Maila Nurmi, 1921 - 2008.

From the trustworthy Arbogast and various other online sources comes the sad news that the iconic horror hostess and actress Vampiria (aka Maila Nurmi) has passed away at the age of 86. If you've read my blog long enough, you're probably aware that I have a deep affection for horror hosts and I greatly admired the lovely Vampiria. She was the original bad girl of late night TV and paved the way for many other men and women to follow in her footsteps.

Kimberly Lindbergs.

Updated through 1/17.

And she also points to: Vampira's Attic, the official site; her YouTube channel; and the Wikipedia entry.

Updates, 1/12: "A shapely creation forged from elements of the 'sick humor' that was arising at the time from the beatnik culture (making her a sister to Lenny Bruce and Brother Theodore), Vampira's own sense of humor was dry, droll and devastatingly unpredictable; no one else could get the upper hand with Vampira around," writes Tim Lucas. "She was simply too cool for the graveyard."

"'Who is your favorite photographer?' she inquired," recalls C Jerry Kutner at Bright Lights After Dark. "'Man Ray,' I said. 'Oh yes," she responded, 'I modeled for him.' Her lovers included Marlon Brando, Orson Welles and James Dean.... I once loaned Maila a copy of Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols. In particular, I wanted her to read the chapter on the 'anima,' Jung's term for female archetypes - witches, goddesses, vampires, saints, etc - that are actually fantasy projections of the inner male psyche, i.e., of the male's unacknowledged feminine aspects... After returning the book Maila declared, 'I am an anima.' I have written about Maila previously here and here."

"Erotic, sarcastic, unwholesome, kind of mean, regal for no-good-reason, certainly weird, and stuck watching murky PRC and Monogram movies in the middle of the night (in short, our ideal lady), Vampira was an early camp avatar for straight culture; she's the missing self-aware, cooly ironic link between Maria Montez and Mystery Science Theater 3000," writes Chris Stangl.

At If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger..., Tom Sutpen posts quite a photo and a few words.

Update, 1/13: Tom Sutpen's got a clip of Maila Nurmi talking about her affair with Welles.

Update, 1/17: John McElwee has a great overview of her life and career at Greenbriar Picture Shows.

Posted by dwhudson at January 11, 2008 2:32 PM