Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson: Happy, Healthy, Dead

why was Elvira so popular in the Bible Belt yeah it's not wacky uh because I think people who repress their sexual urges are the people who become uh weirdos and creeps and pedophiles and all of that stuff you know but when people go after like other people who are that way it's because they really might feel that way themselves and want to be sure that they you know stuff it back down in there Alex breakdown she's gonna break it down for you because you know she knows a thing or two so now she's now [Music] Freedom break it down hi I'm Ryan Bialik and welcome to my breakdown this is the place where we break things down so you don't have to today is a very spooky day it's a very exciting day she has a real name but we're talking to Elvira but first I'd like to introduce you to the person who only has one real name Jonathan Cohen that's it sticking by it Jonathan I grew up in an existence different from yours very different you were in far off Toronto a whole other country a border away we had Elvira oh I know but you did not have her like we had her in my home and um a lot of people think of Elvira as I mean she is she's a an icon of the horror genre but she also is a brand you know of um all things spooky she's the Mistress of the dark she became a household name in 1981. I was six years old um she was the first horror host ever to be syndicated nationally and the the level of her pop culture icon status is is enormous I mean I I don't even it's like if you don't know who Elvira is me trying to explain it is so difficult she's made hundreds of of film television and live appearances she's you know she's been on SNL and she's been on everything she's so awesome there was a reality show search for the next Elvira she's been on RuPaul's Drag Race very interesting connection um with the drag Community which she'll um talk about she most recently produced and starred in 13 nights of Elvira for Hulu and um she has a memoir yours cruelly Elvira Memoirs of the Mistress of the dark and there's a hardcover um out now there are special covers that you can get it's just so exciting in this spooky spookiest of months to welcome Cassandra welcome to the breakdown break it down I was born in 1975 so I literally remember um you know being being a young child and seeing this incredible presence that you know became really such an iconic part of not really just like the horror universe but really are are kind of General culture and you know I grew up with like Angeline and Elvira those were the two women that I thought I'm supposed to be like and I think I'm more of an Elvira than an Angeline as it turns out I hope so your your career as obviously as Elvira is what um so many people know you for and love you for but you also you know created such an iconic character that really is timeless you know for so many of us and you know uh darker culture and Goth culture and all these things that came after you know Elvira feels to me so interconnected with what you created in learning a bit more about you and obviously we're talking about your book yours cruelly Elvira Memoirs of the Mistress of the dark and there are is are there two covers is that what it is with the the one that's now available yeah they're actually three there's one that one that my fans voted on that they liked the best and so we made that for independent bookstores uh exclusively and you can grab that at any local bookstore and then we made one that is the same as the cover for um the book that came out the hard to cover and then we made a little special one that is going to be sold just uh basically through my website um that people haven't seen yet that's kind of a surprise one okay that's very very exciting and you know growing up again with you is you know this this presence you know in my home for so many things not just related to Halloween but really throughout the year um you know I'll be honest I never wanted to know anything else about you except that you were Elvira and to to now get to learn so many incredible things about really how she came to be I think is is so I mean it's fascinating and it's enjoyable you are from a place called Manhattan Kansas yes the little apple and you grew up did you grow up on a proper Farm like just like Dorothy on a farm my parents grew something called Milo which nobody seems to know what that is I don't even know it's some kind of cow feed but uh yeah I grew up on a farm that used to be my grandparents and then they kind of handed it over to my mom and dad and it didn't really work out that great were you the kind of kid who always knew you were meant for bigger things and you wanted to get out of that small town and go to the big city was that you that pretty much was me from the time my parents stuck me on a table uh at a Greek restaurant dancing um and singing how much is that doggy in a window and people uh through coins sent me and I go okay I really like this I think that's the moment it hit me you're a very also special icon for those of us who you know may have grown up in an era where we didn't talk about feminism or empowerment but I always knew even as a child that there was something so um you were so in in your body and in yourself and you owned you know what what especially to young kids was sexy but also there was something very powerful about you and the way you handled yourself and I think for a lot of a lot of boys and girls we may have never seen that you know in this generation of a woman owning that the way you did really before its time you you obviously you were very attractive and I'm wondering if when you were little was that something people commented about was that part of the attention you got like were you like that gorgeous girl in Kansas that everyone was like who's that lady no no no no no no I think if you look at my book and see some of the photos in it you'll see that I was not a good looking child I mean uh I had a Tony perms which my mom gave me all the time so I had this frizzy short hair uh that I wore a little uh cat eye Shaped Glasses because I was couldn't see two feet in front of me and um I was just a total nerd and a geek no no I was another not a good looking kid it's not somebody who's no one used to say oh what a pretty little girl no so when did you kind of come into I mean you you became a go-go dancer and then eventually I believe the youngest Vegas showgirl I think I think you still hold that record as far as I know I do I was I think it was in the Guinness Book of World Records but I was told I was the youngest I I started when I was 17. you weren't wearing cat eye glasses then like by then you had become like this girl who's like I'm gonna go to Vegas no I'll tell you what happened uh I don't know what happened