With 40 years of playing Elvira under her beehive, Cassandra Peterson is showing no signs of slowing down. Not every endeavor has been successful: Peterson's attempt at a primetime sitcom never got past the pilot stage because, according to Bloody Disgusting , "CBS went crazy over the immense usage of boob and sex jokes. Here are 14 things you should know about the wisecracking, tassel-twirling Mistress of the Dark.
Soon she was a die-hard Price fan, a Famous Monsters of Filmland reader, and a collector of Aurora monster model kits. Peterson suffered horrific, near-fatal third degrees burns after overturning a pot of boiling water when she was 18 months old. Treatment involved extensive skin grafts, and the accident and surgeries left her with permanent scarring that made her a target of childhood bullies.
I look at it as a good thing. The dance captain noticed Peterson in the audience and invited her to audition for the show; when Peterson revealed her age, her parents were asked to sign a release, and the audition proceeded. Peterson got the job and became one of the youngest showgirls in Las Vegas. Peterson appears briefly in a scene with Leonard Barr, who played stand-up comic Shady Tree. She started singing lessons the next day, and when her contract expired with Vive Les Girls , she went to Europe to be a singer.
One of her gigs was singing with an Italian pop band called The Latins Peterson met the legendary director on the street while he was shooting his semi-autobiographical film Roma. It was during her time with the Groundlings that she developed the Valley Girl character who would eventually become Elvira.
His help was absolutely invaluable. Peterson also met Paul Reubens, a. Pee-wee Herman , in the Groundlings. Producers brought in Maila Nurmi, the actress who played the Morticia Addams-inspired horror hostess and still owned the character, but she was in no condition to reprise her classic role.
