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Maila Nurmi (December 11, 1922 – January 10, 2008)〔Maila Elizabeth Nurmimioni (), Social Security Death Index〕 was a Finnish-American actress born in Petsamo, Finland, who created the campy 1950s character Vampira. She portrayed Vampira as TV's first horror host and in the Ed Wood cult film ''Plan 9 from Outer Space''. She is also billed as Vampira in the 1959 movie ''The Beat Generation'' where she plays a beatnik poet. ==Early life== Born as Maila Elizabeth Niemi, she claimed to be the niece of the Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi, who began setting long-distance running world records in 1921, the year before her birth. She moved to the United States with her family when she was two years old and grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio, home to the largest Finnish-American community in the state. She and her family lived in Ashtabula until 1939, when they moved to Oregon. She graduated from high school in Astoria, Oregon, before arriving in Los Angeles. She modeled for Alberto Vargas, Bernard of Hollywood, and Man Ray, gaining a foothold in the film industry with an uncredited role in Victor Saville's 1947 film, ''If Winter Comes''. She reportedly was fired by Mae West from the cast of West's Broadway play ''Catherine Was Great'' in 1944 because West feared that she was being upstaged. On Broadway, she gained much attention after appearing in the horror-themed midnight show ''Spook Scandals'', in which she screamed, fainted, lay in a coffin and seductively lurked about a mock cemetery. She also worked as a showgirl for the Earl Carroll Theatre and as a high-kicking chorus line dancer at the Florentine Gardens along with stripper Lili St. Cyr. In the 1950s she supported herself mainly by posing for pin-up photos in men's magazines such as ''Famous Models'', ''Gala'' and ''Glamorous Models''. Before landing her role as 'Vampira', she was working as a hat-check girl in a cloakroom on Hollywood's Sunset Strip.〔''Filmfax'' #13, December 1988〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Maila Nurmi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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