Today Asia Argento turns 32, Maggie Cheung 43, Brinke Stevens 53, Dany Carrel 75. Best wishes to this amazing quartet!

I’m going to take the opportunity, since this is Cassandra Peterson’s birthday, to answer a question that has come my way thousands of time: have you ever actually met any of the Sirens that you talk about on your website?

To meet as many Sirens as possible is still a work in progress, but I admit that the chance to actually chat with one in person came my way in 2005, at the Toronto FanExpo. On the guest list was Cassandra Peterson and I couldn’t miss that chance. Some months before, I think I’ve failed to convince the person representing Tanya Roberts for her convention appearances to make his client a guest at the con, so I was consoled by standing in front of the Mistress of the Dark, au naturel without the Elvira costume.

The following photograph is immortal proof that I met Cassandra in person (what, don’t you recognize me on the left, in full convention battle gear?). Actually, I have no clue as to who took that picture, as I found it by pure chance on one of the Rue Morgue forums dedicated to that particular event (Rue Morgue being one of the main organizers):

Right then, I was probably telling some lame joke that was hitting the mark. When I admitted coming from Montreal, Cassandra fondly recalled her visit to my hometown on the Just For Laughs Festival in 2001, for the promotion of her movie Elvira’s Haunted Hills. She was charming, beautiful and full of wit. A memorable encounter.

So let’s celebrate Elvira’s 58th birthday (!!!) while keeping in my mind that her favorite holiday (Halloween) is on its way…

At least, let’s admit that it was close. Born on September 15, 1907, Fay Wray passed away in 2004, as there were still rumors of a cameo appearance in Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Ms. Wray’s fragile beauty and grace will probably be talked about for another 100 years and rightfully so. Her role as Ann Darrow is of course immortal and will be part of movie lore for eternity.

Eternal beauty Raquel Welch turns a youthful 67 today. Her last movie was 2006’s Forget About It and she’s still going on strong in the wig business. She remains in my Top Five of favorite screen beauties of all time and is responsible, alongside Brigitte Bardot, for starting my interest in movie actresses, when I was a wee lad in the early seventies. How could I know that decades later, I would pay tribute to Raquel and many others on the web?