I think I think I owe it to Ann Margaret in Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas um I saw her in those movies when I was about 13 and 14 and I go that's what I want to be that's what I want to look like but and I I don't know it just it changed everything for me I I you know I I threw away the glasses I started wearing contacts and and um started doing my hair differently um met some drag queens who gave me fantastic makeup tips and uh it just all changed for me right around puberty I went from Super homemade little geek girl to do like super sexy around you know were your parents supportive of you kind of leaving to pursue this dream of you know eventually heading to Hollywood not all that much no no they thought it was a pretty stupid idea they were always telling me well you can do that but you better think of something a normal jobs that you can make money in because you can't live you know on there's nothing out there in Hollywood um no I wouldn't call them supportive um I mean they were cautious they thought it was cool once in a while when I well when I got to be a showgirl in Vegas they they thought wow she wasn't kidding she's really doing this thing so they became a little more supportive as time went on but initially I mean if your daughter is 14 and wants to be a go-go girl you don't say yeah that's awesome you know I know it's a really broad possibly dumb question what was Vegas like then Vegas was awesome then and they always tell people God I wish wish it could go back to those days I mean for one thing if you went to see a show in Vegas women wore floor length gowns little mink stoles and the guys were in either tuxedos or very fancy suit and you know the Rat Pack was playing there and I mean going to a a show there was amazing you you'd have like a four course meal and champagne and watch the show and it was it was so classy it really really was especially to me coming from you know Kansas um but now like it's you know you have to have I think they have um rules the address code that you have to have your butt crack showing and uh you have to you know wear Bermuda shorts and a torn t-shirt and that's how you get in a show I don't know but I go there today and I'm so disappointed I I wish there was somewhere like Vegas used to be but there isn't no not that I know of if I if I find it I'll tell you and we can go together um let me know how long were you in Vegas kind of living that life I went there in 1969 and I think I left in 1971. I had a one year long contract and um from the time the show started until I left and then I moved to France I don't know why but um yeah uh so so about a year and a half all together okay my MB Alex breakdown is supported by better help we've all caught ourselves getting stuck focusing on a problem instead of focusing on a solution at one point or another it's hard to train your brain to stay in problem solving mode rather than just problem mode when you're faced with a challenge but when you learn how to find your own Solutions there is no better feeling it it can really be a game changer a therapist is someone who can help you become a better Problem Solver which makes it easier to accomplish your goals no matter how big or how small sometimes getting out of the bed getting people to school getting to my job can feel difficult and sometimes the scope of the universe and all the things I think about can feel like too much therapy is the key to understanding how your brain frames both 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backed by a 100 night sleep guarantee that's cozyearth.com b-r-e-a-k cozyearth.com break [Music] you eventually made your way to Los Angeles is that that is correct and you were in the Groundlings yes at some point you you want to sort of take things to the next level and move into the acting World um how did that transition happen well it was kind of a long way from Vegas to Hollywood a via Europe and I was in a band and tried to do some other shows singing shows and some other various bands I got in a band called Mama's Boys um went all over the country for four and a half years but eventually I just made up a decision in my mind that I was getting too old to be a dancer and it wasn't that great of a singer um and I made up my mind the next step should be acting and it's like where do I go from here all I knew how to do was Showbiz I'd never done any other job I mean once in a while miscellaneous table waiting um or or temporary secretary but I had no career and I hadn't attended college or anything so Anna what was I going to do so I decided I would I would get into acting um when I moved to LA probably in about I can't remember exactly 74 75 started taking various acting classes but it was a long haul before I got to the Groundlings I didn't get into the Groundlings until late 70s I think 78 or 79. and then I was in there for four and a half years with Bill Hartman um Paul Rubens John Paragon who's my writing partner who played zombie the genie on peewee's Playhouse for people and um and anyway and and I gotta say that I think the Groundlings was the the probably the best thing I ever did for my career it really really was big it taught me to think on my feet and you know it wasn't that good at reading lines or anything so important I mean if people are looking to get to be in comedy I I can't think of a better launching pad than being in the Groundlings so many people have come out of there as you know no it's I mean it's a such an historic place and I'm just thinking of the time that you were doing all these things it was like a a real other era you know of Hollywood that you kind of began in it I guess that's because you started so young but then to be in the Groundlings you were at the growlings in such a you know a fertile time for for comedy especially in Los Angeles and the Genesis of Elvira as we know her um if I'm understanding this correctly came from a character you were doing at Groundlings which was not Elvira but describe how we get from Groundlings to Elvira I did a character in there and I didn't have very many characters I was not a great character person my character was the sexy girl the girlfriend the the show girl the stripper that's what I played all of those all of those parts in the growlings um weird right and uh so I I wasn't great at characters but I did have this one character that was a blossoming actress and she was on an audition with another uh growling we were sitting there at an audition we were wearing exactly the same dress had this same hair everything and we turned each other and go I like your dress and we're just a couple of dorks in Hollywood and I was doing a little bit of a valley girl thing because Frank Zappa and moon had just put out the song Valley Girl so um and we knew those type of girls