Sometimes somebody comes along in your life at exactly the right time and puts you on the best, healthiest road for yourself. Maybe one you would not have discovered on your own. Cassandra Peterson, better known for many years as the spooky "Elvira," insists that Elvis Presley did that for her when she was a teenage Las Vegas showgirl. Per Parade, Peterson, 74, did a TikTok video via AP News Entertainment that described how Presley influenced her in a kind, compassionate way. She was very young and impressionable at the time.
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The King of Rock and Roll Had a Huge Impact on Peterson
In the video, she states, "He absolutely changed my life 100%. I was a showgirl in Vegas. I was 17 years old. And he said, 'This is no place for a 17-year-old girl. You need to get the hell out of here.'" Back then, per the outlet, "Peterson was the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas history at the time, performing in Vive Les Girls at the Dunes Hotel."
Peterson had a memorable heart-to-heart talk with the legendary "Jailhouse Rock" star. She now recalls that she told him she achieved her goal by being a showgirl in Vegas. But Elvis evidently thought there was something more promising in store for the idealistic teen.
She Did an Impromptu Singing Audition for Elvis
He perched at a piano with Peterson to find out if she could carry a tune. "We sat down at the piano and he played. And I sang along with him. It was unbelievable. And he said, 'You have a nice voice. Why don't you become a singer? Do that. Take some voice lessons.'"
That advice practically halted Peterson right in her tracks. She said, "When Elvis tells you to do something, you think, maybe I can do this." The encounter seemingly gave Peterson a new direction and opened her eyes to bigger, more stable possibilities.
Peterson Is Profoundly Appreciative to This Day
Peterson reflected, "I tell everyone I was the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas at the time. I would now be the oldest showgirl in Las Vegas. Probably be doing it still. So, thank you Elvis. Oh, you saved my life."
Her professional path took her to Europe, where she acted and sang. Then Peterson found herself in Hollywood. In the early 1980s, she reinvented herself as the Elvira character and has never looked back.
