40 Scandalous Secrets About Hollywood's First Goth – And Her Legendary Love Affairs

Nurmi’s most famous big screen role was Vampire Girl in Ed Wood’s notoriously awful B-movie Plan 9 from Outer Space. The actress doesn’t actually say any lines in the 1957 film. And that’s because Nurmi disliked the corny script so much that she demanded that her character would be silent throughout.

It’s fair to say that Nurmi’s influences for her iconic look were diverse. The star was inspired by everything from Charles Addams’ famous comic strips to the kind of models you could only see in bondage magazines while creating her Vampira character. Another unlikely source was the Evil Queen from Snow White!

Nurmi’s show on WABC was taken off the air after a little over half a year. But that wasn’t down to poor ratings. The network actually wanted more of Vampira. But Nurmi refused to hand over the rights to her persona to the channel, and as a result was given her marching orders.

Many Hollywood historians believe that Nurmi would have become a much bigger star had she not been so fiercely independent. The horror-movie hostess wasn’t a big fan of compromise, as evidenced by the time she ripped up her deal with the man who’d launched the career of Lauren Bacall. Howard Hawks had irritated Nurmi on her first photo call, and she reacted in the only way she knew how.

Nurmi got her big break when she debuted her Vampira character in a masquerade event. The star picked up first prize thanks to her jet black costume, pale white makeup and lengthy fingernails. An executive at regional TV network Channel 7 was so impressed that he asked her to host its horror-movie marathons – and the rest is history.

Nurmi had several before-she-was-famous gigs – and many of them put the “odd” in odd jobs, too. There was the fish-gutting position, for example. Then there was the time she was a nightclub cigarette-vendor. And Nurmi even worked as a hat model in a big store.

Before finding cult fame presenting schlocky horror-movie fests, Nurmi trod the boards in several high-profile theater productions. In 1944 she landed a role in Catherine Was Great in New York. But her iconic co-star Mae West was reportedly so concerned about being outshone by Nurmi that she had her kicked out of the show.

Nurmi’s most notable pre-fame gig came when she worked at a New York hotel running the elevators and moving bags around. The future star subsequently became known as the city’s only “belle” hop, and numerous newspaper columnists wrote about her stint there.

It appears as though Nurmi was sadly taken advantage of as she began to seek fame and fortune. The future host of The Vampira Show no doubt believed she was on her way to stardom when a certain operator promised to put her in the frame for several jobs. In truth, though, this unscrupulous individual had nothing to offer but topless modeling.

Nurmi turned heads wherever she went and several famous faces found it hard to resist her spooky charms. Orson Welles was one such star. The Citizen Kane director began a fling with the actress just as he was due to wed fellow Hollywood icon Rita Hayworth. Nurmi fell pregnant as a result but later decided to have the infant boy adopted.

According to reports, Nurmi was traumatized by the fact that she didn’t get to keep her baby. And her mom Sophie later accosted Welles while working at a Los Angeles hotel. But the legendary actor-director had little interest in hearing about Nurmi’s predicament. In fact, he allegedly offered Sophie a couple of hundred dollars to leave him alone.

Though Nurmi struggled to hold down long-term romantic relationships, she did forge a lasting friendship with James Dean. The pair spent much of their downtime together and the Rebel Without a Cause star even turned up on Vampira’s first TV broadcast. According to Yahoo News, Nurmi later said, “Before I met him, I lived in a sea of window dummies.”

Having already penned a book about Nurmi, her niece Sandra then successfully tracked down the son Nurmi’d given up for adoption. David Putter, as he’s now known, later recalled to Yahoo News, “Imagine being a 75-year-old retired attorney, living a life of comfort and very little remaining drama. Then one day, through the magic of DNA, you find that your birth mother was a famous vampire… It was startling to say the least.”

