TV Series

Series Name:	Lady Of Horrors (The Vampira Show)
Format:	TV Series
IMDB:	IMDB Page
Years:	1954 - 1956
Country:	USA
Language:	English
Genre:	Horror, Comedy
Rating:	Rate
Collection:	Seen It Wishlist
Community:	1 Wishlist
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Selected Cast	Maila Nurmi as Vampira

Notes

Broadcast only in the Los Angeles region, this influential and Emmy-nominated series featured Maila Nurmi as "Vampira", a sexy vampire/zombie/witch-like character who performed spooky monologues and horror-comedy skits in between segments of the various horror and mystery movies shown as part of the series. Nurmi was only ever credited on the series (as well as in movie appearances as late as the early 1960s) as Vampira.

One of the foremost examples of the "horror movie host" genre, and additionally iconic due to her influence on later similar characters in film and TV, her own appearance in the infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space movie, and her highly publicized relationship with James Dean. Dean, in fact, appeared in one segment of The Vampira Show, disguised.

Originally broadcast under the title Lady of Horrors, but retitled The Vampira Show after about five episodes.

Virtually no footage from this show, which aired live, is known to have survived, however Kinescopes of Vampira performing a few scenes for an advertiser demo reel still exist.

The original series was cancelled in 1955 but a revival aired briefly in 1956 on another channel. Another attempt at reviving the series was made in 1981 with Nurmi, now in her late 50s, returning as Vampira, but she dropped out early on in development. Instead, actress and model Cassandra Peterson was hired and a new character, Elvira, was created and the series retitled. Nurmi, however, thought the character was too similar to Vampira and took unsuccessful legal action.

Comments and Reviews


BigBadBluesMan 30th Jan 2016



BigBadBluesMan 30th Jan 2016



23skidoo 2nd Sep 2015		I was inspired to add this after reading a biography of Maila Nurmi/Vampira. It's a shame there's only a little bit of footage of her from the show surviving. Apparently a fan site actually put out a DVD where they used footage from a demo reel (the screen capture-in-lieu-of-title screen comes from this reel) plus bits and pieces from commercials and other appearances to recreate a Vampira Show episode.

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