Actress Cassandra Peterson ('Elvira') Turns 73, and Has Been "Out" Since 2021

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Actress Cassandra Peterson, best known as horror hostess and spooky film legend Elvira, is now 73 years old. In recent years, Peterson has revealed details of her intimate life with a woman. This is the story.

A Closer Look

Cassandra Peterson was born September 17, 1951, in Manhattan, Kansas, but she grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Peterson was only 17 when she commenced as the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas history in the live stage show, Vive Les Girls, at the Dunes Hotel.

At the urging of Elvis Presley, Peterson journeyed to Europe to further pursue her career. She worked in Italian movies like Federico Fellini’s Roma (1972) and performed throughout Europe as the lead singer of an Italian rock band.

Upon her return to America, Peterson toured the country as the star of her musical-comedy show, Mama’s Boys.

Eventually settled in Hollywood, Peterson spent four and a half years with L.A.’s foremost improvisational comedy group, The Groundlings.

In 1981, she auditioned for the role of horror hostess on a local L.A. TV station. Her show, Elvira’s Movie Macabre, and her Elvira persona were a smash hit with the viewers.

Her Public Persona for the Highest Good

Cassandra Peterson has utilized her public persona to help several worthy charitable causes and organizations.

In addition to co-writing and performing in both the local L.A. and nationally syndicated TV editions of Movie Macabre, Peterson has co-written, produced, and starred in two big-screen movies, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2001).

In 2010, she returned to a syndicated TV reboot of Elvira’s Movie Macabre. Four years later, she returned with a similar show format for Hulu’s 13 Nights of Elvira.

The Latest and Most Fascinating Developments

Cassandra Peterson’s latest endeavors include producing, writing, and starring in Dr. Elvira, a Halloween promotional mini-series for Netflix. She also starred in Elvira’s 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special, Special, a four-hour special that streamed on Shudder in 2021.

That same year, Peterson revealed she was in a committed relationship with her former personal trainer, Teresa “T” Wierson. Despite her 19-year hesitation to officially come out publically, Peterson made the big reveal in her memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark.