LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Cassandra Peterson: Character
built 628 days ago
Peterson wanted to name the character Vampira, unaware that a former horror hostess - and star of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" - already had that name. Moments before the first show, everyone on the set threw alternative names into a coffee can. Peterson suggested "Cassandra." ("I'm so happy that didn't happen"). She drew "Elvira," a name almost certainly inspired by the Oakridge Boys song that was a hit that year. "I hated it. But I got used to it. The only time I hate it now is when I go onstage, there's always one guy in the audience who starts singing 'El-vir-a!' He's always drunk."
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Cassandra spent her formative years in showbiz as a member of the L.A. comedy troupe The Groundlings, where she became good friends with another actor more famous for his best-known character, Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman.
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Peterson says her best friend, Robert (the man responsible for helping perfect the Elvira look), lost his own battle against the illness about a year after the character was created. Three stylists who worked with her then, all close friends... died of AIDS-related complications.
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