Birthday: December 11, 1922 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
Birth Name: Maila Elizabeth Syrjaniemi
Height: 169 cm
The original glamour ghoul herself, "Vampira", of late night 1950s television, was actually born Maila Syrjäniemi (later changed to the easier surname Nurmi) on December 11, 1922 in Petsamo, Finland. Her uncle was the multiple Olympic medal runner Paavo Nurmi. Maila arrived in the United States with her family as a baby and lived a rathe...
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The original glamour ghoul herself, "Vampira", of late night 1950s television, was actually born Maila Syrjäniemi (later changed to the easier surname Nurmi) on December 11, 1922 in Petsamo, Finland. Her uncle was the multiple Olympic medal runner Paavo Nurmi. Maila arrived in the United States with her family as a baby and lived a rather nomadic existence at first as her father was a writer who lectured on temperance.It was director Howard Hawks, of all people, who discovered Maila while she was performing in Mike Todd's Grand Guignol midnight show "Spook Scandals". Hawks escorted the lovely blonde beauty to Hollywood with the hopes of grooming her into the next Lauren Bacall. Cast in the film version of the Russian novel "Dreadful Hollow", the project was put on hold so many times that Maila walked out of her contract in frustration. She became a cheesecake model and an Earl Carroll dancer for several years in his revues, sharing a chorus line at one time with future burlesque stripper Lili St. Cyr.Married at the time to child actor-turned-screenwriter Dean Riesner, she came up with the idea of "Vampira" at a masquerade contest where she based her costume on Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons. Heavily painted up with long fingernails, a mane of raven-colored hair, and slim-waisted black attire, the Morticia gimmick won the best costume award that night... and more. She caught the attention of local television and was placed under contract to Channel 7 in Hollywood to see if she could encourage late night viewers to stay up and watch its regular programming of cheapjack horror schlock. The macabre madam was a genuine hit (for one season, at least, in 1954-55), adding a sexy nuance and silly double entendres to her campy horror set.She earned an Emmy Award nomination in 1954 for "Most Outstanding Female Personality". Fan clubs sprouted up all over the world. She appeared in "Life", "TV Guide" and "Newsweek" magazine articles, and could be seen around and about town and in Las Vegas judging contests and making variety special appearances. Songs were written about the "Queen of Horror". She even appeared with arms outstretched and ghoulishly attired in the worst cinematic failure of all time, Edward D. Wood Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957), as Bela Lugosi's zombie-like mate, for which she is infamously associated. Lugosi actually was a huge fan of hers and had always wanted to work with her. Wood shot some footage of her years later as a tribute to Lugosi (he died in 1956 during filming) and added it before the film's release.By the late 1950s, Maila's extended "15 minutes" of fame was over. With her career at stake (pun intended), she stretched things out with haphazard appearances in abysmal movies [Les Beatniks (1959); Sex Kittens Go to College (1960)] before closing the lid permanently on "Vampira". In later years, Maila divorced her writer/husband and became passionately involved in animal protection rights. A painter on the sly, she created some "Vampira" portraits that became a collector's item. Living very modestly in Southern California, she appeared in a small gag cameo in the film I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998). Malia Nurmi died at age 85 of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles, California on January 10, 2008. Show less «
[on Edward D. Wood Jr.'s dialogue] I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but my God, I could not say t...Show more »
[on Edward D. Wood Jr.'s dialogue] I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but my God, I could not say those words. I wish I had them today because I threw them away. Do you know what jewels those lines must have been? I tried to say them, but I curdled my own blood. They were awful! Show less «
[on Cassandra Peterson, aka "Elvira", who she claimed stole her "Vampira" character] I'm just waitin...Show more »
[on Cassandra Peterson, aka "Elvira", who she claimed stole her "Vampira" character] I'm just waiting for her plastic surgery to backfire - for her bosoms to poison her. Show less «
Angelina Jolie would be a good Vampira.
Angelina Jolie would be a good Vampira.
[on how Vampira (1956) came about] I decided I wanted to become an evangelist and had to sponsor mys...Show more »
[on how Vampira (1956) came about] I decided I wanted to become an evangelist and had to sponsor myself. How could I do it? Well, television was just warping people's minds - and they paid big. I thought I'd satirize soap operas, take improbable people and make them do all these bourgeois things. Since Charles Addams had already done it in comic form, I wanted it to bring it to television. Show less «
[on Cassandra Peterson, aka "Elvira"] Boy, has the Devil got that bitch - it's the Devil in her bloo...Show more »
[on Cassandra Peterson, aka "Elvira"] Boy, has the Devil got that bitch - it's the Devil in her blood. Initially, they wanted me. I wouldn't do it [the 1981 revival of her "Vampira" character] because I didn't want Vampira to be anything but perfect. I certainly didn't want her to be portrayed as a slut. Show less «
[on Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)] At the time I thought it was horrible. I knew immediately I'd be...Show more »
[on Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)] At the time I thought it was horrible. I knew immediately I'd be committing professional suicide, but I thought, "What choice do I have?". Somehow, I seemed to be dead already. Show less «
I don't have any babies or any social history that's remarkable, so I'm leaving something behind, yo...Show more »
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. Show less «
[on Edward D. Wood Jr.] I always pity people who aren't very bright.
[on Edward D. Wood Jr.] I always pity people who aren't very bright.
[on Elvis Presley] I had never seen someone boldly standing on a stage - supposedly a heterosexual m...Show more »
[on Elvis Presley] I had never seen someone boldly standing on a stage - supposedly a heterosexual male - wearing turquoise eye shadow and grinding his hips like that. Show less «
[on James Dean's debated sexuality] Jimmy was primarily heterosexual but he used men sexually to get...Show more »
[on James Dean's debated sexuality] Jimmy was primarily heterosexual but he used men sexually to get ahead, and if he saw someone he liked, he liked them. More often it was women, but maybe that was because he had never got the really pretty girls before. He had always got the ugly leftovers that nobody else wanted. Show less «
Vampira (1956) wasn't really acting. It was television, just a lot of hogwash.
Vampira (1956) wasn't really acting. It was television, just a lot of hogwash.
[on Howard Hawks, who discovered her] I thought he was stupid, so I tore up my contract. I told him ...Show more »
[on Howard Hawks, who discovered her] I thought he was stupid, so I tore up my contract. I told him to kindly find a place for it in one of his numerous waste baskets. Show less «
[on Edward D. Wood Jr.] I just thought he was a low-born idiot. With no talent at all. Just a brazen...Show more »
[on Edward D. Wood Jr.] I just thought he was a low-born idiot. With no talent at all. Just a brazen, foolish idiot... You know, I thought he was just a goon. Ah, I wasn't looking squarely; I just cast a glance, and just dismissed him with a thought. Kind of snobbish and foolish of me. But then over the years as I've mellowed and grown a little more sensible, and I began to look at this man after, after the fact. And I thought, "Incredible what he managed to achieve!". Without any help! And the obstacles that he managed to overcome! Somehow, it's miraculous. It's more than just persistence. Yes, he had a lot of persistence - that's for sure. But he also had a gilded karma that this was all intended to be. Show less «
I love glamour and physical beauty. I've always been fascinated by beautiful men on the screen: Tyro...Show more »
I love glamour and physical beauty. I've always been fascinated by beautiful men on the screen: Tyrone Power, Robert Walker, with soft-focus filters and velvet voices. That's what [Edward D. Wood Jr.] was like. Beautiful dreamy eyes and long, sweeping lashes, just beautiful. He didn't make a very pretty lady [in Glen or Glenda (1953)], but he made an awfully pretty man. Show less «