EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Cassandra Peterson, the woman behind Elvira

Cassandra Peterson is a red head, which may surprise many of her fans who are more familiar with her long black wigs.

The accomplished actress, who will greet fans and sign autographs at this weekend’s Chiller Theatre convention in Parsippany, N.J., has built a career around one of the most recognizable television personalities of all time: Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark.

The voluptuous late-night TV host with the plunging neckline and valley-girl sentimentality has been a staple of television, film and the horror-convention circuit for quite some time. Whether it’s her two feature films (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Haunted Hills) or her recently wrapped television hosting program, Movie Macabre, Elvira is still a force to be reckoned with some 30 years after her first appearance on television.

Recently, Hollywood Soapbox talked exclusively with Peterson about her iconic character and what the future holds for Elvira.

How did it feel to be back on television with Elvira’s Movie Macabre?

Well, it was fantastic. I was thrilled to finally, after 25 years, get my show back on. That kind of says it all right there. It took me 25 years to get it on in a national format. And as you can see, it didn’t stay on long because there really are no slots for it, because of local programming. It’s just getting more and more difficult to sell anything every year to television through syndication. And my television show is no exception.

Everything is going toward the Internet, which is what I’m concentrating on: to get new product up on the Internet. But that has its problems, too. Like not a lot of money for Internet programming.

Is it official that there won’t be a second season? Has that decision been made?

That decision has been made. It’s not going to be a second season for sure. That being said, I’m out trying to sell more shows. So I could sell them anywhere. I’m out trying to sell them to foreign distribution, video on demand, and every market I can possibly think of, so that I can get funding for another year. So I don’t know where the show might show up, but I’m hoping it shows up soon. I’m going in every direction I can at one time, trying to get more made.

It’s great that fans are able to relive season one through DVD releases.

That’s the one saving grace … they are all on DVD, where you can take your time and don’t have to watch them at 4 o’clock in the morning. And the cool thing about the DVDs is that there are six shows coming out that were not aired on TV, so they have never been seen before.

And I have got to say, I think they are the best six. They were the last six that we shot, and we just really had it down by then. We were really getting into the show just as it ended. I really think the last six are the best. I’m not just saying that. So it’s going to be exciting when they come out and people can get them on DVD.

How long did it take to produce one of the shows?

The actual shooting of it was done in a day or day and a half, depending on if there were other actors and how many props and whatever. Obviously preparing for it and then post-production was pretty time-consuming. You know writing it and getting everything and hiring any actors or props or costumes or whatever that we needed, the writing process took a while.

And then afterward all the editing and the uplinking to satellite and close captioning and all this stuff you never think about. So it would take a couple weeks per show to get completely done. But shooting it, we did in one day. And it was a pretty long day, but we usually got one in there.

Are you surprised that this character has such a life so many years after it first hit audiences? Do you pinch yourself? She’s still a cultural icon.

I do. It’s sort of blown me away. I just had a big birthday and I go, Oh my God, I’m still doing this character. I started when I was 30 … (laughs) … It was so funny, a couple days before I was 30, I went to get an agent in Hollywood and he wouldn’t take me on because he said, You’re too old. You’re over the hill. You’re 30, and you’re an actress in Hollywood. Forget it. And I’m thanking my lucky stars he didn’t take me on as a client or I would still be paying him 20 percent of all my income.

But, yeah, I started when I was 30, and then I said I was going to quit when I was 40, and then I was going to quit when I was 50, and now I’m doing it when I’m 60, and I’m going, Oh my God, this is never going to end. I’m going to be like 900 doing this still. Which is OK with me. I’m glad. I’m thrilled to be doing it. Who knows how long I’m going to be doing the thing. I don’t know.

Congratulations on the recent birthday.

Thank you. I used not to talk about, but since it’s printed … usually the first sentence in every article I ever do, or I woke up on my birthday and it seemed like every station I turned on, either television or radio, was saying I was 60 years old. So it’s pretty hard to hide nowadays. You know?

Chiller Theatre, a New Jersey horror convention, is billing your October appearance as the last East Coast appearance for the Elvira character. Are you looking to phase her out of public appearances?

I plan on going to as many venues as I do now, but I just decided not to wear the Elvira costume any longer when I’m just sitting there and signing autographs. It’s just incredibly uncomfortable and I can’t sign for a long time because I’m just eeeww, I’m just really, really uncomfortable. And I look around and I don’t see William Shatner wearing his outfit or Robert Englund or the wookie. And I go, why am I wearing this?

I know people like to see it, and it’s cool. Sitting there in a chair, signing autographs … I just can’t do that anymore.

They are making it sound like the death knell. It’s definitely not that. I’m going to be out there, going to shows and signing autographs and meeting people and taking pictures. It just won’t be as Elvira anymore. I’m still going to do live appearances as Elvira, TV, film, whatever I can do. So I’ll still be dressing up in that plenty often.

I’ve met you at one of the conventions as Ms. Peterson. People aren’t going to lose anything by meeting you as an actress.

Great. Thank you. I’m glad you feel that way. I actually have people tell me all the time, and more and more recently, when I’m dressed as Elvira, ‘Oh, I wish I could have seen you as Cassandra. I really want to see how you really look. Oh, I’d love to meet you that way.’

So I’m going, half of them want to see me as Elvira and the other half as Cassandra. I think I’m going to go with the half that wanted to see me as Cassandra.

Are you overjoyed when you get to meet your fans at conventions?

I am overjoyed. And I’m not kidding. I go out there, and I don’t think I stop smiling for four hours. I am so happy. I have the best, best, best fans. And I’m not kidding.

They looooove me. Sometimes they love me too much. But mostly they just love me, and I hear all kinds of stories about how I influenced their life, and how I helped them through puberty in the case of guys, and how it used to be family night with one of their parents when they got together and they had that common bond of watching Elvira’s Movie Macabre together when they were growing up. All of these really amazing stories.

And also more and more I’m seeing people tatooing me on their, you know, body parts. And that’s like, Whoah, dude, you really liked me a lot. And I tell you it gives me such an incredible boost. I leave these shows feeling like I’m floating. I’m so happy.

There’s got to be a couple oddballs who take it too far. But, for the most part, they are great fans?

They are. And even the oddballs, I love them. They kind of come back and back and back. They are like my old buddies now. And there are some pretty strange ones out there, but they’ve really become friends on one level. So they don’t even bother me anymore, because they like me in their own little perverted way.

Looking back, are the two feature films (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Haunted Hills) some of your favorite highlights as Elvira?

Yeah, definitely. The first movie was a thrill beyond thrill. If people asked me what’s the coolest thing you ever did as Elvira, it was definitely making Mistress of the Dark. That was just so fun. And I had a giant budget and people doing my makeup and doing my hair. Everything was so cool. I was like a movie star.

And then I did my own movie, along with my ex-husband, Mark Pierson … Haunted Hills. And that we financed ourselves and did in Romania. So it was more like I was doing all that for myself. I was fanning myself and getting my feet warm … oh, you name it. That was the thrill of making your own movie from the ground up with nobody telling you how to do it. And on a much, much, much lower budget. So that was a thrill in a completely different way. It was an amazing sense of accomplishment making your independent film.

The cool thing about Haunted Hills is that it’s being rereleased, and I just did this past month the coolest, coolest, funniest audio commentary track for the movie with some of the other actors. And, oh my God, and an interview and also outtakes from the movie, mostly of me and Richard O’Brien cursing. We’re bleeped. Don’t worry. Some really cool, funny bonus material that we’ve been putting together for the last several months.

So I think fans of Elvira and fans of Haunted Hills and Mistress of the Dark are going to love this new edition.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com