Elvis Presley's closest friend in the Army was often cited as Joe Esposito, who became his lifelong assistant, but he also formed deep bonds with others like Johnny Lang and Rex Mansfield, with Mansfield becoming a close confidant and part of his eventual "Memphis Mafia," highlighting loyalty as key to their friendships during his service in Germany.
Jerry Schilling's tender friendship with the King is a core component of his identity, but his story wouldn't mean much if he wasn't a fascinating character in his own right.
When Elvis was making films in Hollywood, one newspaper contocted a story that he had long talks with Jesse, which really hurt Elvis. Yet close friends and Priscilla have said he never talked about his brother. Ever. Yet only Larry Geller really got Elvis to open up and talk about his twin brother.
“Usually you pass it all in two or three days, but at the autopsy we found stool in his colon which had been there for five months or more because of the poor motility of the bowel.”
Many people might not realize that Elvis Presley, who helped make rock 'n' roll a household staple in America between the 1950s and '70s, was a comic book fan and collector and he had a particular affinity for the hero known as "Captain Marvel Jr." at the time.
“Elvis loved John Wayne”, Presley's step-brother and a member of his 'Memphis Mafia' bodyguard team, David Stanley, said.
Outside of Elvis Presley's family, Ann-Margret was the most important woman in the entertainer's life. Playing opposite Elvis in 1963's Viva Las Vegas, she became the most memorable of Presley's leading ladies during his Hollywood career.
After that, he was on his own. Elvis was given 1 option as an adult in the 70s-a colostomy bag to which he said hell no to.
It was so indulgent it became part of his public image—decadent, Southern, over-the-top. But his last meal was quiet. A bowl of ice cream. Some cookies.
The Commercial Appeal later reported that lab reports indicated that 14 drugs were found in Presley's blood at the time of his death, including "near toxic levels" of codeine, morphine, Placidyl and other prescription drugs.
At first he couldn't help it, as he identified as a singer who had to wiggle his hips and legs as he sang, and it just happened. But then the screaming audience of women clarified for him that they wanted Elvis to do those moves consistently, to the point of passing women out with excitement.
Frank Sinatra when Elvis passed, "I shall miss him as a friend, he was such a warm, considerate, and generous man." ❤
Presley had a secret affair with actress Barbara Leigh for two years. “I never believed that I was the only girlfriend,” Leigh said in 2023. “I accepted Elvis for the time we spent together. I was lucky enough to share with him and I never asked him any questions, and he did likewise.”
“Elvis loved 'I Will Always Love You,' and he wanted to record it,” Parton recalled in a 2006 interview with CMT. “I got the word that he was going to record it, and I was so excited. I told everybody I knew, 'Elvis is going to record my song. You're not going to believe who's recording my song!'”
Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe apparently had a clandestine affair. Tons of tabloids and biographers have claimed that the two icons engaged in a secret romantic relationship in their time. According to these accounts, it was an on-and-off thing that continued sporadically over the years.
"It comforts me to know for sure that my son was a gift from God and that his life was always in God's hand. I would have wanted him to live forever, but I know that his early death, like his entire life, was part of God's plan. I thank God that he blessed me with such a son". Vernon Elvis Presley)
He had a full-time nurse and reportedly refused to bathe throughout 1975, causing him to develop sores on his body. His chronic constipation from the drugs was so severe that when he died, there was four months of stool sitting in his bowel.
In "Their Last Suppers: Legends of History and Their Final Meals," author Andrew Caldwell states that on the night of her death, Monroe had a Mexican buffet delivered to her home, which consisted of gazpacho, meatballs, refried beans, veal parmigiana, layered taco dip, and chicken.
The once slender and sporty star went on to weigh 25 stone as he spent months barricaded in his bedroom indulging in cheeseburger platters. His condition was so fraught that he was in need of a full-time nurse, and as he reportedly refused to bathe throughout 1975, and developed sores across his body.
Debi Drlik Elvis never smoked cigarettes, he occasionally smoked a cigarillo (that's a thin cigar). This uppers & downers business had been part of the entertainer/star merry-go-round since at least the days of Hollywood and young stars like Micky Rooney and Judy Garland.
Was he hands on? No. He didn't change diapers. (laughs) He never changed diapers, he didn't dress her or anything but he was definitely a loving father.
I can even remember what I was wearing: a red knit 70s jumpsuit ...' 'And in walks this guy, and he was soooo beautiful, that it just took my breath away, everybody's breath away. And he walked up to me, and he tussled my hair, and he said 'you look like a chicken that's just been hatched'.
When the King wasn't sipping Gatorade on stage, he may have been in his home in Memphis, Tennessee. There Krystal hamburgers were one of his favorite fast food indulgences, but he also frequented McDonald's, among other chains.
He needed rest and true friends and time far away from the stage. Instead, he got more pills and another tour and another empty hotel room. What people saw as fat was really the body of a man worked to the edge, bloated by the medicine meant to keep him standing.