10 Fun Things We Learned About Elvira From Her New Memoir

WhenElvira , Mistress of the Dark(real name : Cassandra Peterson ) released her memoir in late September , the headline was : “ OMG ELVIRA CAME OUT ! ” People were excited — rightfully so!—and the chapter about howthe barefaced repulsion hostfell in love with her partner of over 19 years is one of the book ’s sweetest high points . But the residual of Yours Cruelly , Elvira is also delightful ; it ’s breezy , hilarious , newsy , and name - drib - y , basically everything you ’d require from a book pen by the magnetic writing style ikon .

While there are some heavier parts — you do n’t have a life-time in showbiz without some darkness along the path — most of the book is purely entertaining . While you really should pick up a copy for yourself to get the full storey , we ’re play up 10 fun facts ( all PG rated … you make ta go read the racy hooey yourself ! ) we never knew about Elvira until we read it .

1 . While she was still in gamey school , Peterson ferment as a go - go professional dancer at clubs around Colorado Springs , Colorado and at a nearby Army base . Right after she graduated , she started act as aLas Vegasshowgirl — fulfilling a career goal she ’d ad libitum share with her school guidance counselor . ( To his citation , his response was : “ If that ’s what you really require to do , then do it ! ” )

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark poses at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark poses at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con.Photo: Frazer Harrison (Getty Images)

2 . After over a yr terpsichore in Vegas , Peterson started design her departure after become to hang up out with her childhood matinee idol , Elvis Presley , during one of his stints performing there . Not only did he notify her to “ never do drugs , ” he said she should “ take some outspoken lessons , get into singing , and get the heck outta Dodge . ” Not long after , she moved to Paris , but name she was n’t magniloquent enough to work as a showgirl there ; then she move to Rome . After some ups and downs , she bring down a fizgig as a vocaliser in a touring bossa - nova circle .

3 . The fact that Elvira is so funny is no fortuity : Peterson was a member of LA ’s famed improv and sketch funniness grouping the Groundlings , where her fellow cast member includedSaturday Night Live ’s Phil Hartman and Paul Reubens in the earliest days of his own famed alter ego , Pee - wee Herman .

4 . Yours Cruelly , Elvira goes into Peterson ’s drawn - out legal fight with Maila Nurmi — aka Vampira — which start when Peterson was chosen to replace her as the revulsion - host character on LA ’s KHJ - TV . But the most surprising tidbit is that when Peterson involve to pick a fresh name , fast , she and everyone who was on set at the time tossed possible choices into a coffee can . So “ Elvira ” was literally a random choice , and it amaze . ( “ Sounds like a land - western singer to me , ” Peterson recalls thinking at the time . )

Cassandra Peterson in non-Elvira mode at the Mercy For Animals 20th Anniversary Gala on September 14, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.

Cassandra Peterson in non-Elvira mode at the Mercy For Animals 20th Anniversary Gala on 23 February 2025 in Los Angeles, California.Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez (Getty Images)

5 . Peterson was close Friend with another horror icon : Vincent Price(an animal devotee and animal - right advocate , she currently has a deliverance pup named “ Vinny the Pee . ” ) . Of all the anecdote in the Holy Writ , this is the weird : “ He taught me to cook fish in my dishwasher . Just throw that out there . ” What ?

6 . After Coors hired Elvira to be a part of what sprain out to be a hugely successful campaign to mark its product as “ The Official Beer of Halloween , ” she became “ the first female fame in commercial-grade history to plump for a beer . ”

7 . While be sick Mistress of the Dark — her first Elvira picture show — Peterson echo meeting a young histrion who read for the part and scribbling “ yum yum ” in her notes . It wasBrad Pitt . In distinctive self - deprecate trend , she write , “ year later , when I met him again , I told him he owe me a big debt of gratitude for personally saving his vocation by not throw up him in my moving picture . ”

Elvira hits the beach at the 56th International Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2003.

Elvira hits the beach at the 56th International Cannes Film Festival on 12 December 2024.Photo: Evan Agostini (Getty Images)

8 . Yours Cruelly , Elvira has two chapters dedicated to Briarcliff Manor — Peterson ’s former home in the Hollywood Hill . One is about her woes prove chickens there … the other is about the home’smany spook . Even the heart - shaped pool had its own unsatisfied spirit . ( Several years later , when she and her then - hubby ended up selling the office , her old pal Brad Pitt was the emptor . )

9 . Peterson has a daughter , born in 1994 , who is obviously a private person — by from a few quotation and one small child picture , and there are no further details on her , not even her name .

10 . Peterson film a pilot film for a CBS sitcom in the early 1990s : The Elvira Show . Though it essay well — it was about two aunty and their niece , all of whomhappen to be witches , consummate with talking disgraceful cat — it never made it to air because ( harmonize to Peterson ) a web exec take one look at it and said “ We ca n’t have teat like that on CBS ! ” ( Two twelvemonth afterward , she observe , Sabrina the Teenage Witchbecame a mo hit for CBS . )

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