Nurmi was actually born Maila Syrjäniemi but eventually altered her surname to something a little more straightforward to pronounce. And the star looked to her uncle for inspiration. Paavo Nurmi was a Finnish runner who won no fewer than nine Olympic golds across three Games, not to mention a trio of silvers, too.

Initially Nurmi didn’t have much time for the director of her most famous film, Plan 9 from Outer Space. In fact, later she even admitted to viewing him as a “low-born idiot.” But as time passed by, Nurmi realized that the filmmaker deserved credit for what he achieved. According to IMDb.com, she said, “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.”

While researching her book, Nurmi’s niece Sandra found a paper scrap containing the words: “No more showbusiness for me. Everyone concerned is filthy.” The actress may well have been referring to the time an industry operator tried to attack her. Thankfully, Nurmi managed to fend the agent off by walloping him straight in the face.

Nurmi was so determined to leave her humdrum early existence behind that she completely estranged herself from her brother. In 2021 Sandra told website Audiofemme, “He represented everything she despised. He and my mother had built this little tiny two-bedroom house, and he had a job, and he had a family. And that’s everything she did not want. She did not want to be domestic in any way.”

In 1949 Nurmi exchanged vows with a former child star. Dean Riesner had shot to fame aged just five thanks to roles in the likes of Charlie Chaplin’s The Pilgrim. He was also responsible for coining his wife’s stage name Vampira. Sadly, though, it wasn’t meant to be and the pair split in 1955.

It once looked as though Nurmi would be giving Elizabeth Taylor a run for her money in the marriage stakes. After divorcing Riesner, she walked down the aisle again in 1958 with John Brinkley. And just three years later she got hitched again, this time to Fabrizio Mioni. But that was deemed by some to be a marriage of convenience.

Nurmi could have added none other than Marlon Brando to her list of husbands, according to a love letter that her niece found. In the note the Hollywood icon asks the vampish TV host for her hand in marriage. But Nurmi declined his offer, claiming he was both a “sex addict and a hypocrite.”

Back in her heyday Nurmi was so magnetic that she even managed to attract the King of Rock and Roll! Yes, Elvis Presley had a short-lived liaison with the late-night favorite after they were introduced to each other in Las Vegas. But Nurmi was left disappointed by their brief dalliance. She reportedly said, “The way he moved those hips on stage, I was expecting a symphony, but I got Johnny One-Note.”

In 1988 Nurmi sued another late-night horror hostess whom she believed had replicated her entire act. Yes, cult icon Elvira, aka Cassandra Peterson, was taken to court along with several individuals linked to her eponymous KHJ-TV show. Sadly for Nurmi, though, she failed to convince the authorities that this was a genuine example of copyright infringement.

By the time Sandra tracked her aunt down in 1989, Nurmi was living in near squalor. The star’s niece told Audiofemme decades later that the cult favorite was residing in a converted garage at the time. And though it did feature a hot plate and toilet, it was without a stove, refrigerator or shower.

In her mid-40s Nurmi was told by doctors that she had pernicious anemia. This rare condition only affects 0.1 percent of people in the U.S. and is caused by the body not having enough red blood cells. It affected Nurmi’s movement for the rest of her life.

Nurmi modeled for some of the most renowned photographers of the post-war era including Alberto Vargas and Bruno Bernard. But it took some time for her to feel confident enough to pose for the cameras. In an interview with Please Kill Me, she admitted that in her early days she saw herself as an “ugly, ugly duckling.”

After passing away in 2008 from cardiac issues, Nurmi was buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. And according to pal Greg Herger, this was somewhere she’d loved to visit during her lifetime. He recalled to her niece Sandra how they’d often enjoy afternoons together there. The cemetery is also where Judy Garland, Victor Fleming and Rudolph Valentino were laid to rest.

The Vampira Show may have instantly struck a chord with fans of late-night schlocky horror. But its host wasn’t exactly well rewarded for attracting so many viewers. In fact, Nurmi’s weekly pay was less than $60. And she once admitted to spending every cent on cosmetics and travel costs.

