What Most People Don't Know About Elvira

Elvira is instantly recognizable by her enormous black bouffant hairstyle and the plunging neckline of her skin-tight vampiress gown. But behind the vamp-camp drag image is a real woman with a storied history of her own. Here's the untold truth of Elvira.

As a child, young Cassandra Peterson suffered scalding burns over 35% of her body, resulting in the need to have a host of skin graft surgeries. This incident later caused her to feel marked, both physically and otherwise, as different, and began her fascination with monsters and outcasts.

Growing up, Peterson developed a love of dancing and decided to become a showgirl.
Before she was even legally allowed to drink, she had auditioned to be a professional dancer and made the cut, traveling all around the country dancing in bars and hotels. Because of this, she spent a great deal of her teen years surrounded by gay men and drag queens, an experience she credits with giving her the foundation for the enduring camp persona that became Elvira.

She also credits no less than Elvis himself for advising her to leave her Las Vegas dancing job and look for something bigger.

After appearing in small roles in several films and TV shows throughout the 1970s, Peteron put the final piece of the puzzle together in 1979 when she joined the famed Groundlings theater troupe, whose alumni include such luminaries as Kathy Griffin, Phil Hartman, and Jon Lovitz.

Part of what makes Elvira so appealing is the fact that she's a parody. But as always with parody, the person being parodied didn't necessarily like it, leading to a major lawsuit that almost derailed Elvira's career before it began. Keep watching the video to see what most people don't know about Elvira!

#Elvira #ElviraMistressOfTheDark

Marked by fate | 0:18
Vampira vs. Elvira | 1:26
Writing Elvira | 2:33
Cassandra without Elvira | 3:06
Veggie vamp | 3:44

Видео What Most People Don't Know About Elvira канала Looper