Above video is a great 4 minutes of Elvira in and out of costume at her Halloween show.
'Spooky, sexy and funny' TV-hostess icon Elvira was created by Casandra Peterson in 1981, when the 30-year-old actress landed a job as a B-movie hostess on a local Los Angeles TV show.
Making only $300 a week, she was eventually given complete rights to the Elvira character that has created her net worth of 3 million dollars via appearances, movies, comic books, pinball, and slot machines.
As a 14-year-old, Casandra was obsessed with Elvis and Ann-Margret in the movie Viva Las Vegas, thinking it to be the most exciting lifestyle. So, at age 17 she drove to Las Vegas and became a show girl with her parents signing her contract.
She met singer Tom Jones, who she credits for deflowering her. And then met Elvis who told her:
“Las Vegas is a dead-end town. If you seriously want to make it in show business, you have to go to Hollywood and get an agent.”
Hearing Casandra sing along with a group at a party, Elvis told her, "You have a good voice. You should take singing lessons." She immediately did, which she eventually used in her live shows.
Casandra started doing bit parts in movies until becoming the TV host with a lust for B movies and a bust for TV viewers.
She’s continued with the character that’s made her famous, appearing every Halloween season at Knotts Berry Farm for six weeks, three shows a night.
1950’s TV B-movie hostess Vampira (Plan 9 from Outer Space) sued Elvira for ‘stealing her act’. But the judge said the characters were not similar, so Vampira lost the case.
Elvira: "Listen sister. If I want your advice, I'll beat it out of you."
When Casandra was casting her movie, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the part of the lead high school student came down to two young men: a cute one, and a super handsome one.
Elvira cast the cute one, because: "If the handsome one was in the story, Elvira would have chased him instead of the older man." Elvira still has her casting notes where she wrote ‘yum-yum’ next to Brad Pitt’s name.
Years later, Brad bought Elvira’s house. She told him, “If you have been cast in my movie, your career would have been over.”
Casting the pilot for her TV show, the part of Elvira’s niece came down to two 13-year-old girls. Years later, the girl not chosen approached Elvira at her gym. “I was almost cast in your TV show,” she said.
“Oh, I remember you,” Elvira said. “Did you stay in show business?”
“I just won the Academy Award,” Hillary Swank said.
*Hillary won Best Actress for Clint Eastwood's 2004 movie Millon Dollar Baby.
I have that couch in my living room without those three sections but still trimmed in wood and plushly covered with dark red velvet (originally mohair). Wish I had that 59 Thunderbird in my living room, too!
Another case of an iconic character that turns out to become a lifelong occupation that pays quite well. Thanks for sharing Elvis's advice with us.
Ron