She is synonymous with all things horror, the “Queen of Halloween”, the busty “Hostess with the Mostess.” She is an actress, singer, dancer, sex symbol, and the world’s most famous female goth icon.  

She is, yours cruelly, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. 

But once upon a midnight dreary, Elvira, who was born Cassandra Peterson, was a go-go dancer in a gay bar, a drag queen impersonator, a romantic interest to Elvis, and has even been recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest showgirl in the history of Las Vegas.

Cassandra was born on September 17, 1951 in Manhattan, Kansas (“The Little Apple”) in a small town called Randolph. As a toddler, she pulled a tub of boiling Easter eggs off of the stove, burning over a third of her body and leaving her visibly scarred. In 1958, when Cassandra was seven-years-old, plans for the Tuttle Creek Dam would eventually submerge her small town, forcing her and her family to move west to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she grew up very shy and was often teased for her scarring. 

In 1969, days after her high school graduation, 17-year-old Cassandra made the 12-hour drive from Colorado Springs to Las Vegas with nothing but a dream in her pocket.

Cassandra would become a showgirl in “Vive Les Girls” at The Dunes Hotel and Casino, where the Bellagio stands today. She would get the chance to meet legends like Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin, and would even go on a date with Elvis, who encouraged Cassandra to sing.

She followed Presley’s advice, moved to Italy, sang in an Italian pop-rock band, and even had a part in Federico Fellini’s 1972 movie Roma. After returning to the United States, she toured with seven gay men in a nightclub revue called Mama’s Boys.

Wanting to develop her acting and comedic skills, Cassandra joined the Groundlings improv troupe in 1979, where she developed characters alongside would-be-famous comedians like Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman.

In the spring of 1981, Cassandra was hired to host the Movie Macabre TV series. For her role, they wanted a character that was vampy and dressed all in black. The character Elvira was born.

In 1988, she co-wrote, produced and starred in a feature-length film called Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She also co-wrote, produced and starred in Elvira’s Haunted Hills in 2001.

She has created and endorsed a number of Elvira products, including Halloween costumes, theme park rides, action figures, trading cards, pinball machines, Halloween decor, calendars, model kits, perfume, comic books, dolls, a video slot machine, and even her own micro-brew beer. She also makes appearances at a number of events each year, raising money and awareness for a number of causes, especially for animal welfare and AIDS charities. 

 

Just in time for Halloween, Gay Vegas got the chance to chat with the legendary Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira. 

 

Did you always know you would have a career in show business? Why do you think this all happened to you?

When I was in Kansas, and around one and a half years old,, my dad took me to a parade and he pushed me up in front of the crowd and stuck me on the horse with Hopalong Cassidy. And suddenly I was in a parade and everybody was yelling and clapping at me. It was like, “Oh my god, this is fantastic!” 

 

I just wanted to be the center of attention. I would do anything to get attention. My parents had me up dancing on tables when I was a little kid. They’d go to restaurants and stick me up on the table, and I would sing, “How Much is That Doggie in the Window?” And people would throw pennies and change at me, and I was like, “Ah! This is awesome!” I don’t know, I got kind of bitten by the bug.

 

The rest of my life I just continued pursuing like, “What can I do to get everybody to look at me?” I wanted to be in show biz since I was very, very, very into music. I loved dancing and singing, and I thought, “That’s the way to go!”

 

It wasn’t like I started out saying, “I’m going to be Elvira.” But it’s a fairly odd coincidence because my mother did run a costume shop, and I dressed up in costumes to go to school, to church, shopping, wherever. I was always wearing some little kiddie drag. Believe me, when you do that and nobody else is wearing it, you are definitely the center of attention. So it’s kind of odd that 100 years later I’m wearing a costume almost everyday of my life.

 

You grew up as a bit of an outcast. Do you think that later helped you relate to your LGBT fans?

Oh definitely. Even though I wasn’t gay, I felt like I was very much – I had a lot of social anxiety, and I was a nerd. I was so into the horror and sci-fi thing. I was a goth before they had invented goth. I also had an accident when I was a child that I was burned – 35 percent of my body was skin grafted, and I looked really freaky. So that kept me away from people too, so I felt very much on the outside. I think I relate to gay people on that level too because they grew up feeling like outsiders as well, for a different reason. But that kind of held us together. That’s what we have in common.