boy did we they were all over uh La so we were being kind of like that you know and the director of the TV show that was a local TV show saw me in that character and uh decided he really liked me and called me in for the audition um so you know and getting an audition for a part late night on local TV wasn't exactly my dream job I had just lost the part of Ginger on Gilligan's Island uh just by a hair and so this was like you know it'll be a little money but what the hell at least I won't have to book more intent secretary jobs [Music] Jen and their part so what was the audition for specifically a horror Hostess who they were going to call Vampira and did you what did you go in looking like I went in kind of like this I had red hair I had on turquoise dress same color as this and little white sandals and I would just la la la went in and when I walked into the room I was surrounded by women in long black dresses of long black hair and fangs put in and and it was one of those moments like oh my God I showed up at the wrong party so it was a miracle that I I still got the part I don't know and then from there how was Elvira as we know her born because and and again Jonathan there's a very specific personality that goes along with Elvira and it's um you know it's it's not sort of a traditional you know female kind of host I mean there were many females on television at at this time but most of them were kind of eye candy you know it was like the ladies on Price is Right it was that kind of thing so to have you know this was a woman kind of owning this space with a very specific give zero F's kind of about other people's person I mean at least that's part of my reading but how was that both the look and that attitude born I wish I could say I sat down and had a nice you know there was a concerted effort to making it that way but I was grabbing at straws to tell you the truth that was like um okay I got this job I have to look like a sexy scary uh something I didn't know what a horror host was I know I'm supposed to look sexy I know I'm supposed to look spooky and I got one of my best friends a guy named Robert Redding to help me he was an artist so he drew a couple of renderings of what we thought it might look like we were going for a Sharon Tate in The Fearless Vampire Killers in like a sheer Gauzy pink dress with long flowing red hair and and you know kind of dead girl eyes and lips and the station when we walked in with that sketch we're like no no no no no no she has to have black hair black dress you know the whole black bag so back to the drawing board we brought in a picture it was kind of an updated 80s Punk yeah Ruby sort of vampire female vampire look you know we wanted to make it sexy but we had this plungy neckline I told my friend Robert they're never going to go for this and they just stay in the picture for a while and said could you make the slit on the leg higher and that was it you know it's local TV it's coming on late at night they just wanted ratings so I mean I my my mind is blown in in so many ways just thinking about sort of like the evolution of this and it's true there was a very kind of Joan Jett meets you know vampire meets I mean it was it was all the things kind of coming together and in in terms of the the personality because you know I I do I love this story it's like a small town farm girl like makes good and like goes to Vegas and shows her parents like there's more to the world than just our little farm and then like you go to La and of course you're like you're struggling but also like you're living this dream that is so far you know from what you came from and then we get here and you are you know a woman ahead of her time in terms of being given this position to also own your identity so many women we were seeing on television at that time were being designed by old white men and this character it it felt like you know it felt like it was you like it felt so authentic when I watched you this is this lady where was that personality from um I thought a lot about the personality and and I've always said to people uh there's nothing about Elvira that's like me but I one day it dawned on me that Elvira is my personality when I was a teenager wow I was the biggest loudmouth smartass you couldn't tell me anything I knew everything and I was just gonna be super hot and sexy and ballsy and and uh you know as time went on a life kind of tempered all of that I guess you know I think a little more you know modest I guess um but I think about elviron I think that's how I was when I was a teenager I just didn't take any crap from anybody and I was such a parent's worst nightmare I guess but I I really think that's where the personality came from and I have a lot of people also who participated in helping me be that way my writer John Paragon my friend Robert Redding and um you know and a million and one gay men really I think I I totally categorized Elvira as a drag queen I am 100 a drag queen there's nothing different about me and any drag queen I know except I don't tuck you know but other than that we're pretty much exactly the same and the other important part is I own my character so I get a do it the way I want there's no one with input into my character or my business that I don't want so that is incredibly lucky as you know Pee-wee Herman Paul Rubens also is the same I think he always says we're the members of the most exclusive club in the world there's just two of us basically he's going to call with Gene Simmons or Alice Cooper or someone um part of that club but not many people own their characters I'm curious how that happened because it was a role that you auditioned for but then they allowed you to own the rights to the character how did that work well it was kind of weird they they we asked for more money every every year we'd ask if I could be bumped up from the 350 dollars I was making each week stop it for the next one yeah number one show on their on their local station everyone was likely profiting except the actual person who was creating it yeah and I was uh I was buying the props I was setting the lights sometime I was writing it with my partner John we were doing everything and it was their number one rated show and then I was getting 300 150 dollars they bumped me up finally all the way to 500 dollars a week before taxes um but I still had to work temporary secretary jobs during the day to pay my rent I'm making like nothing and we asked for more for a pay raise and they say no so we said how about just the rights to be able to um have a fan club so I could make a little money and I'll charge people like five bucks and amazing so they said yes then we asked them I I got asked to be on a couple other shows like chips and I don't know what other show and we asked them for the rights to use