He lifted my left hand, which was resting on the table, to within inches of his eyes and squinted. The fortune-teller held my right hand, bringing my palm closer to his face in the dim light. Then the line starts up again, ending in a star on each palm. The lifeline on my right hand is severed by a short, deep crease that cuts across it at an angle, just after it begins. According to a palm reader I met when I was seventeen, I did. Instant New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller.Ī New York Times Best Books to Give This Season selection. It is the candid, often hilarious, and sometimes heartbreaking tale of a Midwest farm girl’s long, strange trip to become the world’s sexiest, sassiest Halloween icon. Always original and sometimes outrageous, her story is loaded with twists, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences. Cassandra doesn’t shy away from revealing exactly who she is and how she overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. Yours Cruelly, Elvira is an unforgettably wild memoir. She got the job as “Elvira,” never imagining it would lead to fame and a forty-year career. In 1981, as a struggling actress considered past her prime, Cassandra auditioned for a local LA station as hostess for their late-night horror movies. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she joined the famed comedy improv group, The Groundlings. Then a chance encounter with the “King” himself, Elvis Presley, inspired her to travel to Europe where she worked in film and toured Italy as lead singer of a band. By age seventeen, she was performing as a showgirl in Las Vegas. Cassandra left home at fourteen and supported herself as a go-go dancer. She miraculously survived, but burned and scarred, the impact would stay with her and become an obstacle she was determined to overcome. The paperback includes 32 new images and an original poem composed by Cassandra when she was 16, perfect for fans to collect.Īt only eighteen months old, Cassandra Peterson reached for a pot on the stove and doused herself in boiling water, resulting in third-degree burns over 35 percent of her body.

The woman behind the icon known as the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story, filled with intimate bombshells, told by the bombshell herself.

Cruelly yours elvira