 

I’ve seen a lot of crossover content that obviously stems over from your real life experiences used throughout your career. For example, in your movie Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, you’re trying to get $50,000 in funding for your own Vegas show at the Flamingo. Why did you choose Las Vegas, and why the Flamingo?

It’s kind of art imitating life. When I was a kid, when I was about 14, I saw Viva Las Vegas, the movie with Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret. I just got it in my head that that’s where I wanted to go and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be in Vegas, and I wanted to be a showgirl. I kind of obsessed on that for the next few years.

 

It was bizarre. I went on vacation with my mom and dad when I was just about 16. We stopped in at The Dunes Hotel and I begged them to let me go in to see the show with them. They said that I was “too young”, so I put on tons of eyelashes, makeup, a wiglet and put on a push-up bra that I got at Frederick’s so I could look really “sophisticated.” I went with them and the maître d’ said, “Are you a showgirl?” And I was like, “No, no, oh my god.” Next thing I know, the dance mistress came out and asked me if I wanted to audition the next day for a new show at The Dunes called “Vive Les Girls”. Everything was vive, right? Vive, viva, vivat. Anyway, I auditioned and I got the part. My parents pulled me by the hair back home so I could finish high school, and I did. I finished school and the day that I graduated I jumped in my car, went back and started rehearsals for this show in Vegas. That’s how I became the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas history. I was 17. So the movie was like my real life – Elvira wanting to get to Vegas more than anything. I actually picked the Flamingo because I liked their sign the best. I didn’t think the Dunes sign was as impressive. For visuals, the Flamingo sign looked really awesome! So we got the rights to show the sign and used it for the movie. 

 

In the 2001 film Elvira’s Haunted Hills, Dr. Bradley says, “Elvira’s soon to be one of gay Paree’s foremost entertainers.” Elvira replies, “The straight guys like me too.” You have been very supportive of the LGBT community which has been a huge part of your life and career. Can you tell us about that?

I was a go-go dancer when I was 14, dancing at nightclubs. One of the first clubs I danced at was this club called The Purple Cow, right outside of Fort Carson. So there were a lot of military guys. I didn’t know it was a gay club – I wondered why these great guys were dressed as women. They were so awesome. They helped me get my look together and my makeup. I actually ended up as a drag queen. One of the guys didn’t show up that night and I had to step in for him in an act they were doing as The Supremes, they needed three girls obviously. One of them was black, his name was Tawny Tan, and the other one was white, his name was Mr. Bobby. But I had to not only do drag – I had to be in blackface. It was pretty un-PC. Oh my god! But everybody thought I made a fantastic drag queen, because I was actually a woman. And these guys just were my best friends at the time.

It was just like a giant awakening for me, “Oh my god. Drag queens! Gay men. Ah!” I just loved the whole vibe. They nurtured me, taught me what to do. Later on in my life, I just met so many gay men who changed and influenced me so much. I was just so attracted to them. I thought, “Hot men who didn’t want to just jump my bones.” It was so fantastic because up until then it was just straight guys trying to bang me everywhere I went. This was like I could be with these hot, funny, interesting guys, and they didn’t try to put the make on me. I felt really at home and comfortable with them. And I got tons of fabulous makeup tips and hair tips! I’ve just sort of been in that world forever. I always say it’s come full circle because I used to dress up like a drag queen and now drag queens are dressing up like me.

 

In Vegas, there are a lot go-go girls at gay bars, and not just for the ladies. Gay guys have always just loved a hard working diva.

They do! 

 

How did you get the gig?

I was doing a couple gigs at Fort Carson a few nights a week. I think somebody told me, “Hey, there’s a club right outside. You should see if you can get a couple more gigs there.” So I did.

 

So what was it about Las Vegas that called to you at 17-years-old?

