Yet another horror icon has passed as Maila Nurmi, best known as Vampira, has passed away in her sleep from natural causes at the ripe age of 86.
I can’t really say that I was versed in Vampira’s work, but I of course know her best in her performance in, and subsequent connection to “Plan Nine from Outer Space” in which she played the undead wife of Bela Lugosi. I first discovered Vampira in that film which I was always told was awful, and yet was really far from it.
Vampira was before her death a convention visitor who often welcomed her fans, and was one of the many inspirations for future horror icons including Elvira and many more, and was first inspired by the character of Morticia Addams.
Nurmi is and will forever be known as the original horror mistress that inspired many to view some great and obscure horror films through the “Vampira Show,” and she will be sorely missed by the entire horror community.
There were none like her, and there never will be.
