What is Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson’s Net Worth?
Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson is a multi-talented TV personality with a net worth of $3 million. She gained fame as the gothic goddess Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on KHJ’s weekly show “Elvira’s Movie Macabre,” which aired from 1981 to 1986 and returned in 2010.
Prior to her Elvira days, Peterson worked as a showgirl and had small roles in films like “The Working Girls” and “Diamonds are Forever.” She was also the lead singer of an Italian rock band and performed with comedy acts Mamma’s Boys and The Groundings.
Peterson has over 80 acting credits to her name, including roles in “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” “Red Riding Hood,” and “All About Evil.” She has also worked as a writer and producer on several Elvira-related projects, including “Elvira’s Movie Macabre,” “The Elvira Show,” and “13 Nights of Elvira.”
In 2016, Peterson published a “coffin table” book called “Elvira, Mistress of The Dark: A Photographic Retrospective of the Queen of Halloween.”
Cassandra Peterson’s Early Life
Cassandra Peterson was born in Manhattan, Kansas, in 1951. She suffered severe burns as a child, which made her feel like an outcast and a loner. Peterson grew up in Colorado Springs and saw her first horror movie in elementary school. She graduated from Palmer High School in 1969 and worked as a go-go dancer at a gay bar as a teenager.
Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson’s Career Highlights
Cassandra Peterson started her career as the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas at age 17. She later became a lead vocalist for various bands and joined the improv troupe The Groundlings. In 1981, she began hosting “Elvira’s Movie Macabre” and created the iconic Elvira persona with her best friend, Robert Redding. She has since appeared as Elvira in numerous projects, including movies, TV shows, and as a guest judge on “Halloween Wars.”
Aside from her Elvira persona, Peterson has also appeared in various films such as “Diamonds are Forever,” “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” and “Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold.” She has lent her voice to animated films and TV series such as “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Peterson has also released several albums, such as “Elvira Presents Vinyl Macabre: Oldies but Ghoulies” and “Elvira’s Gravest Hits.” In 2021, she appeared in the film “Shoplifters of the World” and voiced Lirrak on the Netflix series “Dota: Dragon’s Blood.”
Cassandra Peterson’s Personal Life
Cassandra married Mark Pierson in 1981 and they had a daughter named Sadie in 1994. Pierson became her manager after their marriage and the couple divorced in 2003.
In a 2014 interview, Cassandra spoke about meeting Elvis Presley and going on a date with him. She credited Presley with giving her career advice that changed her life, saying, “He is 100 percent responsible for me getting out of Vegas and going on with my career. Elvis said to me, ‘You don’t want to stay here, this is not a town you should be in.’ And I don’t think if that would’ve come from anybody but Elvis I would’ve done it.”
Accolades and Awards
Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson has received numerous awards and accolades throughout her career. In 2018, she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Hollywood Horrorfest, and she was inducted into the Horror Host Hall Of Fame in 2012. Peterson won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Favorite Horror Host in 2011 and was inducted into the Monster Kid Hall of Fame in 2017. She also received the Spirit of Silver Lake Award at the 2001 Los Angeles Silver Lake Film Festival and was nominated for a Best Actress Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for her role in “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark” in 1990.
Brad Pitt’s Haunted Los Feliz Estate
In 1994, Brad Pitt purchased a 5,338 square foot property in LA’s Los Feliz neighborhood from Cassandra for $1.7 million. He later acquired neighboring properties to create a 2-acre multi-structure compound. In January 2023, Brad reportedly listed the estate home off-market for $40 million.
Cassandra believed the property was haunted, experiencing strange occurrences such as footsteps above her head on the ceiling, smoke forming into human shapes, and a black shadow floating on the bottom of the pool. After a priest performed an exorcism and a Native American cleansed the home with sage, the disturbances reportedly stopped.
In 2012, Peterson purchased a three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Los Angeles for $925,000.
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