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(aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark 1951– ). American actress and film host.
Acted in
as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: Elvira's Movie Macabre (series of
televised movies; host) (1981-1988); "Rock Devil Rock" (1982), "Things That
Go Bump in the Night" (1983), episodes of CHiPS; episodes of The
Tonight Show (1982, 1984, 1985, 1988); Filmgore (video; host) (Ken
Dixon 1983); episode of The Richard Simmons Show (1983); The Paragon
of Comedy (tv special) (Wayne Orr 1983); Last of the Great Survivors
(tv movie) (Jerry Jameson 1984); "October the 31st" (1984), "October the
32nd" (1985), episodes of The Fall Guy; Bob Hope Buys NBC? (tv
special) (1985); WrestleMania 2 (video) (1986); Elvira's Halloween
Special (tv special) (and co-wrote with George McGrath, Michael Sardo,
and Julia Sweeney) (Mark Pierson 1986); MTV 3rd Annual Music Video Awards (tv
special) (1986); episode of Saturday Night Live (1987); Elvira,
Mistress of the Dark (and co-wrote with Pierson) (James Signorelli 1988);
Heavy Metal Heaven (tv series; host) (1989); episode of Just Say
Julie (1989); episode of Totally Hidden Video (1989); "Mommies
Curse," "The Ghoul of My Dreams" (animated; voice) (1989) episodes of The
Super Mario Brothers Super Show; "Fathers and Lovers" (1990), episode of Thirtysomething;
Elvira's Midnight Madness (tv series 1990); "Boy Meets Girl II"
(1992), episode of Parker Lewis Can't Lose; The Elvira Show (tv
series) (1993); Attack of the Killer B-Movies (tv special) (1995);
episode of Strange Universe (1996); "Switcheroo" (1996), episode of Space
Ghost Coast to Coast; Superstition (short) (Mix Ryan 1997);
"Sniper" (1997), episode of Nash Bridges; episode of The RuPaul
Show (1998); Encounter in the Thrid Dimension (Ben Stassen and
Sean MacLeod Phillips 1999); Elvira's Haunted Hills (and co-wrote with
John Paragon) (Sam Irvin 2001); Scares and Dares (tv special) (2001); episode
of The Tony Danza Show (2004); I Love the Holidays (tv series)
(2005); I Love the 80s 3D (tv series) (2005); "Girls Will Be Ghouls"
(2006), episode of The Girls Next Door; "Comic Con" (2006), episode of
The Electric Playground; The Search for the Next Elvira (tv
series) (2007); Her Morbid Desires (Edward L. Plumb 2008); Zombie
Killer (voice) (Bobby Ciraldo and Andrew Swant 2008.
Video
host for: Dead of Night (tv movie) (Dan CURTIS 1977); Carpathian
Eagle (Francis Megahy 1981); Rude Awakening (1981); Guardian of
the Abyss (Don Sharp 1982); Natas: The Reflection (Jack Dunlap
1983); many others.
For a long time, television hosts fell into
two categories: those who strived to genuinely mimic the horrific mood of their
films, such as Vampira, well known to Los Angeles television viewers of the
1950s, and the unseen sepulchral voice that introduced Chiller movies to
Minneapolis viewers (like myself) in the 1960s. Then there were others, like
John Stanley of San Francisco's Creature Features, who sought to be
serious and informative. No one would have imagined that Cassandra Peterson
would someday follow in their footsteps, after a decade-long acting career that
singularly included an encouraging word from Elvis Presley while she worked as
a Las Vegas showgirl, a sojourn in Italy and an appearance in a Federico
FELLINI film, and several other small roles. But she achieved fame by taking a
new and innovative approach to the task of introducing genre films: she was
openly contemptuous of the films she presented and constantly made fun of them.
Calling herself Elvira, Mistress of the Dark,
and dressed like a standard vampire (much like Vampira, who unsuccessfully sued
her for copying her act), Elvira steadily projected a flip and disrespectful
attitude towards her films; she was watching them, she told viewers, only
because she was paid to do so, and she really didn't understand why anybody
else would want to watch them. At the beginning of her vignettes between scenes
of the films, she was often observed sleeping, apologetically waking up upon
realizing that the camera was on her again. At first she made jokes about the
films only during breaks; later, anticipating the format of Mystery Science
Theater 3000, she began intruding upon the films themselves, displaying her
face in a corner and making comments while scenes proceeded. Eventually, Elvira
came to display a complete lack of interest in the movies, with skits focused
on unrelated subjects like an obscene phone caller, Breather; in a way,
ignoring the movies displayed even more contempt than her jokes. Soon, others
were imitating her approach, most notably Laraine Newman, the host of her own
film series entitled Canned Film Festival, and of course the gang at Mystery
Science Theater 3000.
Although I initially enjoyed her act, I began
to find her irritating, inasmuch as I was genuinely interested in and
appreciative of many of the films she was showing, yet Elvira remained
determined to regard all of them only as worthless time-wasters, even when a
genuine classic like Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) was offered up
for her wisecracks. And that is why I only watched Newman when she was showing
a film I really wanted to see, such as Robert A.
HEINLEIN's Project Moonbase,
and why I have never been able to sit through Mystery Science Theater 3000,
since its constant, inane intrusions make it impossible to watch and evaluate a
film on its own terms. Why so many science fiction fans were fond of this
series remains, I must say, a mystery to me.
But instead of make her entry a pretext for
such general commentary, I am now trying to focus more on Cassandra Peterson
herself, and how she has dealt with the cancellation of her film series and the
apparent end of her hosting career. Responding to the situation with admirable
energy, she soldiered on for two decades, sometimes in straight acting roles,
but more often appearing in character as Elvira, since many people in the
business retained some affection for the role and she always made for an
attractive addition to any Halloween or horror-based production. Since Elvira
was officially a vampire, her various performances in that role brought many
unusual venues, ranging from The Tonight Show to Thirtysomething,
temporarily into the genre of horror. She also launched several of her own
productions, uniformly unsuccessful, including two films that she also
co-wrote, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988) and Elvira's Haunted
Hills (2001), a disastrous situation comedy, The Elvira Show (1993),
and a brief reality show, The Search for the Next Elvira (2007), wherein
contestants competed for the chance to don a black dress and take on Peterson's
most memorable creation. But there was seemingly no need for such a
replacement, since Peterson's Elvira still seemed charismatic and energetic.
Now, as the culmination of this long campaign to effect a remarkable comeback,
Peterson has announced, at the 2010 ComicCon, that Elvira's Movie Macabre
will soon be returning to television, with new movies for her to ridicule.
Thus, it seems, Cassandra Peterson functions as proof that both vampires and
actresses can indeed return from the dead.
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