the character on another show and they said yes um then we just kept asking for little rights and one day we owned them all how many years did it take from you being you know that that young woman who got this audition to you kind of having ownership over I'm the boss of this company meaning you know having that own ownership not just kind of Legally but how long did it take for you to kind of not have to work those other jobs and say like this is my company is being this person it took it wasn't that long it wasn't that long it was maybe a period of um five or so years and I think getting the movie finally in 1987 so that was about six years later but getting my film Mistress of the dark with NBC that was kind of the launching pad where we said oh this thing is bigger than just the local La phenomenon I I'm curious what your personal life was like then um you you were you were not married currently but you were married to someone for 25 years were you married young like were you with someone through all of this were you Elvira more than you were you at that time or were you still kind of balancing identities with work and personal life I had just married um my then husband um two weeks before I got the character of Elvira which has turned out to be very very unfortunate that as far as the divorce goes I get it yeah okay well I won't go into that any further um but he was worked as my manager and we were like wow this thing we could he was basically an out of work musician and um he worked with me to to try to kind of exploit the character we met another manager a guy who managed uh Todd Rundgren and Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones and a few um you know rock acts and um he had little management expertise so he together with my husband to set up a lot of things and and get a lot of things going for me because I was really good I didn't know what the hell to do so what was it kind of like you know once you were able to stop working sort of day jobs and this sort of was your day job um were you able to be anonymous you know when you sort of you know took off your makeup like Did you sort of live that dual identity yes side lift a hundred percent that dual identity which was the best best thing about my career honestly I knew a lot of other celebrities and um it's it can be a pain in the butt to be famous especially when you live in L.A you know you can't go out to dinner and not be bothered you can't have a private walk in the park you can't go shopping at the grocery store without people stopping you or taking pictures of you and you know you don't put makeup on or anything and then then you end up on the cover of the National Enquirer saying only days to live you know stuff like so I was the luckiest celebrity alive I was completely Anonymous not so much these days because people are starting to become aware of me doing other things but back then in the 80s 90s and even early 2000s I never never never got recognized how to drag so I could be famous when I wanted to and party and do all the fun things that that Fame affords you and I could be a private normal person when I wanted to which was amazing that's really it's incredible you you had a daughter what was that experience like I mean obviously you had a you know a career and you know that's a big decision for a lot of women in Hollywood right like when do you have a child when do you do that to your body and your existence um what was that like for you well I had wanted to have a child for a long time since I was 34 I don't know I never had wanted to earlier I got to be 34 and all of a sudden it was my number one goal I just I don't know why uh some hormones or something must have kicked in but um it was actually a great experience I sort of thought Oh yay at least I get nine months where I don't work wrong through my whole pregnancy I did a mom's uh workout video when I was nine months pregnant I did Coors beer uh commercials just from the head up a lot of photo sessions just again from the chest up I mean my teeth look pregnant so I did not have that when I when I was pregnant I could not have done a photo shoot to literally save my child's life but I'm happy for you that you had that experience it was it was I tell you my pregnancy was one of the best times of my life and um and then I had a great birth and everything I was pretty old I was 43 when when um I had her but but it went great and that was after six miscarriages for the previous six years so she was the seventh one and lucky number seven um but anyway yeah and I think the me having that split personality afforded some normalcy in our life you know where she wasn't like the child of a celebrity she had a pretty pretty regular upbringing except that I was Elvira yeah for that part um I remember when my kids were old enough to realize I wasn't just Mom but that other people owned me and you know when I would put on hair and makeup um which obviously is not and maybe it was to my children as significant as you know you putting on your Elvira you know drag as you called it um but I remember when my kids were little they miles used to say no clown no clown he thought I looked like a clown you know when I wore any makeup um and it would really freak them out if you know my hair was done and you know they were still little but um you know I remember there was that that kind of realization and you know my kids didn't didn't know who I was really to other people because I was on a let's say a TV show or something that they were too young to even understand or watch but with you as this kind of persona that didn't just exist on a show you know it's it was kind of an entire movement and universe that you revolved in did your daughter have a different concept of you as someone who works out of the house doing something different you know I was Elvira a lot from the time she was born I mean I had pictures of her when she's just the tiniest tiniest little baby maybe a month old you know and we were always of course putting her in Elvira situations we'd have the wig on her and we'd have her with a dagger and with a snake and yeah so she kind of grew up with all that um so I don't think it was too bizarre for her really seeing me like that she was really into Halloween we were into Halloween so it wasn't wasn't too weird but she did really grow to not like the character I mean and it wasn't not liking me it was just I couldn't have gotten her in an Elvira costume to save my soul after she got old enough to talk so she liked Halloween but it's not not a big fan of the character I think she probably feels better about it now but I don't know she was yeah not a fan is she in the industry um no um very good musician but a musician and an artist still trying you know how getting that career going goes but yeah bouncing