Elvira, Mistress of the Dark in real life

Cassandra Peterson poses next to a cardboard cutout of herself in costume as her character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. This was at the 2005 Hollywood Collectors and Celebrity Show at the Burbank Airport Hilton in Burbank, California. Peterson first created the Elvira character in the 1980s to host a weekly movie show on local TV in Los Angeles. Elvira and her "sexy punk vampire" schtick took off, becoming a Halloween staple into the 21st century.