien
Utrom Queen for six episodes.
As Peterson approaches 70 years old, it is remarkable how ageless she seems.
She continues to don the Elvira costume with grace, crediting her slim figure and youthful
appearance not on draining the blood of the innocent as one might guess, but on good clean
living including yoga, regular running, and maintaining a vegetarian diet.
Her diet isn't just about keeping trim, however.
She has publicly advocated for a vegetarian diet for animal rights, even filming multiple
ads on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
"You know, Bunny, I think you should give back that leather coat you got for your birthday."
"Why, Elvira?"
"Because it looked better on the first cow!"
. These days, it seems she does eat some meat, but she's still focused on keeping it primarily
fruit and veggies.
It's just the latest unexpected life and career twist for Peterson.
All we can say is, we can't wait to see what Elvira comes up with next.
"Well, that's our show!
I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as I did."
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