The whole thing about the Elvis movie, which I obsessed – I really, when I say obsessed, I mean obsessed. I dreamed about Viva Las Vegas the movie. I thought about it at night. In the daytime. Everything. I honestly think I just made it become real because I thought about it so much, and just saw myself being that. It’s pretty amazing that I thought about that when I was 14 and at 17-years-old, there I am. In Las Vegas. Meeting Elvis. Meeting Ann-Margret. Actually going on a date with Elvis.

They say to think is to create.

Exactly. And I’m living proof of that. I had plenty of people getting in my way. I mean my parents would go, “Oh you’re never going to be in Vegas. Those women are tall and beautiful. You’re never going to be able to do that. You have scars,” and so on. All my friends and people and teachers and everyone would say that. But I had one art teacher, my favorite, who I would later find out was gay – I didn’t know it at the time when I was in high school. I told him I wanted to be a showgirl in Las Vegas, and he said to me, “Well just do it.”  When he said that, something clicked, honestly. And I just went, “Okay, I will.”

Can you tell us a little more about your intimate involvement with Elvis?

I got invited to by one of the other showgirls, who was dating Elvis’ road manager, Joe Esposito. She said she was going to Elvis’ suite for a party after the show, and I really – I begged, pleaded, cried, everything. She took me along with her, and Elvis kind of glommed onto me because, you know, I was 17 and everybody else there was probably over 30. He and I started talking about life, religion, music, about everything! He played the piano, and he and I sang together. He showed me things he had gotten from the president and other celebrities. And then we were making out here and there. It was like, “Oh my god. This can’t be happening. It just can’t be happening.”

 

That’s unreal.

I had the night of my life. He was a doll, and it was like a dream come true. I wish I would have been just a year or so older. Dammit!

 

Can you describe what your life was like as a Las Vegas showgirl back then? Anything like Showgirls the movie?

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No! My god! When I saw Showgirls, I was like, “Oh my god, what a crock of crap.” It is so nothing like that. Not back then anyway. My dreams were a little shattered because it wasn’t quite as glamorous as I thought. It was a very difficult job. You spent a lot of hours there. You went in at about 7 in the evening. I had full body makeup – head to toe because of my scars – and then I would do my show makeup, which would take another hour. Then you would do the shows, we had three a night, so we wouldn’t finish until 4 a.m. And then you would go eat, try to get some things done, and then you went to sleep. We worked seven days a week. There was no day off. They had a swing day you would get off once a month. It was brutal. It was super hard work. Working that hard was really intense. I had one year of that. The day my contract ended, I was done. I couldn’t handle it. So it wasn’t all glamour. There were some glamorous times. We’d get invited to really great parties, like Frank Sinatra’s birthday and Engelbert Humperdinck’s house. All these different places. And of course, I got invited to meet Elvis and all that. There were some exciting moments, but it was a tough job. And nobody was a hooker. Nobody was doing wacky things on the side. There was no time. You were working all the time.

 

On your swing days, what were some of your favorite places to go in Las Vegas?

I went to this one gay bar – the only gay bar I knew of in Las Vegas at the time. Le Café! My friends and I called it “Le Gay Café.” That’s where we went and hung out. It was my favorite place to go, and that’s where I went with all the dancers – ually with my best friends, the two boy dancer-singers from my show. They were called “Vest and Clark” –  Buddy Vest and Sterling Clark and they were incredibly good-looking and talented. Buddy sadly passed from AIDS. Sterling is still around and we have remained friends after all these years.  All the boy dancers in Vegas would go to Le Café and we would go there every night after work. A lot of times we would go and see a show first – Ike and Tina Turner, The Jackson 5, and people like that, who were playing in the lounges. It was pretty crazy!  

You often say that transforming into Elvira is like “getting into drag.” Do you have a greater appreciation for drag queens than the average person?

Oh god, do I ever. I tell you, you’re uncomfortable the whole time. It’s fun and it’s exciting, but my god, your feet, you know? You’re pulling your waist in, you’re piling on a ton of makeup, you’ve got these eyelashes that are dragging your eyes down, a huge wig, makeup that gets smeared and you have to check your lips every five minutes. For me, it’s totally being in drag! It’s fun and great, but it’s kind of a tough job! So I definitely appreciate anyone who does drag! 

