Cassandra Peterson is remembering the comedy greats who came before her.
At The Groundlings’ 50th anniversary party in Los Angeles, the actress — known best, by many, as Elvira — spoke with us about the impact of the improvisational sketch comedy troupe and her late mentors.
“I liked comedy, but I really decided [it was for me] when I went to The Groundlings, and mostly because I studied Phil Hartman, John Paragon and Paul Reubens,” the 73-year-old says. “They were my mentors and I just wanted to be like them, so they became my teachers and best friends. They really radically changed my comedy chops and everything.”
Rubens, known for his beloved character Pee-wee Herman, died on July 30 from acute hypoxic respiratory failure at the age of 70, after keeping his cancer diagnosis private for years. Paragon, a fellow Pee-wee’s Playhouse actor, died in 2021 at age 66 from heart failure, while Hartman was killed in 1998 at age 49 by his wife in a shocking murder-suicide.
To help keep their memory alive, Peterson says she has “big pictures of them all in [her] office” that she looks at every day. She also dreams about her fellow Groundlings alumni on occasion.
“It was so weird! The other night — I’m not kidding, about a week ago — I had a dream that I was coming here. And in the dream, I was holding hands with Phil, John and Paul and we were dancing together, like to a waltz. We were like ‘1, 2, 3’ and we were dancing, and it was just them and me and we were in this big ballroom with all these people around, and I woke up sobbing,” she says, fighting back tears.
“I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am in my career without The Groundlings. I guarantee you. It was 100% life-changing for me.”
Cassandra Peterson at The Groundlings’ 50th anniversary celebration in L.A. in October 2024.
Amanda Edwards/Getty
Peterson joined the LA-based Groundlings in 1979 where she created her Elvira persona, a Mistress of the Dark horror host known for her signature Valley girl voice, campy jokes and Morticia Addams-esque outfit.
She went on to star in several movies and TV shows as the character, such as 1988’s cult classic, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. In 2021, Peterson published her New York Times best-selling autobiography Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark, in which she came out and revealed her 19-year relationshipwith partner Teresa “T” Wierson.
“[It] flipped everybody out,” she previously said during a 2022 episode of David Yontef’s Behind the Velvet Rope podcast. “Nobody was ready for that. People just said, ‘Elvira, you lied to me. I don’t respect you anymore. Goodbye.’ ”
Though she lost 11,000 social media followerswhen she initially shared the news, she later gained 60,000 more.
“It’s so much nicer to just be who you are and I mean, if I can’t be who I am by the age of 70, then, oh my God, I’m in big trouble, right? People keep saying, ‘Why now?’ And I say, ‘Because if not now, when? When I’m 100?’ ” she previously told us.
