NEW YORK (AP) — Cassandra Peterson has entertained Halloween lovers as Elvira, Queen of Darkness, for over 40 years.
Peterson developed the character in the 1980s after quitting her career as a showgirl. She credits this decision, at least in part, to her. Elvis Presley, She says it essentially saved her life.
“He changed my life, 100 percent, completely. I was a showgirl in Las Vegas, and when I was 17, he said, ‘This is no place for a 17-year-old girl. Get out of here,'” Peterson, now 74, recalls. Presley told her that she had a good voice and could become a singer.
“So, I was like, seriously? Really? When Elvis says something, I think maybe I can do it, too,” says Peterson, who actually worked as a singer.
After Peterson turned to comedy, a local television station in Los Angeles took a chance on her and hired her as a horror host. Her instructions? In a recent interview with The Associated Press, she said: “I put together what I want to do and just do it.”
Thus, Elvira was born, with her signature towering black hair and plunging cleavage. This look was personally comfortable for her, but at the time it was thought that Especially dangerous.
“I mean, now you guys, every time you broadcast the Grammys or the Tony Awards or whatever, everyone has that neckline. But back then, it was like, ‘What?'” Peterson says.
Cassandra Peterson as Elvira at the 2016 Knott’s Scary Farm Black Carpet Event at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California on September 30, 2016. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
After finding success on television, Elvira appeared on the big screen in a series of feature films and guest appearances. Her cult following grew, leading to more television and books. But there was one thing on Peterson’s wish list that had never gotten the green light. Cookbook.
“I decided to be the ‘Martha Stewart of spooky characters,'” Peterson explains. “And I said to people, ‘It would be so fun to publish a book that’s funny just for my fans, my fans, the goth audience,'” she says. “And none of the publishers would let it happen. … They said it was a Halloween book, but there were already a million Halloween-type cookbooks.”
Decades later, “Elvira’s Inferno Cookbook” appeared, featuring spooky recipes for dinners, desserts, cocktails, and appetizers. Peterson also fills the pages with spooky craft ideas, handwritten notes, and photos of herself dressed as Elvira.
Peterson was involved with the book from beginning to end.
“It was really tough, but I had a great team helping me,” she says. “We cooked all the recipes. Some didn’t turn out well. Some weren’t Halloween-y enough. Some weren’t goth enough. Some didn’t taste very good. And I wanted everything here to taste good. I didn’t want you to take the time to make it and think, ‘Hmm, it looks scary, but it tastes awful.'”
Cassandra Peterson at the LA Haunted Hayride event in Los Angeles on September 26, 2025 (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
Not Peterson’s first book, However. That was her 2021 memoir, “Cruel, Elvira.” In some ways, she says, it was easy to write, even as it eroded the divide between the fiery-haired Peterson and the funeral-sulky Elvira. She calls this “the price of suddenly becoming yourself.”
“Well, I completely killed my anonymity, and that was a great thing to have for all these years, you know?” Peterson says. “I can go out, I can take my kids to school, I can go shopping, and I can do all of that without anyone looking twice. And now that I’ve published my autobiography and published a children’s book and this book, I’m always recognized.”
These days, Peterson doesn’t live much in Elvira. Her only regret was not making her first costume “Moumuu in flip-flops.”
“Because that’s why I stopped being my character. I’m not kidding. It’s not, ‘Can I be in it?’ It’s just like, ‘Girl, I don’t want to be a part of that,'” she says. “It’s uncomfortable and cramped. Ask any drag queen. They won’t want to do that when they’re 74, I guarantee you.”
