Whatever happened to that voluptuous vampiress movie host and commercial vixen Elvira?

-- Lynn P., via e-mail

Elvira, aka Cassandra Peterson, won over our hearts on late-night television hosting old horror movies. Her career took off when she landed the job of Los Angeles' KHJ-TV's late-night horror movie host in August 1981. By September, she'd developed the Elvira costume and makeup and was on her way hosting "Movie Macabre." Within months the show was in national syndication, had won an Emmy and she was appearing on "The Tonight Show" and of all things, "CHiPs."

Peterson had an interesting life before Elvira. According to a bio on her Web site, she was born in Manhattan, Ks., and raised in Colorado Springs, Colo. She was a fan of Ann-Margret and became a Las Vegas showgirl at age 17. She later moved to Europe and led an Italian rock band and met renowned director, Federico Fellini, who cast her in "Fellini's Roma."

Back in the states she created a nightclub review called "Mama's Boys" and in the late 1970s joined The Groundlings, a comedy group that has produced such notables as Phil Hartman, Pee Wee Herman, Jon Lovitz and Julia Sweeney. She appeared in "Cheech & Chong's Next Movie," "Fantasy Island," "Happy Days" and "St. Elsewhere" but was struggling before she developed Elvira.

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You'll be happy to hear that Cassandra and Elvira are both alive and well. In fact, Elvira was the centerpiece of a float in the Village Halloween Parade in New York City Tuesday night. And she's scheduled to be at the Boston Super Megafest 2006 on Nov. 18-19, signing autographs for the kind of folks who shop for Star Trek memorabilia at Christie's auctions. She'll share the spotlight with Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian, duh!) and Rowdy Roddy Piper. Oh, and our newest love that we didn't know we loved, Morena Baccarin of "Firefly."

For more on Elvira, visit elvira.com on the Web.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Here's an e-mail we got Tuesday: Greetings from Towson University. On Oct. 28, there was a question about triboluminescence, and your answer referenced Towson University chemistry Professor Linda M. Sweeting. I am sorry to inform you that Dr. Sweeting passed away in 2003. A memorial to her can be found at wwwnew.towson.edu/wisp/Remembering%20Dr.%20Sweeting.htm on the Web.

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