Cassandra Peterson was born in Manhattan, Kansas and grew up in Colorado Springs. As a youngster, her idol was Ann-Margret, after seeing her performance alongside Elvis Presley in VIVA LAS VEGAS, where A-M dances frenetically from start to finish. With a straight goal in mind, Cassandra finished high school and then moved to Vegas, where she became the youngest showgirl ever in the colorful history of the town. Happily, Elvis, in one of his many stops in Vegas, met Cassandra, advising her to become a singer. When the King himself backs you up, how can you go wrong? There's a rumor that Cassandra can be seen as a dancer in a club in the James Bond movie DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, resulting in her being an unexpected Bond Girl. At the end of the seventies, she joined an improvisation group having already Pee Wee Herman, Jon Lovitz and the late Phil Hartman as members. No doubt that this experience gave her solid grounds in playing comedy. In 1987, Elvira became the first woman to be spokesperson for a beer company, that being Coors. 1988 is the year when Elvira invaded movie theaters with ELVIRA MISTRESS OF THE DARK. 1990 was the year when the official Elvira perfume came to be, named Evil, and which would be distributed in 15 000 stores. At this point, enumerating all the products bearing Elvira's name could take an entire website: video games, costumes, books, pinball machines, musical albums... a marketing flood still going strong to this day. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark made appearances at both Los Angeles and San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade in '06. Elvira appeared on behalf of Project Angel Food, Out of the Closet Thrift Stores, and The AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Now let's talk to that Debutant of Darkness, Elvira Elvira, you were one of the back up dancers in "Diamonds are Forever" what was that like as a young girl? That was the first time I was in front of a movie camera, it was a trip! Back in those days it was glamorous, it was prestigious. We were invited to all the greatest parties and everything You were also lead singer of a rock band, was that really what you wanted to do? I was in a few band, the longest, called Pattie Love and the Love Train, I don't know what that means, I was also in a band in Italy called "I Latin 80" kind of a pop group for a year and after that, back in the states I was in a band called "Mamma's Boys". We played all the Gay Disco's from LA to P-town. We did that for almost 4 years. We played Broadway Limited in Chicago a club that had a train car inside the club! This was just at the beginning of AIDS and out of the 7 guys in the band 5 of them are gone now. We did many charity events for AIDS. I still do Charity work for AIDS I just did a Charity Costume Masquerade ball for Aids. I did a 32 City Release Party for my movie "Haunted Hills" for AIDS and all the proceeds went to each City's local Aids Charity. You worked with some of the comedy greats, John Lovitz, Phil Hartman and Paul Reuben's AKA Pee Wee Herman, what was that like for you? It was phenominal, I owe so much to them. So much of my personality is because of them they helped me so much with learning by watching them perform and getting tips form them, they are so much fun. You have been an Icon for the gay community for years how does that make you feel? Fantastic! I often feel like I was raised by wild drag queens! I learned to sing, dance, walk and talk by gay men. You all have had such an influence on my life. I am the original fag hag. I have hung around gay men all my life. Their creativity and openness, I just love everything about them What's next for Elvira, a movie, another endorsement? I am working on many different projects. I am pitching a new reality show, it would be Elvira looking for another Elvira to help cover the events I cannot cover. A new video game for X-box, and new merchandise and a feature animation starring Elvira What else do you want our readers to know? I have found in my career that it's not how talented you are or how you look, it's how persistent you are, if you have a dream stay with it and for more info. about me, go to Elvira.com