“And if they ever ask about me, tell them I was more than just a great set of boobs,” Cassandra Peterson says in the 1988 comedy horror Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. And indeed, the actress continues to be far more than just her physical attributes. As a young girl, Peterson was never entirely comfortable in her own skin. With frizzy orange hair, burn marks across her shoulders from a childhood accident, and few friends, she describes being “ teased all the time for looking like a monster.” But that young monster grew up to become a Vegas showgirl and a bonafide beauty icon as her fully embodied alter ego, the bodacious Queen of Horror, Elvira. Weaving together beauty, humor, and intelligence—traits once thought to exist in isolation from one another—Elvira became an unexpected feminist icon as Peterson used her to demonstrate a woman’s ability to be everything as once.
Beneath the beehive, sarcastic jokes, and black tights still lies the awkward kid with glasses Peterson once was, but Elvira was always bubbling up just below the surface—a character waiting to be born. In conversation with astrologer Lisa Stardust, Peterson talks being friends with Paul Reubens, comparisons to Dolly Parton, and using magic to eliminate patriarchy.
LISA STARDUST: How did you come up with your character Elvira?
CASSANDRA PETERSON: I was actually doing comedy improv with The Groundlings in LA and going on interviews every single day of my life looking for acting work, which I’ve been doing for many years. And I finally got this part to play a local horror host on a little local television station called KJH in LA. I had to develop my own look along with a friend of mine who was an artist. I didn’t know if it would last two weeks, or two months, or years. There was nobody on TV wearing anything like that [plunging neckline], so that was certainly part of the allure. Nowadays, that’s like, oh, big deal. Back in ‘81, it was a big deal. I also think that the humor, which was really a young men’s style, vaudeville humor, made a lot of people come back, especially younger people. So anyway, that’s how I got the job. Like I said, I didn’t think I was going to be doing it 45 years later.
STARDUST: Did you ever imagine that you would become a beauty icon for so many generations who watched? PETERSON: When I was a kid, if [you said] I was going to become a beauty icon, I would have laughed in your face. I was a pretty homely kid. I mean, I had this frizzy, tony, permed red hair and glasses. And that kind of stuck with me all my life. I also had a bad accident when I was almost two years old where I pulled a pot of boiling water over on myself and had really bad scars on my shoulders and neck and back. I was teased all the time for looking like a monster. So for someone to say, “Someday you’ll be a beauty icon,” was like, “You gotta be kidding.”
STARDUST: And then you became a showgirl in Las Vegas. What is the most scandalous story that you remember seeing as a showgirl when you were working in Las Vegas?
PETERSON: A lot of the scandalous things had to do with racism. I remember a showgirl getting fired because she went on a date with Wilt Chamberlain, the basketball player. She was able to get her job back, but she was warned never to do that again. The second was going to see Sammy Davis Jr. and visiting him backstage, I realized he had to come and go by the back door. He wasn’t allowed in the casino, which was just shocking. STARDUST: That is shocking. Because when you think of Las Vegas, you associate it with Sammy Davis Jr. He was part of the Rat Pack. PETERSON: And this was the ‘60s.
STARDUST: Elvira had a big impact on me as a child, And I was wondering, because that character and you are someone who is such a big proponent of advocacy, what really, what fuels your desire to, for humanitarianism and for the causes that you believe in?
PETERSON: I was into horror and I was a girl, so that was like, “ What is wrong with you?” Even boys weren’t into horror movies. I was painting model kits for Frankenstein and Dracula, and I was so into it. But, yeah, I did feel like I was an outsider. I didn’t fit in. I didn’t have a lot of really good friends. I wasn’t popular at all. And the other part of that might have been influenced by my dad, who was really a badass. My dad was, like, he came from a poor background, and, I mean, he was kind of a country bumpkin living in the big city. It was like Beverly Hills, Hillbillies or something. Big city being Colorado Springs, Colorado, not exactly big. But he came off of a farm, and he was a really tough guy. He was a really nice guy, but, boy, he did not take any shit. You couldn’t look at him cross-eyed or say something bad about a family member or anything like that. You know, the crap beat out of you. I mean, he was just very tough. But tough in a good way. He was not beating up people because, you know, he was having fun doing it. It was if they did something mean or horrible or something he didn’t like. I don’t know if that’s really the way to go about solving problems, but that’s how my dad did it. So I might have kind of gotten that toughness. I don’t go around beating up people.
STARDUST: I know. The Queen of Goth is the Queen of Nice, funny enough. How does your dad feel about the Elvira character? PETERSON: My dad passed away a long, long time ago, but he loved the Elvira character. He wore a trucker hat around all the time that said, “I’m Elvira’s father.” It was so embarrassing. He and my mom would make trips to see me wherever I performed, and they were very, very happy and proud of the character. I mean, people would ask me, “What do your parents say about you wearing that costume?” And I’d say, “Are you kidding? They’re just happy I’m wearing any clothes at all.” I mean, I was a showgirl when I was a teenager, so this is like, “Oh, she’s finally covered up.”
STARDUST: What was the first Elvira dress that you ever wore?
PETERSON: My friend Robert Redding sewed the dress. He and I were in a band together called “Mama’s Boys,” and he was just very creative. He went out and bought some polyester, and he sewed that dress practically on me. He also bought the wig and put that on me, and cut it, and combed it, and came up with the idea for the makeup. He had been in a Shakespeare play playing the character Hekate, which is one of the three witches [in Macbeth ]. So he had gotten the idea for that makeup from a kabuki theater book, and that’s how the look came up. That hair, by the way, was fashioned after his number one favorite singer, which was Ronnie Spector from The Ronettes.
STARDUST: And what are your go-to cosmetics that you use for the Elvira look now?
