#MacabroCoven: Maila Nurmi "Vampira"

By: Casandra Vicario

I dare to write that Tim Burton revived the character of “Vampira” after his film “Ed Wood”; that sexy woman, with a long, black dress and long jet-black hair, made many of us start wondering about the original “Vampira”.

Considered by her fans as “the gothic queen par excellence,” Maila Nurmi was born in Finland in 1922. At the age of 2, her family left Europe and moved to the United States.

She began her career in theater but wanted to try her luck in film; the competition was brutal, many pretty girls were arriving in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe was the big star of the moment, and there were many girls like Maila Nurmi, thin and blonde. She ended up working in the coat check of a nightclub to cover her expenses; around that time she was married to Dean Reisner.

dress up as Morticia Addams (based on a Charles Addams cartoon)

That same night, a TV producer saw her and sought her out for several days, proposing she do a television program in which she would play the character and present horror films; she happily accepted the offer, and it was her then-husband who gave her the nickname “Vampira”.

"The Vampira Show" was a huge success but stayed on the air only a short time, because when she refused to sell the rights to her character, the TV studio froze her out.

She was a close friend of the famous actor James Dean, and the two were often seen together at a coffee shop — the young actor was 23 and she was 32. It's said that on one occasion, filming of “Rebel Without a Cause” stopped because Dean wanted to watch “The Vampira Show” on television.

Rumors about her romantic relationship with James Dean grew stronger and stronger; the actor's agents were completely against the situation, since it wasn't just a matter of an age difference — she was married and had that highly unusual gothic look, on top of hosting a TV show considered “mediocre.”

Nurmi ended her marriage but had no idea what life had in store for her. James Dean publicly declared that he had no romantic relationship with Nurmi and even referred to her as a “banal” person. The heart of Maila was shattered.

One night in 1955, a man broke into her house and held her captive for four hours and tried to rape her; due to a lapse by her attacker, Maila Nurmi managed to escape and get help from the police just in time, since her attacker had planned to kill her.

Her bad luck would only get worse shortly after, when James Dean died in a car accident and her life fell apart; she began performing esoteric rituals to try to contact her great love who had just died, and publicly declared that James Dean's ghost lived with her in her house.

The press began to mock her, and rumors started circulating — among them that Nurmi, devastated by James Dean's rejection, had cast a spell on him and that this was why the young actor had suffered that fatal accident.

Dean's fans didn't like her and would attack her; on one occasion, one of them found her at the beauty salon, went in, and set fire to her hair, Maila Nurmi had to shave her head and had some photos taken to proudly show off her new look. One night, her cat woke her up and she discovered her house was on fire; she managed to get out but burned her arms.

With very little chance left of returning to film or television, Maila Nurmi took a job laying linoleum floors until a film director named Edward D. Wood Jr. called her to offer her a role in a movie.

The film “Plan 9 from Outer Space” didn't do much to relaunch her career, so she went back to her ordinary life and got married two more times.

In the 1980s, new generations began taking an interest in B movies and 1950s television programs; her name resurfaced, and she was contacted to produce a new run of “The Vampira Show”, remember that Nurmi held the rights to her character.

The negotiations would not end well; Maila Nurmi wanted a young Black woman named Lola Falana for the role of “Vampira,” but the studio was interested in Casandra Peterson.

In the end, the character “Elvira” was created, and the TV network launched her show to great success; an angry Nurmi sued Peterson, but the lawsuit did not succeed.

Maila Nurmi, left this world in January 2008. Although she didn't leave behind a long list of films within the horror genre, she is a fundamental figure within the genre and a touchstone for today's gothic community.