Maila "Vampira" Nurmi Filmography

Born:: December 11, 1921 in Finland
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Wasp-waisted, exotic Maila Nurmi was perhaps best known under the name of Vampira, the character that she created. She was one of the more startling (albeit marginal) pop culture figures of the 1950s and made an indelible mark in movies -- principally in a role that didn't have a word of dialogue....Read More

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Vampira: The Movie

Actors: Maila "Vampira" Nurmi, Forrest J. Ackerman, Sid Haig, Lloyd Kaufman, Black Betty

Synopsis: This documentary travels behind the scenes of camp classics such as Plan 9 from Outer Space to visit the life and career of onetime horror star and TV horror hostess Vampira (aka Maila Nurmi). The title figure was previously portrayed by Lisa Marie in Tim Burton's picture Ed Wood. ~ Nathan Read More

2006
Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies

Synopsis: Pauline Kael once wrote that since movies were so rarely great art, if one weren't interested in great trash, there wasn't much reason to pay attention to them, and one could reasonably argue that few periods brought us more top-quality cinematic trash than the 1950s and '60s. With drive-ins and Read More

2001
I Woke Up Early The Day I Died

Actors: Billy Zane, Sandra Bernhard, Ron Perlman, Tippi Hedren, Andrew McCarthy

Synopsis: Aris Iliopulos directed this campy comedy utilizing schlock filmmaker Ed Wood's last unproduced screenplay. Stock footage and old hygiene films are intercut with this near-silent story following a cross-dresser (Billy Zane), who escapes from the Casa de la Loco Sanitarium, manages to acquire some Read More

1998
Vampira: About Sex, Death, and Taxes

Synopsis: During the 1950s, Finland born actress Maila Nurmi gained a small but devoted following with her creation of Vampira, the sensuously ghoulish hostess of Los Angeles television station KABC's late-night horror films. This documentary tells her fascinating life story from her birth in Finland to her Read More

1996
Vampires: Thirst For The Truth

Actors: William Marshall, Bela Lugosi Jr., Chris Sarandon, Maila "Vampira" Nurmi, Lara Parker

Synopsis: Ths film takes an in depth look at the history of the vampire myth and its continuing hold on the public's imagination. Is there some truth to the legends and stories that would explain the endless fascination that humans have for the "children of the night"? William Marshall, star of the film Read More

1996
The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr.

Actors: Dolores Fuller

Synopsis: The strange life and the wonderfully awful films of 1950's Hollywood Z movie director Ed Wood are profiled in this documentary that was conceived of and researched several years before commercial-filmmaker Tim Burton made his feature film tribute. Actually, Wood does not appear much in this film. Read More

1995
The Magic Sword

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Estelle Winwood, Anne Helm, Gary Lockwood, Liam Sullivan

Synopsis: In this fun-filled adventure-fantasy, a rookie knight embarks upon a valiant quest to save a princess who has been captured by a malicious magician. Along the way he must battle the usual assortment of dragons, ogres and other mythical beings. He is assisted by a good witch who gives him a magic Read More

1962
Sex Kittens Go to College

Actors: John Carradine, Jackie Coogan, Allan Drake, Martin Milner, Louis Nye, Mickey Shaughnessy, Conway Twitty, Mamie van Doren, Tuesday Weld

Synopsis: Curvaceous Mamie Van Doren plays a super-genius who finds herself in charge of a college science department. Mamie would like to be appreciated for her intellect alone, but her male students (and most of the faculty) are preoccupied by her monumental breasts. The science department is virtually Read More

1960
Night of the Ghouls

Actors: Criswell, Kenne Duncan, Duke Moore, Tor Johnson, Valda Hansen

Synopsis: Night of the Ghouls (which was also known as Revenge of the Dead) was Edward D. Wood Jr.'s first attempt at making a horror film without any contribution, either in a true performance or through the presence of archival footage, from Bela Lugosi, who had died three years earlier. The plot, which Read More

1959
The Beat Generation

Actors: Steve Cochran, Mamie van Doren, Ray Danton, Fay Spain, Louis Armstrong

Synopsis: Set within the popular bohemian coffee houses of the late '50s where beatniks gathered to recite poetry and perform, this sensationalistic detective drama centers upon the attempts of an insensitive police detective to catch an arrogant serial rapist, a rich young man who believes himself mentally Read More

1959
The Big Operator

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Steve Cochran, Mamie van Doren, Mel Tormé, Ray Danton

Synopsis: Mickey Rooney plays labor racketeer Little Joe Braun in this fast-paced and surprisingly violent drama about one man's determination to clean up his union. Bill Gibson (Steve Cochran) is Little Joe's nemesis and is one of the men who can testify that he saw the labor boss in an incriminating Read More

1959
Plan 9 from Outer Space

Actors: Criswell, Tor Johnson, Maila "Vampira" Nurmi, Carl Anthony, Bela Lugosi, Mona McKinnon, Gregory Walcott

Synopsis: With its incoherent plot, jaw-droppingly odd dialogue, inept acting, threadbare production design, and special effects so shoddy that they border on the surreal, Plan 9 From Outer Space has often been called the worst movie ever made. But it's an oddly endearing disaster; boasting genuine Read More

1956