Name at birth: Cassandra Peterson

Cassandra Peterson was just another struggling actress during the 1970s. In the early 1980s, as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, she put the "vamp" in vampire and introduced horror movies on a Los Angeles television station. From there she launched a career as a cleavage-rich spokeswoman for all things spooky and campy, including a syndicated TV show, a movie and a merchandising blitz that cranked out everything from perfume to pinball machines.