PETERSON: I stopped doing Elvira makeup more than five years ago. So my poor makeup is sitting up in a bag on the third floor just turning to dust.
STARDUST: Oh, you better be careful. Someone will sell that on eBay.
PETERSON: Honest to god, it was all theatrical makeup. And I got it at theatrical makeup stores because I was going for longevity when I sweat under the lights, which I did like crazy because I had two wigs, one on top of the other, and the sweat was pouring down. Just trying to keep my damn eyeliner on was such a challenge, and keep that white, gooey makeup on without getting all mottled. But I think almost every time I went to buy new makeup, the brand of lipstick I had, the brand of polish I had, whatever it was, was discontinued. So then I would be out there looking for a new one.
STARDUST: I know you and Paul Reubens were besties. What is your favorite memory of him?
PETERSON: We were friends from 1974, 1976, something like that, until he passed away. A long time ago, we were in New York City and we were both dressed as our characters for some presentation. I cannot remember what it was, but we were in a limo together with my manager, and my husband, and his manager. They all wanted to go out after Paul and I had worked. He and I were too tired to go out, so the limo dropped off everyone and we were headed back to the hotel. The limo broke down, not in a great area either, and we waited about an hour for another limo to come, and it never came.
So Paul and I, dressed as Elvira and Peewee, went walking through New York City trying to get a cab, and no cabs would stop for us. I had taken off my heels. I was walking in New York City in my pantyhose. Ahh , it was so gross. I think we made it all the way back to the hotel by about 3 in the morning, but that was one of our good stories. Another one is, Paul and I were, we went out together to a club one night, just as ourselves. The Rock recognized Paul and was freaking out. Just like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe it’s you. I was such a big fan, blah, blah, blah .” And Paul said, “Well, do you know who my date is?” And he goes, “No.” Dwayne Johnson, like, dropped his knees and started salaaming us. So, that was kind of weird and freaky.
STARDUST: How does it feel to have such an impact on culture?
PETERSON: We have generations of people who are into Elvira and Pee-wee. They come up to me at conventions, and there’s children who have grown up with me, then they bring their children, and they bring their children. I mean, it’s going into, like, great-grandpa territory now. It’s crazy. STARDUST: And what’s fascinating is that there’s not a bad word that anyone has ever said about you. You’ve always been so lovely. And, you know, you have such an amazing quality to you and such an endearing personality.
PETERSON: Thank you. That’s very sweet to hear. I have my bad side too. I mean, if you checked with my ex-husband, you’d probably hear that. [Laughs] STARDUST: We’re always a villain in someone else’s story. But you’ve also taught people to have happiness and to not take themselves so seriously. PETERSON: I hope so! I love making people laugh and smile. I often think about this when I walk my little dog, who looks like Gonk from my movie. He’s got a pink mohawk, when he walks down the street, everybody that looks at him smiles. I don’t think anyone should underestimate that. Just giving anybody that little moment of happiness in their life, it changes you as a person.
STARDUST: It really does. Also, the fact that you were the feminist when we needed feminism. I know that in the ’80s, as you said, people were critiquing your low-cut dresses, but that was a form of empowerment. You were able to use your power as a woman in your magic on screen.
PETERSON: I think you’re right in that women spend their lives trying not to be who they really are, covering up their boobs because they’re shameful, putting on makeup to look better, just twisting themselves into another thing that they aren’t, and I’m not putting makeup or hair down, I mean, look at Elvira. I think another good person who’s almost a character that did that was Dolly Parton. She showed off the boobs because she had it, she didn’t try to hide it—imagine if she had. She certainly wouldn’t have been where she was, and neither would Elvira. If you look online, it’s funny, a lot of people have this little yin-yang symbol that, that yin is [Dolly] and the yang is Elvira. I think they are two sides of the same coin. But female empowerment and the accoutrements of looking like a floozy, I don’t know how that works, but it really, really does. God, I have to go to a psychologist to answer this one. I was sexy, and in those days, if you were sexy, you couldn’t be funny. It was just the law or something.
STARDUST: Yeah. You couldn’t be smart, either.
PETERSON: So true. You couldn’t be smart. You couldn’t be funny. You were just sexy. You were just an object. I think when you see this character, Elvira, who’s obviously sexy, and just not backing down, not putting up with the stuff that women are spoon-fed every day, I think that made a big impact on a lot of women. I hope it did. I’m really proud of that aspect of the character.
STARDUST: Your character in Pumpkinhead 2 is a witch named Cassandra. Can you tell me what her powers are and what that experience was like? PETERSON: For me to be able to play a witch was really fun. I do spells and I help people. It’s just about how witches are strong women and they are persecuted because of that. So, when I read the script, it was like, “Oh yes, hello, right up my alley.” STARDUST: I mean, this is Elvira’s plight.
PETERSON: Yeah, it was a good transition, because although I work with Elvira every day, everything I do is Elvira, I no longer play that character. So, this is just too perfect not to do. STARDUST: Do you have any spells that you’ve practiced in real life? PETERSON: Yes, I did a spell to get rid of our current— STARDUST: Oh, you hex the patriarchy?
PETERSON: I did a spell with people [that the] administration will be replaced soon with a smarter one. I did that quite a while ago, I’m still waiting for that to happen. We’ll see if it eventually pays off. STARDUST: What is your advice on living well? PETERSON: Never give up if it’s something you really, really love and want to do. Just be persistent. And the other thing is, if whatever you’re doing in life is not fun, please quit and do something else. It’s just not worth it. You have this one beautiful life. You’ve got to live it how you want. Easy for me to say, but those are the words I live by. It worked out for me. So listen to you, because it worked out, and you are living your best life. And more importantly, you’re living your most authentic life, which is more than most people.
Source: Fashion
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