Vampires and Gothic women were not always what you see on TV today.
Oh sure, we had some vampiric temptresses, but we also had some Vampires and Goths that were like June Cleaver.
Or a meat cleaver.
Here's a look at some famous (and beautiful) Vampire and Gothic type women on TV and films over the years.

Vampira
Probably the first really cool Gothic chick was Vampira.
Vampira was Maila Nurmi, a Finnish-American actress who was born Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi, on December 11, 1922 in Petsamo, Finland (which is now Pechenga, Russia).
Maila actually based the Vampira character on Charles Addams' character Morticia Addams in the Addams Family cartoons.
Her husband, Dean Riesner, came up with the name Vampira.
At the height of her popularity, she was so famous that she appeared on a sketch on the The Red Skelton Show with horror greats Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre, and Lon Chaney Jr.
At the depth of her popularity, she appeared in Ed Wood's infamous "Plan 9 From Outer Space" as a Vampira-like zombie.
Vampira's physical stats were an amazing 38-17-36!

Morticia Addams
The Addams Family TV series barely beat The Munsters to the small screen, debuting on September 18, 1964 on ABC.
And of course the life's blood of the Addams Family was Morticia Addams, played by Carolyn Jones.
What can you say about Morticia?
Aristocratic and sophisticated, but still deeply devoted to her family.
And the one to reign in Gomez when he went a little too far.
Which was pretty much...always.

Morticia: [to Gomez] I've been yours since that first day you carved my initials in your leg.

Lily Munster
The second Gothic TV mom was Lily Munster (played by Yvonne De Carlo), also known as the Countess of Shroudshire (Dracula).
Although unlike Morticia, Lily really was royalty, but she behaved more like a 1960s TV mom.
And Like Morticia, Lily was deeply devoted to her family.

Lily Munster: Grandpa, if you want the ketchup, just say "Please pass the ketchup", not "Shoot me the plasma!"

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
Elivira started out as a movie host like Vampira did.
As a matter of fact, she was so close to Vampira that it sparked a court battle.
When you looked at Elvira you saw a wicked vampiric-looking temptress.
Until she opened her mouth.
Then it was all quick witted (and usually lame) barbs delivered with a Valley-girl cadence.
Elivira became so popular at one time, she had two PC games, two Elvira themed pinball machines, and two movies.
She even appeared with U2 when they played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Halloween night, 1992.

Elvira: Bloody Mary.
Bartender: No hard liquor served past eight o'clock. Do you want a virgin?
Elvira: Maybe, but, ah... I'll have a couple of drinks first.

Darla
Like I mentioned in another Hub, Buffy the Vampire Slayer may have been about slaying vampires, but it had some of the best vampire characters on TV.
Darla was the sire of Angel, and not your typical looking vamp.
And Darla was also the first vampire to ever be seen on Buffy in the first episode "Welcome to the Hellmouth" (she was even in the un-aired pilot).
Her blond hair and blue eyes separated her from your standard "dark" vampiress, and it was even mentioned in the series that Angel may have been drawn to Buffy because she resembled Darlra.
And in real life, Julie Benz auditioned for the role of Buffy, but lost out to Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Darla: You're hurting me!.....I like it!

Drusilla
Drusilla, probably my favorite "crazy vamp" was the childe of Angelus and the girlfriend of Spike.
Juliet Landau literally chewed up the scenery in ever scene she was in.
The blend of child-like innocent and homicidal maniac might have been lost on a lesser actress, but Juliet pulled it off with what appeared to be ease.

Drusilla: You have beautiful skin.
Lilah Morgan: I moisturize.
Drusilla: That was very thoughtful of you.

Willow Vamp
The pre-cursor to Dark Willow and a major cult character.
I think everyone loved seeing shy, demure Willow turn into the sexy, man-eating Vampire Willow.
And like Juliet Landau with Dru, Alyson Hannigan tore up every scene she was in.
Again, this role would have been lost on a lesser actress.

Vamp Willow: Bored now.
(simple line, but it was in the delivery)

Lillie Langtry
In the cult series Kindred: The Embraced, the stunning Stacy Haiduk played the mysterious, classy and deadly, Lillie Langtry.
Stacy has always had this ethereal beauty that made the character.

Sasha
And also on Kindred: The Embraced, Brigid Brannagh played the flip side to the reserved Lillie, the brash and fiery Sasha.
The living descendant of Julian Luna, Sasha was forcibly embraced by the Brujah Cameron.

Morticia Addams
Again?
Yes, you can't talk about beautiful Gothic and Vampiric women with out mentioning Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams in the two Addams Family movies, The Addams Family and Addams Family Values.
Even though Carolyn Jones made Morticia hers, Anjelica owned the role in a different way, bringing in some of the TV Morticia and some of the Charles Addams original Morticia feel.
(I don't think she ever spoke in the New Yorker cartoons)
Anyway, Anjelica's Morticia was familiar, but with her own unique twist.

Morticia: Gomez.
Gomez: Querida?
Morticia: Last night you were unhinged. You were like some desperate, howling demon. You frightened me. Do it again!