02700cam a2200301 i 4500 513960057 TxAuBib 20211022120000.0 210211s2021||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2021006083 9780306874352 HRD 29.00 0306874350 HRD 29.00 TxAuBib rda Elvira, 1951- Yours cruelly, Elvira [BOOK] : memoirs of the mistress of the dark / Cassandra Peterson. First edition. New York : Hachette Books, 2021. xx, 284 pages, [16] unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier On Good Friday in 1953, at only 18 months old, 25 miles from the nearest hospital in Manhattan, Kansas, Cassandra Peterson reached for a pot on the stove and doused herself in boiling water. Third-degree burns covered 35% of her body, and the prognosis wasn't good. But she survived. Burned and scarred, the impact stayed with her and became an obstacle she was determined to overcome. Feeling like a misfit led to her love of horror. While her sisters played with Barbie dolls, Cassandra built model kits of Frankenstein and Dracula, and idolized Vincent Price. Due to a complicated relationship with her mother, Cassandra left home at 14, and by age 17 she was performing at the famed Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Run-ins with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tom Jones helped her grow up fast. Then a chance encounter with her idol Elvis Presley, changed the course of her life forever, and led her to Europe where she worked in film and traveled Italy as lead singer of an Italian pop band. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she joined the famed comedy improv group, The Groundlings, and worked alongside Phil Hartman and Paul "Pee-wee" Reubens, honing her comedic skills. Nearing age 30, a struggling actress considered past her prime, she auditioned at local LA channel KHJ as hostess for the late night vintage horror movies. Cassandra improvised, made the role her own, and got the job on the spot. The woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story, filled with intimate bombshells, told by the bombshell herself. Provided by publisher. 20211022. Elvira 1951- Actors United States Biography. Television personalities United States Biography. Autobiographies.