 

What was your inspiration for the look of the Elvira character?

My best friend at the time, Robert Redding, and I had a band together in the ‘70s – in the whole big gay disco era. We were in a band called Mama’s Boys, and I was Mama and I had seven gay men with me. We did dancing, singing, and comedy. Robert ended up becoming just my best, best friend. Once the show dissolved, we lived here in LA. And when I got the part of Elvira and I was supposed to come up with a look for a horror host, Robert stepped in and said, “Let me help you!” He did drag. He was an artist, a singer, and a drag queen. He had just been working in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, playing one of the witches and played a drag character that had similar makeup that he had found in a kabuki makeup book. So he did my makeup. He cut and styled the wig after his favorite singer, which is Ronnie Spector of The Ronnettes, who called the hairdo a “knowledge bump”. Then he made the dress as sexy and tight as he could. He literally cut and sewed the dress, hair, makeup. We worked on it together, but mostly it was his creation. I was going, “Oh my god, this is fantastic!” So it was basically influenced by another drag queen. When I was in Mama’s Boys, he was such an inspiration to me. He was like a stage mom saying, “Girl, this is how you’re gonna walk. This is what you’re going do.” I didn’t have much confidence and he would just practically slap me and say, “Get it together Mary, get your ass out there.” It was fantastic. He gave me the confidence I needed in life. Sadly he passed away from AIDS. Him and everybody I knew. It was one of the worst things to ever happen in my life – especially losing him, and so many others. Robert had a huge influence on my life. Not just with the Elvira character, but a million other things.

 

A lot of the gay men that you worked with in Mama’s Boys also passed from AIDS?

Everybody in Mama’s Boys, except one. Six of them all died of AIDS. Our last gig was in Provincetown. Let me tell you, all my friends from Provincetown – that town was just wiped out. Everybody was gone. I go back there now, there’s nobody that I know. They all died. I threw away my telephone book because there was nobody left in it. It was unbelievable. I never wanted to pick up my telephone because I didn’t know who else was sick or who else was going to die. I swear there was a time there where I just didn’t think I was going to make it. It’s hard for people to believe now, but it was like the black plague. 

 

Is that how your work with AIDS charities started?

Oh yeah. Back then I was doing everything I could. Mostly just to help people like Robert, who didn’t have a lot of money. He had to pay for medicine, hospital visits and didn’t have insurance. So I started working with Project Angel Food, which had just started at the time. That’s how I started getting involved, and I just kept building on that.

You yourself, do you identify as LGBT?

I do in a way, but I’m not any of those letters, what they stand for. But I very much identify with – I identify with being a gay man. Isn’t that bizarre?

So you’re a gay man trapped in a woman’s body?

Yes! Oh my god, they have to come up with a name for that so it can be added on the end of the T. 

You have a daughter – Sadie. She also has a beautiful voice. How does she handle the whole Elvira thing, and do you think she would ever follow in your footsteps?

When she was little she loved the Elvira thing. She thought it was awesome. Then she got to be a preteen and that all went to hell. She was totally embarrassed. She’d say things like, “Why can’t you be like a normal mom?” I’d go, “Honey, I’ve never been normal, and I’m not going to start now.” But now that she’s a little older she appreciates the character – she’s going to be 21 in October.

Birthday party! Vegas!

Right! Oh my god! She’s been doing some gender things lately. Like I just said to her the other day, “are you going Chaz Bono on me?” Because she’s been dressing in drag – in male drag. And she looks awesome as a boy, and she’s so not masculine. She’s super feminine, but she decided she doesn’t want to wear any makeup and no bra, and keep her hair super short. She’s doing this non-specific gender thing, which I think is really cool. I wish I could have done that and not been clomping around in heels with 12 pairs of eyelashes and a wiglet on my whole life.”

 

Yeah, I think people nowadays are more in touch with their birth selves and are less so conforming to society.

It’s so great, and I think it’s so cool that she is doing this and is freed from that whole stereotype with how women and men have to be. She’s exploring that whole world. It’s pretty awesome, and I’m very proud of her.