After watching the roles dry up in the 1960s, Nurmi decided to give the showbiz industry a rest and pivot into retail. That’s right: the star managed an antiques store located in her own home on Melrose Avenue. And perhaps to try to attract some of her loyal horror fans, she named it Vampira’s Attic!

Nurmi certainly resorted to some strange measures to achieve her famous 17-inch waist. As well as forgoing food altogether on a regular basis, the vampiric star also often covered her body in papaya powder. The tropical fruit’s renowned for its enzymes that can help to improve the condition of the skin.

While being interviewed for Please Kill Me, Nurmi revealed that she’d only ever watched herself playing Vampira once. “I hadn’t seen my script that day and there was a teleprompter centered behind me. I had good teleprompting,” she recalled. “Suddenly I’m sitting on the couch and in the corner is a monitor. I had never seen a monitor. I had never seen the character except for in the mirror in my house.”

Nurmi certainly didn’t mince her words when asked about Rita Hayworth in her Please Kill Me interview. Referring to Orson Welles’ second wife, she said, “I thought she was hideously ugly and I couldn’t understand why he married such an ugly and stupid woman… She had a great heart, but she was a simpleton.” Nurmi did, though, also admit that she didn’t actually know the silver screen icon herself.

Martha Hyer was another actress who was once on Nurmi’s hate list. Famous for her Oscar-nominated performance in Some Came Running, the Hollywood star came up in conversation during the interview with Please Kill Me. And Nurmi described Hyer, once the partner of producer Hal Wallis, as a “dreadful woman.”

Nurmi remained immensely proud of the ghoulish persona that she’d devised right up until her death in 2008. During her later years, the cult icon would produce depictions of Vampira that could be bought online. This wasn’t the first time that she’d displayed artistic ability, either. Before finding fame she’d once made her living painting neckties.

In 1976 actor Sal Mineo was fatally knifed at his LA apartment. And according to Nurmi, she was once a suspect. The cult icon told Please Kill Me, “The police came to me, because many people told them they knew that I did it.” When asked why she felt she’d been in the frame, Nurmi claimed that her identification with gory movies may have played a part.

Liberace was once described by <i>The Guardian</i> as the “benchmark for the most overblown style imaginable.” So it’s perhaps little surprise that he was more than happy to align himself with the most vampish late-night TV host of the mid-20th century. Yes, Nurmi once appeared alongside the flamboyant pianist at a concert in Las Vegas.

It turns out that Nurmi was pretty handy with a needle and thread. When she wasn’t presenting horror-movie marathons, the star enjoyed showing off her creativity through fashion. In fact, she created the Halloween ball costume – which would ultimately set her on the path to fame – using nothing but discarded pieces of fabric.

In her interview with Please Kill Me, Nurmi claimed that she’d once been taken hostage by a thief in her New York home for several hours. Dubbed “The Vamp,” the criminal responsible had apparently been wanted for several murders in the area at the time. Nurmi alleged that she helped to put him behind bars.

Nurmi had the honor of being immortalized in song on several occasions. Both vocalist Bobby Bare and punk-rock outfit The Misfits have paid tribute to her most famous character with tracks named “Vampira.” And in the 1960s Nurmi herself laid down vocals for Satan’s Cheerleaders’ single “I’m Damned/Genocide Utopia.”

After her Hollywood stardom faded, Nurmi took on several unlikely jobs to make ends meet. In 1962 the former actress informed the Los Angeles Times that she was plying her trade as a linoleum layer. And more than three decades later Nurmi revealed to Entertainment Weekly that she made a living cleaning the LA homes of other stars.

Nurmi encountered her fair share of oddballs during her career thanks to her cult character Vampira. And understandably she didn’t always appreciate it when such fans approached her. Referring to the time an admirer invited her to a Halloween bash, Nurmi responded, “Leave me alone! My whole life has been a Halloween party!”