R.I.P. "Vampira" (if she is indeed dead...)

Maila Nurmi, TV's Vampira, Dies at 85
Jan. 15, 2008, 2:17 AM EST
The Associated Press

Maila Nurmi, whose "Vampira" TV persona pioneered the spooky-yet-sexy Goth aesthetic, has died, coroner's officials said. She was 85.

Nurmi died Thursday afternoon at her Hollywood home, Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Fred Corral said. The cause of death has not been determined, Corral said.

Nurmi created her Vampira character — reminiscent of Charles Addams' spooky New Yorker cartoons — to host horror movie broadcasts on KABC TV in Los Angeles in 1954.

With darkly mascaraed eyes and blood-red lipstick, Nurmi appeared each week in her revealing black dress and slinky fishnets to introduce such films as "Revenge of the Zombies" and "Devil Bat's Daughter."

"The Vampira Show" was canceled after about a year, but Nurmi remained a cult figure among B-movie buffs and is thought to have inspired the vampish Morticia Addams on "The Addams Family," which premiered about 10 years later.

She also starred in what everyone agrees is "The Worst Film Ever Made" ----Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (Also starring an ailing Bela Begosi, who died half-way through the filming and was replaced by a "double" who happened to be about three feet taller.)