Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Glamorous Ghoul

In the early days of television, when horror movies were often campy by nature, actress Maila Nurmi created the character Vampira, a glamorous ghoul who as hostess of late-night fright films in the 1950s layered on her own brand of camp.

Vampira played with her pet tarantula, gave gruesome recipes for vampire cocktails and bathed in a boiling caldron. With a knack for the double- entendre and the requisite blood-chilling scream, Vampira was a hit. Maila Nurmi passed away Jan. 10, 2008. She was believed to be 85.

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