Late Night Fright Film Hostess, Vampira Actress, Maila Nurmi, Has Died
Maila Nurmi created a ghoulish glamour girl with a bone-chilling scream and an unmatched skill for double-entendre, as her late night persona. She danced around cobwebs and tarantulas as she introduced the late night horror films of the 1950s. It was this dark character, Vampira, that made her famous and a cult icon for generations.
Nurmi never had a wide-sweeping career but her turn as Vampira was a legacy that many still adore and try to emulate - her character has been attributed to the goth look of the 1990s. Her character’s look was imaginative and bold for its time. Speaking about the era in which she introduced Vampira and her popularity, Nurmi said, “There was so much repression, and people needed to identify with something explosive, something outlandish and truthful.”
Maila Nurmi did make an appearance in “Plan 9 From Outer Space†which was directed by Edward D. Woods Jr. in 1959 after her show was cancelled in 1955. She later appeared in several other Woods movies.
At the end of her life, Nurmi continued to promote Vampira through drawings she created and sold on the internet. “I don’t have any babies or any social history that’s remarkable, so I’m leaving something behind, you know, when the time comes to say goodbye, I’m leaving something,” she said in a KABC Eyewitness News interview.
Maila Nurmi died at her home on January 10th at the estimated age of 85. A public memorial service is being planned for Maila Nurmi but is not yet made available.