Biography

Candace Hilligoss was involved in acting from the early days of elementary school plays. After three years at the University of Iowa, she came to New York to study acting at the American Theatre Wing, and made her professional debut doing summer stock in Pennsylvania. She acted at the Cape Cod Playhouse, toured with Nina Foch in "Idiot's Delight", turned up in New York TV shows and, as one of the world-famous Copa Girls, danced at the Copacabana night spot. In 1961, she was spirited off to Lawrence, Kansas, to star in Carnival of Souls (1962), the spooky cult classic; she later reinforced her horror rep playing the ingenue in the Connecticut-made The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964).
- IMDb mini biography by: Tom Weaver <Tom Weavr@aol.com>

Appeared in two low-budget horror films where the director played the main undead antagonist, Carnival of Souls & The Curse of the Living Corpse

Interviewed in Tom Weaver's books "Attack of the Monster Movie Makers" (McFarland & Co., 1994) and "I Was a Monster Movie Maker" (McFarland & Co., 2001).

Mother of Candace Coster.

[on Carnival of Souls (1998), a remake of the original Carnival of Souls (1962) in which she had starred] I thought, "This is the kind of movie that I would PAY them not to let me in the theater. I would give them eight dollars NOT to allow me inside, because the agony of sitting through this crap is so great that it would be worth eight dollars to me to be permitted to stay far, far away!