around very very talented musician guitarist I mean I I'm so fascinated um just about the fact that you have a child because also you know the Elvira was you know I mean it's like she never aged she was just this one you know she represented kind of all of Youth and all of maturity you know all at once [Music] breakdown is supported by athletic greens we use athletic greens daily why did we start taking them well because it's hard to get all the nutrition that you need when you have especially a very very busy schedule and I was tired of taking a million and a half pills every single day so what is athletic greens well with one delicious scoop of athletic greens you're absorbing 75 high quality vitamins minerals Whole Food Source superfoods probiotics and adaptogens to help you start your day right right now it's time to reclaim your health and arm your immune system with convenient daily nutrition just one scoop in a cup of water every day that's it you 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this person and this image um I'm not sure how much you like to or want to talk about it and you know I'm less curious like did you always think you were a lesbian I'm not necessarily curious to to poke it at that but I I am curious about you know being with someone for 25 years is a huge amount of time and to sort of have this second opportunity at a new relationship can you speak to that a little bit Yeah well I never thought of myself as possibly gay a lot of people in interviews have said when did you know you were gay and that uh I didn't I still don't I don't know I guess I am but um I'm I'm with a female partner but I never had thoughts I mean if you read my book you'll see that I was with a lot of guys yes very very famous guys and no women before I often tell people they say why are you with a woman I said I ran out of guys anyway uh no I I met her and it's funny you were just talking about um after I got pregnant and your body and I was a little worried about you know I mean I gave birth at 43 years old I thought is my body ever gonna be back into shape again and so I quickly went to get a trainer and start working out which I really hadn't done before that you were just naturally thin and stunning and perfect well thank you believe me it takes a lot of work and it takes more work every day um but I went to the gym to Gold's Gym in Hollywood and started training and after a couple years with my uh male trainer um he was moving on and suggested this female trainer that was there and that was that was my partner T um but it was six years six years after that until um we became like we got into a relationship I just looked at her as a friend and my trainer I liked her very much um she had a partner I had my husband we were completely uh you know nothing but friends platonic relationship and um and then I got divorced and I really really thought I you know I got divorced at 50 years old and I really thought um this is it for me no more relationships I'm done this is over it was such a brutal divorce and it was so awful to put my child through especially then I thought I don't want any more relationships in my life um next thing I know I'm in a relationship with a woman I don't know how that happened I can't tell you really I don't know I don't know what happened she's very very attractive to me anyway obviously and sexy and and um very very sweet and kind everybody that meets severely loves her very private person now she doesn't like to be in the spotlight ever is she younger I'm curious how much younger 10 years younger exactly the same as my husband was 10 years I like him younger huh apparently apparently I don't know um and this is a question I would ask whether the person you were with was male or female or non-binary you know knowing each other let's say for six years was there ever any thought in your mind like I would really be curious about this person romantically or sexually or was it literally like not even part of your I thought she was pretty sexy I mean got it I mean you mentioned briefly that story about where I was on the treadmill warming up and I looked over and I saw this super hot guy I mean you know I was still a horn dog uh even though I was married I wasn't dead and uh and I see this super hot guy every day I see him walking around the gym and I'm just like oh my God muscles and tattoos and ah so hot and uh one day I walked into the ladies room and dance straight into him and it turned out to be tea so yeah I I thought she was really sexy um but I also have a lot of girlfriends meaning girlfriend friends that are girls we're also very sexy and I I appreciate them and go wow damn they're so hot they're you know awesome but but uh I don't want to jump on them you know kind of going back to the the Persona you know and and I I talked a little bit about sort of what the kind of empowerment and sexuality that you know that Elvira I think held for a lot of of women um when you kind of look at the the sort of landscape of you know a lot of the confusion and complexity about women and how we're treated and how we dress and should we dress this way and what if they think this and you know you you've also you've been in a position where you were a vulnerable woman and you know what that is like as well I'm curious sort of you know as as a mature woman who has also lived through you know a few decades in the industry I'm curious what that sort of um what it means to you when you think about the struggles women have about sexuality about empowerment what what does your experience what can you tell us hmm God I wish I had a I wish I had something brilliant to tell you I don't know it's it's hard for women I um you know it always sounds like uh sour grapes when you say oh I didn't get that job because I'm a woman or oh I didn't get that because my shirt my skirt was too short or I got to say I am all of that where does that matter and why I mean I I mean I think I decided when I was young I'm gonna wear whatever I want to wear and you know [ __ ] everybody else what does clothes have to do with and how you want to look and how you want to be what does that have to do with who you are or anything but obviously it does because it puts you in some pretty um scary situations I mean I ran around wearing incredibly low-cuts sexy clothes I mean I was a go-go girl show girl you know um and I was never shy um but it got you in some bad situations you know that shouldn't have happened um but you know women can never can never get off that I mean I mean today they're talking about a woman 22 year old woman in Iran who wasn't wearing her Hajime uh tightly enough it was too loose and they killed her um and there are huge you know uh protests happening right now but if you give in if you give in and go oh yeah I shouldn't wear that