Cassandra Peterson
Cassandra Peterson is an American actress and singer born in Manhattan, Kansas on September 17, 1951. She is best known for her horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on Elvira’s Movie Macabre. She started her career in entertainment after graduating high school in Las Vegas as a showgirl in Vive Les Girls at the Dunes. In 1970 she moved to Italy to become the lead singer of the Italian rock bands Latins 80 and The Snails. Around that time she also modeled for several magazines like Modern Man, High Society, and Man’s Delight. She started her career in film in two uncredited roles in Diamonds are Forever and Roma. Peterson landed her first credited on-screen role in 1974 in the film The Working Girls and continued landing roles in films and television shows like The Sting II, Stroker Ace, Echo Park, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Ted & Venus, It’s My Part, Red Riding Hood, CHiPs, Parker Can’t Lose, Nash Bridges, Last Man Standing, 13 Nights of Elvira among others. As the character Elvira, she has had a number of video games, books, pinball games, calendars, and comic books made about her character. She won a Spirit of Silver Lake Award in 2001 and a Vincent Price Award in 2018.