11. Real Name Is Cassandra Peterson
Elvira’s real name is Cassandra Peterson. Who knew? It’s a normal name for a normal girl. So how did she come up with the name Elvira? As with many things in show business, the truth is stranger than fiction. She had landed the gig as horror hostess for Movie Macabre due to carefully cultivating her looks and persona. However, she apparently didn’t think up a name for herself. Time was running out before her big debut, so someone in the studio came up with a brilliant idea. Everyone wrote down a list of names, and put them in a hat right before she had to go in front of the camera. The plan was that she would use whatever name she happened to pick at random. “Elvira” was the one she chose. She said that she didn’t like the name at first, because it was the title of a hit country song at the time by “The Oak Ridge Boys.” Once she became famous, she changed her tune and joked that the song was actually written about her.
Discussion about this post