Maila Nurmi was an actress and television personality who created the famous character ‘Vampira.’ Nurmi started her career as a fashion model and as a burlesque dancer. In 1944 Mae West fired from the cast of West’s 1944 Broadway play “Catherine Was Great” because she feared that Nurmi was being upstaged. She made her screen debut with an uncredited role in ‘If Winter Comes (1947)’. After several minor roles, Nurmi rose to fame with the Vampira character, and she hosted her series, “The Vampira Show.” She received an Emmy Award nomination in 1954 for “Most Outstanding Female Personality.”
In 1949 Nurmi married film and television writer Dean Riesner and they divorced after few years. She also married John Brinkley and Fabrizio Mioni. The vampire character began to decline in the early 1960s and eventually died. By 1962 she was making a living by installing linoleum flooring. She also opened Vampira’s Attic, an antique boutique on Melrose Avenue, and sold handmade jewelry and clothing. In 1981, KHJ-TV asked her to revive her old Vampire Character for a television series. Nurmi worked closely with the producers but eventually left the project over creative differences. In 2001, she opened an official website and began selling autographed memorabilia and original pieces of art. Nurmi died on January 10, 2008, at her home in Hollywood at the age of 85. She was buried in the Griffith Lawn section of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
