Without Elvis, There Would Be No Elvira: ‘He Absolutely Changed My Life

[NinaFromCanadaEh]

https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/ ... -her-life/

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, is the undisputed queen of Halloween and all things spooky. But did you know that if it weren’t for Elvis Presley, there might never have been an Elvira?

Before she became the pop culture icon we know today, Cassandra Peterson was a struggling actress working as a showgirl in Las Vegas at just 17. In the ’60s, the horror host was inspired to move to Sin City after watching Viva Las Vegas, an soon she found herself performing at the Dunes Hotel in the show “Viva Les Girls.” Peterson even had to get permission from her parents to be in the show.

One night, she met the King himself, who advised her to leave Vegas before it was too late and to pursue her real dreams. Taking his words to heart, Peterson left the stage lights behind, setting her on the path that would eventually lead to her alter ego, fame, fortune, and her own movie, the cult classic, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.

“He absolutely changed my life, 100%,” said Peterson to AP. “I was a showgirl in Las Vegas. I was 17 years old, and he said, ‘This is no place for a 17-year-old girl. You need to get the hell out of here.”

Peterson was wary of the advice. “But I accomplished my dream here,” she told the “Hound Dog” singer. “And it was largely because of his film, Viva Las Vegas, that I even knew showgirls existed,” explained the icon. “We sat down at the piano and he played and I sang along with him. It was unbelievable.”

“He said, ‘You have a nice voice. Why don’t you become a singer? Do that. Take some voice lessons,'” Peterson recalled of her conversation with Presley. “When Elvis tells you something, you think, ‘Maybe I can do this.'”

“I tell everyone I was the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas at the time. I would now be the oldest showgirl in Las Vegas. Probably be doing it still. So, thank you, Elvis. Oh, he saved my life.”