 

Do you think she will follow in your footsteps into show business?

I hope so! She’s a very, very talented singer and guitar player, she’s playing the bass now. I don’t think she’ll ever be Elvira. I don’t think that’s her kind of thing. I hope she does continue to work in music because she loves music so much and she’s so good at it. 

 

People can spot Elvira a mile away. But when you lose the wig, the makeup and wear something that isn’t black, can you walk amongst the public unnoticed?

Oh yeah, definitely. I go everywhere. I rarely get noticed. If I’m at an event such as a horror or sci-fi convention and people know I’m there, then I will get recognized because they’re looking for me. But if I’m just walking around LA or going out to a restaurant or doing things, I rarely get recognized. A little more nowadays, but it used to be never. Once in a while I get recognized, after all, I am in Hollywood and people are always on the lookout for celebrities. I can pretty much have a normal life. You can’t believe how important that is, other celebrities I know can’t go out to dinner or do anything without being bothered. So I am very, very lucky. It sounds silly, but until it’s happened to you, you really don’t understand how important privacy is.  

 

I’m sure you receive a lot of interesting fan mail. Can you tell us about that?

Over the years I’ve got some really crazy stuff. I’ve saved most of it – the really bizarre stuff. I got a snake from someone. It was as big as a pencil, but it was a python so it grew to 13 feet. I named it Dick, of course. What else? I got a Rottweiler from another fan and it started me on my passion for Rottweilers, which I have continued to rescue. Fans give me odd stuff – awesome paintings, and thousands of pictures of their Elvira tattoos on their various body parts.

 

That’s dedication!

Yeah, my fans are hardcore. They are really, really hardcore. It’s pretty awesome. Elvira tattoos have to be the sincerest form of flattery. They are fantastic. And they don’t care how old I get, what I look like, nothing. They love me, and I love them.    

 

Your brand has become a huge merchandising, licensing and marketing phenomenon. How is it you became so good at branding?

I’ve had a lot of help over the years. A lot of good licensing people. And I have a great one now. But coming up with ideas and pitching them. Thinking, “Oh we should have an Elvira this. We should have an Elvira that.” And getting out there, having meetings. I mean that’s my main job – I’m kind of a business person. I call people and approach people about doing different products, and getting Elvira out there on different shows and doing PR and all of that. Keep the brand going, and keep her in the public eye as much as possible. The lucky break for me was that I became associated with a holiday. So I’m a little bit like Santa Claus at Christmas. Everybody expects Elvira to come out around Halloween. So even when things are quiet during the rest of the year – and they’re never quiet for me, but when people don’t see as much of Elvira – I’m busy plotting and planning all my next moves.

 

I’ve always thought it would be awesome if Vegas had a haunted/horror-themed casino. Maybe with vampire dealers and some of the Elvira video slot machines. Would Elvira ever consider starring in her own Las Vegas show on The Strip?

Oh damn! You cannot believe how many times I have pitched that, and pitched a casino. I had big designers and big people in this business designing a whole thing called Elvira’s Voodoo Lounge that we were pitching to go into one of the hotels. I’ve pitched two or three shows with spooky themes and can never make it happen! It’s one of the only things that’s just like this thorn in my side, because I really would love to go back to Vegas. Like Elvira in the movie. I just can’t seem to make it happen!

 

They say some of the best things in life come later.

Yup, it could happen later on. I won’t give up. I’m going to keep trying. Because I think it’s just so perfect. So like “Zumanity” – having Elvira hosting a horror-themed show. 

 

I think you deserve a place in Las Vegas!

I don’t think the people I was dealing with there realize how popular horror is. They seem to think it comes and goes, or that there’s a small demographic. I don’t think so! 

 

If I could make everyday Halloween I would.

Exactly! You and every gay man alive. I spent so many years down on Santa Monica Boulevard for Halloween before I became Elvira and it was just like the day every queen waits for their whole life. It really is the best holiday anyway. You don’t have to buy presents or have crappy dinners with your relatives. You just dress up, go out and have fun!