What makes someone a cult legend? In some cases, it's as simple as dying young, at the height of one's career- as with the dreaded so-called "27 Club," which saw death claim everyone from Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison to Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse at that age, albeit mostly unintentionally and the end result of alcohol and/or drug abuse. Save Cobain, who obviously took his own life.
In other cases, it's someone who was already pretty much a living legend at the time of their death, such as Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson or George Michael. All death did there was to cement their legendary status, really. But what of those who were always more of a cult star at best?
Oftentimes such things happen because of one's perceived "outsider" status, in that they were doing something left-of-center in a time in which it wasn't common. For instance, Bettie Page, a pin-up model from the 50's was popular in her time, but later faded from view, only to later resurface as a cult figure in the 80's.
A lot of this had to do with her image, which managed to combine an inherent "innocence" with S&M and bondage iconography at a time in which that sort of thing was hardly common. She's since become a key influence for artists as diverse as Madonna, Katy Perry, Dita Von Teese, Rihanna, Beyoncé and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who outfitted both Uma Thurman and Rosario Dawson with her trademark hairdo in Pulp Fiction and Death Proof, respectively.
And then we have Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira. As with Page, she was hugely successful in the mid-to-late 50's, but followed a very different career path. Like Page, she began as a model, but also dabbled in acting, with director Howard Hawks spotting her in an off-Broadway play and talking her into moving back to California to pursue acting professionally.
Though she landed a few minor parts in respectable films, her career wasn't moving along the way she hoped, so she went back to modeling and dancing to supplement her income, severing her Hollywood contract in the process. One night, she attended a Halloween party dressed as Morticia Addams, which, at the time, was only a cartoon strip in New Yorker magazine, and not yet the hugely successful TV show that would later follow.
Spotted by a television producer, she later received a phone call from him asking if she'd be interested in hosting a horror movie-themed TV show in the same outfit. Her then-husband Dean Riesner (who later wrote the scripts for movies like Dirty Harry and Play Misty for Me) suggested the name Vampira to avoid having to get the rights to the Addams' character, and she further drew inspiration from the Evil Queen from the Disney movie Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs and the Dragon Lady from the comic strip Terry & The Pirates.
The character was an instant hit, and the first incarnation of The Vampira Show ran locally in Hollywood from 1954-55. Despite only being available in the Los Angeles area, high profile guest spots on syndicated TV programs like The Red Skeleton Show and The George Gobel Show, alongside high-profile photo spreads in the likes of LIFE magazine and others helped to make her an international success, befriending such big names as Elvis and James Dean.
Contract disputes led to a premature end to the show, but Vampira held the rights to the character, and took the gig to a local competitor, where she rebooted the show for continued success for a few more years, garnering a local Emmy for her work. Alas, as her shows were shot live in the pre-taped era, none of her broadcasts exist anymore.
In the late 50's, Nurmi returned to acting in film, landing small roles, often as Vampira, in Too Much Too Soon, The Big Operator, The Beat Generation, I Passed for White, Sex Kittens Go to College, The Magic Sword and most infamously, Ed Wood's notoriously bad Plan 9 From Outer Space, often cited as the worst film ever made. (It isn't. In fact, it's pretty damn enjoyable, IMHO.)
Sadly, by the early 60's, her career in Hollywood was essentially over, and she turned to odd jobs, like installing linoleum floors or carpentry (!) to make a living. She also opened a clothing boutique that catered to celebrities like Grace Slick and the Zappa family. A random assault by a man in her apartment building resulted in her being too injured to work anymore regularly, and she lived in poverty for many years.
However, in the late 70's, after the film critic Michael Medved declared Plan 9 the worst film ever made, people began to wonder what had happened to her and who this Vampira character was, leading to a resurgence in popularity. Vampira was, in particular, embraced by the punks, who saw her as a kindred spirit, recording songs about her and her work, notably The Misfits' "Vampira" and an appearance by Nurmi in the punk rock musical Population: 1 and on several songs by the band Satan's Cheerleaders.
