Long before there was a subculture called "goth", long before it was cool to be dark and spooky, long before Cassandra Peterson ever put on an Elvira costume and decided to emulate her, there was Maila Nurmi, the woman immortalized in Ed Wood's classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space" as her alter ego, Vampira. Maila was born in Finland and came to the United States in her youth to become an actress, as so many before and after her have. She appeared at a hollywood halloween party as (as the time New Yorker Magazine's) comic strip character Morticia Addams, she caught the eye of a local LA Television producer who was looking for a host for an idea show he had where a host would present classic horror and sci fi movies in prime time on friday nights. Maila arrived, she created Vampira, the woman who's speech patterns would later be emulated to a wider viewer base by Elvira, who many claim is a direct copy of Vampira, given the speech patterns, the very sexy outfit and behavior, and the overall embracing of the darkness and making it fun.
Maila only had one role in film of note, she played a zombie in "Plan 9 From Outer Space", a role she was asked to play by director Ed Wood, who himself had fallen deeply under the spell of Vampira and felt the need to include her in his masterwork. Interestingly Maila is one of the few who went on record of ever saying they did not really like Wood, though she recanted this years later when more of his personal life came to light. The Vampira Show ran 52 episodes and became an LA cult, it was then repackaged as "Shock Theater" and sent countrywide, creating more buzz and even more followers for the original mistress of the dark.
It became the "in" thing to be seen with Maila, who never went out in public as herself, always as Vampira. She was friends with Elvis Presley, Marylin Monroe, among others, even romantically linked to Orson Welles and James Dean, to the day she died she spoke highly of Dean, whom she was dating at the time of his death, she was even the subject of the song "Vampira" by Bobby Bare in 1958. She was the "It" girl, so much so that when the Addams Family came to television, they remolded and designed Morticia to look more like Maila. And though she never really gained the money and everlasting fame that her carbon copy Elvira did, Maila lived a good life, always caring to the fans, always in character, always happy and willing to put on a show, I'd think nothing less from the woman fired from a stage production for upstaging star Mae West.
My personal feelings toward the legend that is Mail Nurmi? Well its no secret to anyone that I love this woman, I became entranced with her when I saw her in Plan 9 in my teen years, she had this beautiful but deadly look to her, and given my slant toward the darker things in life, I was just magically drawn to her, and i still am. I recently bought the dvd of her show that her website's got for sale, that made me very happy.
The thing to always remember about Maila is this, she made the dark fun, and along the way, with her beauty and personality made history, she was the first "gimmick" movie show presenter, a tradition that to this day is will upheld world wide, she influenced everything from television to movies to comic books (the character Vampyra and the spanish name for Xmen's Rogue, also called Vampira were both named for her), she also established the foundation of what would become the "gothic counterculture", and inspired countless others along her way. Maila is a being beyond words or explanation, and not even death can keep her down. She is, and forever will be, my favorite woman to ever grace the small or large screen...
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Laz
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