"He really should be in the Halloween Hall of Fame." Harold Maxwell, Founder of Annie's Costumes, remarked just after hearing of the passing of Bobby "Boris" Pickett in April of 2007. And with those words, the Halloween Hall of Fame was begun.

In case you're not familiar with his contribution, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers popularized the perennial Halloween themed favorite, "The Monster Mash". He is a classic example of the kind of actors, musicians, movie directors, writers, costume designers, and others that inspired us to create the Halloween Hall of Fame. It is in tribute to these people that we have built this website.

No Halloween Hall of Fame could be started without our five inaugural members. Each of these people has contributed to the scary and fun theme of Halloween in their own unique way. As individuals, they have used their talent, imagination and creativity to promote Halloween as a positive holiday. As our first Halloween Hall of Famers, they have helped create some of the most memorable Halloween themed costumes, songs, movies and so much more.

Lon Chaney, Jr.
After struggling as an actor for several years, he was signed in 1941 for his first monster film "Man Made Monster". In late 1941, he starred as Lawrence Talbot and created "The Wolf Man". He went on to play Frankenstein's monster in "Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942), Kharis the mummy in "The Mummy's Tomb"(1942), "The Mummy's Curse"(1944), "The Mummy's Ghost" (1944), and Dracula in "Son of Dracula" (1943). He would portray "The Wolf Man" another four times in "Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man" (1943), "House of Frankenstein" (1944), "House of Dracula" (1945), and "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein" in (1948).

Elvira
Cassandra Peterson was a struggling actress in the 70s with a few small roles on Fantasy Island, Happy Days and others, but that all changed when she donned the tight cleavage enhancing black gown and black wig and transformed into Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She hosted the nationally syndicated horror movie show "Movie Macabre", each week provided her unique comical commentary on low budget classic horror movies. Since then, she has appeared in many films and on TV, and has become the unofficial "Queen of Halloween". She's now one of the most widely recognized Halloween related personalities in the world.

Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff was an English actor, best known for his roles in horror films and the creation of Frankenstein's monster in 1931 film Frankenstein. A year later, he played another iconic character, Imhotep, in The Mummy. His popularity in the early 1930s was such that for a brief time he was billed simply as "Karloff" or, on some movie posters, "Karloff the Uncanny". Karloff played Frankenstein's monster three times; the other films being Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which also featured Lugosi, as the demented Ygor.

Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi is best known for his portrayal of Count Dracula in the American Broadway stage production (1927), and subsequent film (1931), of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story. Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in such movies as Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, and Son of Frankenstein for Universal, and the independent White Zombie. It is only fitting that the man forever associated with Dracula was actually born near the western border of Transylvania in 1882, not far from the legendary Count’s home in the Carpathian Mountains.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett
The co-creator of the Monster Mash. Since its release in 1962 when it became no. 1 in 8 weeks, Bobby "Boris" Pickett is the only active performer whose original recording reached "the top 100" on three different occasions. Over the years Monster Mash has been heard on every top 40 and oldies station on the planet and such popular T.V. shows as the Simpsons, Cheers, Roseanne, Doogie Howser and CNN, not to mention its use in several movies including "Halloween III" and Sweetheart's Dance." Its co-creator and vocalist, Bobby "Boris"Pickett, has been hailed as the Guy Lombardo of Halloween and Monster Mash has become the national anthem of this fun holiday.

New Halloween Hall of Fame Inductee October 31, 2007:

Vincent Price
Best known for his distinctive, low-pitched ominous voice as his quizzical facial expressions, Vincent Leonard Price (1911-1993) made his screen debut in 1938 and found his niche staring in low-budget horror movies such as House of Wax (1953). He achieved his first major success with House of Usher (1960) and starred in classic Gothic horror movies such as Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). He left films in the mid-70s but had newfound acclaim for his final role, Edward Scissorhands (1990).

Fun Halloween Facts: Price lent his distinctive voice to many Gothic horror stories albums for Caedmon Records. Vincent's father was the president of The National Candy Company.