A clip of her from Plan 9 was also used in the intro for the New York-based Chiller Theater. All of this led TV producers to consider resurrecting the character of Vampira for a new generation. However, after initially working with her, said producers hired an actress behind her back for the gig, without her approval, leading Nurmi to leave the project. The actress was named Cassandra Peterson, but you probably know her better as... Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
None too happy with this development, Nurmi sued Peterson and the producers for ripping off her act without her permission, but by most accounts, aside from wearing a black dress and lounging on a couch part of the time, the character was actually pretty different and distinctly 80's, with Peterson opting for more of a "Valley Girl" approach to the gig. And lest we forget, Nurmi herself readily admits ripping off the Morticia Addams character in the creation of Vampira.
Given all that, Nurmi lost the lawsuit, and missed out on a potential career resurgence, not to mention an influx of much-needed cash flow. She didn't make things easier on herself by refusing many of the attempts to merchandise her Vampira character- something that Elvira had no qualms about doing, with much success to Nurmi's chagrin, who saw it as crass.
Nurmi did eventually relent somewhat on this front, allowing figurines and models to be made, along with allowing her likeness to be used on guitar cases and skateboards by the company Coffin Case. She also created an official website after becoming aware of her character's popularity online, often auctioning off autographed memorabilia on eBay.
Unfortunately, Nurmi only saw limited dividends for her efforts in her lifetime, but she remains popular with cult fans, thanks in part to her portrayal in Tim Burton's classic Ed Wood movie, where she was played by Burton's then-girlfriend, model/actress Lisa Marie, and various documentaries about her, notably Vampira: The Movie and Vampira and Me, the latter of which I just saw for the first time.
Vampira and Me is a fascinating look at the cult star, featuring some of the rarest footage available, thanks to filmmaker R.H. Greene's unprecedented access to Nurmi, who he befriended and did an extensive filmed interview with, some of which was featured in his previous documentary, Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies, but which much more of is used in his follow-up doc, made after her death in 2008 as a tribute to her.
The documentary also features interviews with many of those who knew her, rare home movies of her out of costume, lots of photographs, and an extended audio interview with the director and a fellow Vampira fan, who has run a Tumblr page dedicated to her for years. It's well-worth a watch, to be sure, especially if you don't know too much about Vampira, much less the actress who played her.
I was surprised to find how little footage of Vampira in action was available- I just assumed it was on video somewhere like everything else, though I never actively searched for it before. Now I know that I wouldn't have fared too well if I had. As a child of the 80's, I was more of an Elvira fan, but it's always nice to find out who inspired someone else you're a big fan of.
I do hate that there was such animosity between Nurmi and Peterson, who, after all, was barely alive when Vampira was popular, and almost certainly only saw what the rest of us born too late saw of Vampira- which is to say, not much. As such, it's unlikely she was much inspired by Vampira at all, beyond the look and general setting, with Elvira's brand of comedy much more indicative of her time, the 80's, than Vampira's, the 50's, which were VERY different.
Be that as it may, it is cool to see how Vampira has influenced a lot of people over the last few decades, particularly the Goth crowd, and, like Bettie Page, the underground S&M and fetish crowd, which isn't so underground anymore, thanks to the likes of the 50 Shades movies.
I still see women wearing Vampira's patented cinched-waist look to achieve that impossible figure of hers, and I just love what I've seen of her stuff, especially Plan 9 and now, the Vampira and Me documentary. While it's hard to say what makes some people legends and what doesn't, I do have to say that I tend to lean toward the more left-of-center types like Vampira and Bettie Page than the more obvious ones like Elvis and Michael Jackson and the like.
After all, I was a bit of a misfit myself- and a fan of The Misfits besides- and like the punk and Goth crowd, we recognize one of our own. Vampira may not be the household name that some of the other legends I mentioned are, likely in part due to the relatively obscure availability of her work, but she has a small-but-devoted following that I suspect will endure for years to come. And I think she would have wanted it that way, given how close to the vest she often played things.
Long live Vampira!
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