Malia Nurmi

1921-2008

Apparently, the actress Malia Nurmi has passed away. For those of you too young to remember, she was quite a beauty in her youth, and most famous for her role of Vampira, the first TV horror hostess.

(The name came from her husband, Rudy Gernreich, a screenwriter, who among his other credits, wrote Dirty Harry.)

Later, Vampira went on to co-star in Plan Nine from Outer Space, a movie of some note, if not the best example of the filmmaker's art. (In fact, it was voted Worst Movie Ever in a number of places, and earned its director, the infamous Ed Wood, a Golden Turkey for Worst Director Ever.)

From her Wikipedia entry: "Nurmi was acquainted with Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and briefly dated Orson Welles. In the early 1950s, she was close friends with James Dean, and they hung out together at Googie's coffee shop on the corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Her explanation for their friendship: "We have the same neuroses." Dean commented, "I have a fairly adequate knowledge of satanic forces, and I was interested to find out if this girl was obsessed with such a force."

Adios, Vampira.