Elvis’ Celebrity Crush Assumed He Was ‘Some Sort of Moron’
Elvis Presley was many people’s celebrity crush. He commanded audiences of screaming fans and had affairs with a number of his co-stars in movies. According to those who knew him, he was the most charismatic person they’d ever met. Still, he didn’t win everyone over right away. One of Elvis’ biggest crushes didn’t think much of him at all before they met.
Elvis’ celebrity crush didn’t hold him in high regard before she met him
In 1956, Elvis starred in his debut film, Love Me Tender, alongside Debra Paget. Paget was a glamorous, well-established actor, and Elvis immediately fell for her. He confessed to his friends that he had a massive crush. They believed this crush stuck with him for a while, possibly even influencing his relationship with Priscilla Presley.
“If you look at her in those earlier pictures, you will see she had a decided likeness to Priscilla Presley, whom he was soon to meet,” his bodyguard Sonny West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “She had black hair. When Elvis first met Priscilla he got her to dye her hair black. I think it’s significant that his mother had black hair, too.”
Paget did not think of Elvis in the same way. She wasn’t even looking forward to meeting him.
“Before I met him, I figured he must be some sort of moron,” she said, per the book Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick.
As she got to know Elvis, though, Paget came to view him as “very sweet” and “very simple.” Still, she was not interested in a romantic relationship with him.
Elvis’ level of celebrity meant he typically did well with women
While Elvis never charmed Paget into a relationship, he typically did well with people he liked. His bodyguard, Dave Hebler, said Elvis was the most charming person he’d ever met.
“I had never met — before or since — never read of, nor heard of, any man who could so totally disarm you with charm, generosity and what appeared to be spontaneous love, as could Elvis Presley,” Hebler said. “Today they use the word charisma. Well, Presley had it to spare in truckloads.”
His bodyguards firmly believed that even if Elvis weren’t famous, he could have charmed the queen.
“Even if Elvis wasn’t who he was, say he was just an old truck driver,” West said, “when he turns on that country-boy charm, he could romance the queen of England.”
He surprised other people who judged him
As Paget met Elvis early in his career, it’s hardly surprising that she knew little about him. At that time Elvis had a career mired in controversy. People protested his music and dancing, believing he was a bad influence. As a result, he tended to surprise people when they met him.
Ed Sullivan, for example, vowed to never have Elvis on his show. When he caved due to the certainty of high ratings Elvis could bring to his show, Sullivan found Elvis kind, charming, and humble.
“I wanted to say to Elvis Presley and the country that this is a real decent, fine boy, and wherever you go, Elvis . . . we want to say that we’ve never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we’ve had with you,” Sullivan said on the show. “So now let’s have a tremendous hand for a very nice person.”