low cut dress over something higher and then they say that's too low and then they say higher and then that's too low and they say higher cover your face cover your everything you have don't be a woman be a black blob of whatever you know what there's no if you just keep going with how whoever they are that I don't know if it's a Christian right the Moral Majority whoever they are there's no end then it'll be just women don't exist go away disappear don't exist as as a human being maybe as an object very well said I mean you said you wished you had something brilliant to say I I think that's very well said um do you think that because you know you were I'm using your your phrasing because you were in drag because Elvira was this you know in some ways otherworldly kind of character do you think there were different rules for you than there were for other women meaning that it allow you to do more yeah it gave me a lot of license and um strangely when I was in that drag I took a lot of license I felt like I could get away with anything I don't know why um I I feel a lot more confident a lot more ballsy wearing that outfit it's really strange I don't know exactly what to attribute that to but I don't have the same type of confidence as myself I mean I'm pretty confident but not like that not like Elvira well I was thinking what you said though that Elvira represented some aspects of you as a as a teenager and you know obviously I I have an almost 17 year old and a 14 year old so I totally get you know obstinent teenagers who don't give an f what you think and think you're the dumbest person in the world if you're the parent but I also think there's something really interesting to the brazenness that we have as teenagers and I think especially women you know when we can really we're coming into our bodies we're coming into our feelings and we have all these hormones but we do we're kind of expressing exactly what we're feeling and I it's so interesting then that I don't mean to sound like a hippie but then when we grow grow older and you have to like Tamp it down you know like put on your dress pants and you know say yes please thank you sir and like signs everywhere signs you know [ __ ] up the scenery exactly oh don't set me off on that song well you also start to know that whatever you're gonna say is gonna have some reaction and so it becomes less worth it as a young person you're like this is right and it doesn't matter what anyone thinks and then after a while you're like all right if I do this I'm gonna get that response and then I'm gonna have to deal with this and it's like better to just sort of skirt the issue and live my own life than to constantly confront or put things in other people's faces that then you're going to get backlash for and so it's like yeah do I really want to say that anymore like you have more foresight into how your actions are going to have reactions and so it becomes not about suppressing yourself but in in terms of it's about picking your spots more that's the sad thing I guess if you know if you could if everybody could stay thinking like children uh the world would be a lot better place but as you grow older then you get like to be a rebellious teen and then you're exactly right your personality kind of gets tamped down you know just because you're saying if I do this I'm not going to get that and uh pretty soon you know you're like a lot of people well and that's what I was just gonna say it's about being authentic right and the more you sort of feel the need to conform and do what other people are doing and I think for women and you know with the media pressures and things and culturally it's different but for men as well well it's like you're you're basically told be like the other people and any parts of you that are resistant or rebellious or some might say interesting you know that's not uh welcome why was Elvira so popular in the Bible Belt yeah isn't that wacky uh because I think people who repress their sexual urges are the people who become uh weirdos and creeps and pedophiles and all of that stuff you know but when people go after like other people who are that way it's because they really might feel that way themselves and want to be sure that they you know stuff it back down in there I'm sure one of the things that you're asked probably most about or I would imagine it's got to be in the top five is are you really a Halloween person are you really a spooky person you lived apparently in a house that was haunted I I need to know like obviously you you must have had to sort of take on some of that you know as as part of your world because you were so immersed in it but can you speak to that and then tell us about the haunted house yeah I really am a Halloween person I was when I was a kid um I talked about in my book how I went to see House on Haunted Hill with uh Vincent Price starring Vincent Price um my cousin took me and I was fascinated I'd never seen anything like that I was about in third grade I think I I became obsessed with the Frankenstein and Dracula and all this creepy stuff I started buying famous Monsters magazine and ordering model kits out in the back of it to paint you know I mean my sisters were playing with Barbies and I was playing with Frankenstein and Wolfman you know uh so I really really was into that very very much and um all my life kept this I don't know things that my favorite shows were like The Addams Family Twilight Zone I just I just love the spooky and I loved Halloween was the biggest holiday for me and my family because believe it or not my mother and my aunt ran a costume shop and so Halloween was the biggest deal for my family um we decorated like crazy because she got all this great stuff in her shop that she sold everybody dressed up in costume you know we could have the best costumes because they were free you know and um so yeah my whole life was very very Halloweeny and I I I couldn't have done the job of Elvira I couldn't have done the movie hosting if I had not been into these movies I nobody could sit through all the movies I have set through and and like nobody nobody if you weren't into it I went through that phase for about seven or eight years where I wanted everything in the house to be spooky and dark and my gate in the front of the house was a big giant metal spider web that opened um the whole house was dark and decorated with with you know just all kinds of spooky stuff that I could find antiques and everything but we move into that house and I have a whole chapter in my book about that house the house was called Briarcliff Manor it's already spooky yes it's already spooky when we moved in and um one thing after another happened there and I had never had any of those experiences happen before and you know I was like 35 years old by then