Elvis’ Bodyguard Said the Singer’s Drug Use Is Evident Beginning in 1 Movie

Elvis Presley’s bodyguard said viewers of one film should be able to see evidence of the fact that the singer was using drugs. He acted in multiple movies over the course of his career and reportedly relied on drugs to keep him going during the long shoots. His bodyguard, Red West, said this began to affect Elvis’ acting very early in his career. 

Elvis’ bodyguard said viewers can clock the singer’s drug use starting in 1 movie

Elvis made his on screen debut in 1956 with the film Love Me Tender. After making a number of films, Elvis took a step back from his career in 1958 when he joined the army. It was then that he reportedly began relying on stimulants and sleeping pills.

When Elvis began acting again in 1960, he was still using drugs. West said viewers of his first film after his military service, G.I. Blues, should be able to notice this. According to him, Elvis’ acting in G.I. Blues and his subsequent films differed greatly from his acting in previous movies. 

“From G.I. Blues on, you can notice the way he speaks,” Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy, adding, “He had to make a real effort to slow his speech down. He would talk like a machine gun in those movies where he was wired with uppers. He was high the whole time — and we were most of the time, too.”

The entourage often had to sneak off to sleep during film shoots

According to bodyguard Sonny West, Elvis’ drug use began as a way to keep up with his hectic schedule. His bodyguards soon found themselves doing the same thing.

“There was no other way we could keep up with him,” Sonny said. “He would never get any sleep. Then comes six in the morning for an early call, and we would be beat. So he would give us these uppers and we would drink coffee all day. After a while, we graduated with him into stronger pills like desbutal and escotrol. We were there, right in with him.”

His days on film shoots were so long that his bodyguards would slip away to sleep underneath props. It was the only way they could get any rest. 

“On some of those movies, while Elvis was wired and high as a kite, we would sometimes sneak away off the studio lot and go to a vacant studio and hide under props and stuff and sleep while he was before the cameras,” Sonny said. “It was the only way we could get any real sleep, because he would be going like a steam train all day and only get a few hours’ sleep. In the early days that man had a tremendous constitution. He would never stop.”

Elvis wanted his bodyguards to use drugs with him

Elvis provided his entourage with drugs to keep up with him. They didn’t always wanted to take them, though. In these instances, they claimed Elvis would watch them to make sure they were consuming everything he did.

“There were other times when he was going to get high, he sort of demanded that you get up there with him,” Sonny said. “Sometimes he would stand in front of you and watch you take the stuff because there was some stuff he gave me, I don’t know what it was, but I would break out in a sweat. So often he would give me a handful of pills and I would ditch them. He knew this, so he would stand in front of me with a glass of water.”

Sonny said that Elvis acted upset when people refused the drugs. If they continuously did, though, he eventually stopped offering them.

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.