Wasp-waisted, exotic Maila Nurmi was perhaps best known under the name of Vampira, the character that she created. She was one of the more startling (albeit marginal) pop culture figures of the 1950s and made an indelible mark in movies — principally in a role that didn't have a word of dialogue. The Finnish-born beauty contest winner and niece of Olympic athlete Paavo Nurmi, Maila Nurmi arrived in Hollywood at the end of the 1940s, crossing paths with Marilyn Monroe (during her pre-stardom days as Norma Jean Baker) in the course of working as a dancer, model, and actress. The turning point in her career came in 1953 when Nurmi attended a masquerade ball in Hollywood in the guise of the ghoul woman from the Charles Addams cartoons (later christened Morticia in the television adaptation). Binding her breasts and painting her body a stark white, she looked like a preserved corpse. Nurmi ended up winning the party's top prize and in the course of the attendant publicity, caught the eye of television producer Hunt Stromberg Jr., the son of the movie producer Hunt Stromberg. His station, KABC-TV, had a late-night horror movie showcase and he offered Nurmi the chance to host it in her ghoul woman guise. The Vampira Show, as it became known, was a campy phenomenon in Los Angeles in 1954-1955 and Nurmi earned a place in pop culture history as the first television horror movie host, a fraternity which later included such figures as…  » Read more