never had them happen after after we sold the house to Brad Pitt by the way so Brad Pitt it's the best part of the story is that awesome uh that was the best part about the house and um it was just crazy this stuff that happened in that house I got to be really really paranoid about living there did not feel good about it um there had been several deaths there that were violent but the house was built in 19 can't remember now 1906 1910 I can't remember but early early 1900s many people had died there um and I think and in in violent ways and I think there I honestly I think the energy was still hanging around in there and wasn't able to get out um the only reason we stayed is I finally got an exorcist um Catholic priest that came and did a whole exorcism and they got a Native American um man who who um routinely went to places to clear them out with sage and everything and and after I had both of those done all the spooky stopped it was done over um and I felt incredibly safe there um in fact I was in the middle of Hollywood and I never even felt the need to lock any of the doors again ever I just you know which was probably stupid but I also had two gigantic Rottweilers to help um are you a I'm I'm curious um were you were you raised uh religious are you a spiritual person do you normally think and feel about energies like in general or just kind of spooky energies yeah I was not raised religious at all my parents were just basically they never talked about religion that I was forced to go to Sunday school when I was really little bit I even skipped that I'd go in the front door and out the back door and go catch tadpoles down in the creek but um yeah it was not raised religious but I do have a very strong um sense of uh spiritualism I do believe and then a higher power of some kind of course and and um that things happen for a reason and that um I don't know for a long time I was very much into belief and I still am of Science of mind I don't know if you're familiar with the whole premise of Science of mine but it's um kind of you controlling your outcome in life and that's sure that's easy to say but uh you know a lot of people would go yeah that's you know so easy for you to say but I really do believe in you create your own reality and that's kind of a spiritual thing absolutely and I believe also the people have sensitivity to things like Spirits or you know the spirits of somebody who have passed on I mean I've just heard too many too many stories of people um getting signals from someone else who has maybe passed on that too many of them that they just can't be completely ridiculous you know so yeah that's that's kind of how I believe but I I would I would say I was very spiritual so obviously um you have this this book and you know your entire um you know catalog of films and television and you know products and I mean it's an entire brand are you tired of being Elvira like is there a point at which you say like I'm done or is this just sort of it's I would imagine it's it's very different you know playing you've you've played this second character you know almost your entire life you know the the vast majority of your life you have had this kind of dual identity is she kind of with you forever and always or is there a point at which you're just you again I have been thinking about this and talking about it I actually had a big meeting with my manager yesterday about it and it is because I'm going to tell you that you were speaking about spirituality and ghosts and all that I had a dream just a few nights ago I was in New York City and I had this dream and it was so uh intense I was with uh Brad Pitt and Nicholas Cage and we were at a screening of Brad Pitt's new movie and Nicholas said to me Brad is getting really really depressed he doesn't think this movie is good and I don't know he really is down and I said I'll go talk to him so I go over to Brad and I say why are you so worried about this movie coming up he goes well I'm getting older and you know I have to keep upping my game I have to keep trying it but now I'm getting older and I'm not as good looking and I don't have as much energy and blah blah and I go you are Brad [ __ ] pit just snap out of it you don't have to do anything you can slow down you can do whatever you want you are always going to be Brad Pitt and I woke up and the first thing I thought was that was me talking to myself giving myself a pep talk about slow down for Christ's sake I mean I'm just I work work work work I go uh all the time and you know I've been working since I was 14 years old I'm 71 now it's like I'd like a break damn it I'd like to just go have some fun and do some things but that doesn't mean Elvira is going away I just kind of have to step off the platform and be a little bit more behind the scenes I mean I've got a lot of merchandising and Licensing out there I have my book I'd like to do a documentary of my book um I certainly don't think I'd stop working I don't know what I'd do if I didn't work I think I'm too closely tied to me is my work you know that kind of thing but I would like to just step back a little bit and have some free time for once so yeah that's my that's what happened to me just the other days but you brought that up you're also going on tour in Romania um next year oh yeah I'm working yeah um is is that somewhere you've been before yes I shot my movie uh elvirus Haunted Hills in Romania in the region that was Transylvania and it is awesome it's fantastic so beautiful people are kind and it was just a wonderful place to be it's a little bit like going back to the 16th century um but I'm really looking forward to that we've we've had this tour planned for now uh three years because we were ready to go we sold out we had all the people going with us and it it was uh the pandemic happened so it was canceled then we get to do it it's all set for May and the Ukrainian War happens and it's on the border of Romania very nearby and we canceled so we're trying one more time um I really hope it works out because I'm just dying to go over there and kind of revisit uh all of the scenery and the people from from shooting my movie there for so many months that's wonderful um I've never been there but um it's it's such also such a special place in terms of what you have brought you know to that region um a final question what what if I were to ask you you know what do you feel Elvira represents for people what do you see you've kind of contributed you know to to our our world of media with Elvira well I hear this all the time from fans so I can hardly believe it sometimes people come up to me and whether they were overweight when they were child or gay when they were a child or in some way just they didn't fit in they say that I was a major influence that Elvira was a major influence to them to stand up to bullies to feel like being a an outsider a geek is okay and um I I'm just I'm shocked and Amazed by the people that tell me that story I've even had people say I was going to kill myself and then I saw Elyria Mistress of the dark the movie and it gave me confidence I I mean I'm like really it's hard for me to believe but I've heard it a million times so I'm gonna have to believe it by now um so that's the happiest thing for me that's the best best part about being Elvira if I changed one or two people's life and I think possibly a lot more for the better uh than my job here is done it's been such a pleasure to get to talk to you um I mean my my childhood self is just freaking the [ __ ] out I I mean it's just really it's incredible and also just so wonderful to hear um yeah to hear more about you and to you know get to see you as a mom and an entrepreneur and it's just amazing really really amazing oh thank you boy I love this show it's just a flattered the beginning to the end that's fantastic thank you it has been such a pleasure to talk to you thank you so much and we wish you the best with the tour and with the book as well thank you so much this was a lot of fun I really appreciate it was like getting to meet childhood babysitter my brother and I spent so many hours with that woman in front of the television and you know it's funny because my parents were very careful about what I watched and you know I wasn't allowed to see R-rated movies that there was no PG-13 then and um you know my mom was raised very very religious and um my dad was also raised you know very conservative and although they had their kind of hippie phase they were pretty socially conservative Elvira was the exception to that rule because she was so she was so otherworldly I mean I don't want to say she was like a cartoon character because that sounds demeaning but I mean her identity it's like she was beyond a person she was this like sexy awesome presence that you could not say no to it doesn't track for me though like you're if your parents are very protective of their child this one this woman you're like yeah sure no problem but that's what I'm saying she was she was different I mean she was clearly a woman and very sexy but because of I mean and this is just the way I'm kind of thinking about it I didn't sexualize her I mean culture was very different then but I didn't think of her like I thought of you know Angeline or like when I heard about Playboy magazine you know she wasn't that because and again this is no insult to the women in Playboy Magazine I didn't get to know them right you would just hear about them or people would you know I also was not reading the interviews and I wasn't looking at Playboy magazine but what I'm saying is her identity it it had so much personality and she had she was a really fleshed out character and I don't know that that makes it better worse I'm not that let you watch the horror movies I no I think that I was more interested in what she would say and like like her stick but did you watch the horror movies yeah but they weren't gory like the ones that my brother and I would watch like those specials they weren't it wasn't like super Gore we were watching like old monster movies like sometimes from like the 50s and 60s like it was so um you know it was it was so Niche like it was I was never into slasher movies or anything like that but it was this Vibe you know and especially on Halloween like sometimes we trick or treat but like that wasn't a holiday that my parents grew up with so like other kids did it but like they really honestly could care less but we were we'd sometimes like go out with friends but we would just watch Elvira when we came to Halloween very very seriously oh they they do that in Canada it's not just Canadians I would like map out the neighborhoods well that's because you were first of all yeah you were always not just like a plastic bag or one of those pumpkins I would go to different neighborhoods yeah okay well I had to make that stuff last okay well this was a a very different you know experience um and and I also think you know I think there was something um I mean she said it herself like there was more she had more freedom as a person and I mean I think there's so much like deep psychology to this identity she created and live imagine I mean I have no idea if she has any idea who I am but imagine if I had a different Persona and I wasn't me and I love that when she was like oh I got to party I had to have so much fun I was like tell me about it what did they do the people what is a party like what is it like to do what is it like to be yourself in a part oh the saddest anyway um that was really really cool I loved she talked about um energy I wanted to tell her about my house which we think is a little bit haunted but you've had people try to come and clear it and it got things got better after yeah yeah no things things absolutely change I'm just being honest with you we were hanging out last night and then when you left the house creaked and you guys no it was like it wasn't just creaking and like sorry we might as well do this I knew where the cats were like they were not running around you ain't afraid of no ghost I am afraid of every ghost and most humans this is a really awesome way to enter these final days of October as All Hallows Eve approacheth I don't like anything about Halloween I'm scared already really of everything in the supermarkets I'm afraid Something's Gonna jump up at me I I literally I'm very scared yeah but what I do like what I do like sorry this is possibly the nerdiest thing I've ever said I do like Edgar Allan Poe a lot we're gonna do an Instagram live on Halloween stay tuned yo we might even have a few items to auction off that are spooky there might even be an Edgar Allan Poe book we're like the two least Halloweeny people exactly we're doing an Instagram live it's gonna be awesome let's do it I might make my vegan bark it's the one thing I do on Halloween I make vegan Halloween bark getting wild over here really really special I know you don't understand how deeply this was important for me and for Valerie but it's honestly very very very fascinating to speak to her and to get to see that person behind this woman who really was ahead of her time in terms of you know owning so much of herself um yeah really just freaking awesome from our spooky breakdown hmm from our spooky breakdown to the one we hope you never have we'll see you next time she's gonna break it down for you she's got a neuroscience PhD [Music]

Channel: Mayim Bialik

Views: 227,391

Keywords: mayim bialik, big bang theory, amy farrah fowler, mayim, celebrity news

Id: 0y5xgldYksQ

Length: 64min 28sec (3868 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 25 2022