Elvis’ Friends Made Him Feel Like His Interest in Being a Better Actor Was ‘Nonsense’
When Elvis Presley went to the recording studio, filmed a movie, or took a vacation, his group of friends followed. They made up his entourage and did a variety of jobs for him, including simply providing him with company. They weren’t always supportive, though. When Elvis expressed interest in filmmaking, his friends rolled their eyes.
Elvis Presley’s friends didn’t care much about his film career
In 1964, Elvis started work on the film Roustabout. When he got to set, his entourage was with him. The film’s director, John Rich, did not appreciate their presence and tried to keep them away from the action. Still, they hung around the set, which Rich believed was a detriment to Elvis.
“I’m not one for fraternizing too much with the group around the players, but they were around quite a bit, and you couldn’t ignore them,” he said in the book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “One thing that comes to mind that really troubled me: Somewhere in the middle of the picture I was in the editing room, looking over the cuts, and Elvis dropped by and started looking over my shoulder. I was working over the Monviola with my editor, and he became so fascinated with what I was doing that I show him how we go from a long shot to a close-up, or why I was cutting something around something.”
As Rich began to explain the editing process to Elvis, his friends called the singer away.
“He said, ‘Can I come and look at this more often?’ And then the guys said, ‘Aw, come on, this is nonsense’ — only they didn’t use the word ‘nonsense,’” Rich recalled. “And they took him away, and he never came back to the cutting room after that.”
Elvis wanted to be a good actor who made meaningful movies, and a more robust knowledge of filmmaking could have helped with that. Unfortunately, his friends did not feel the same way.
Elvis said he felt a growing distance from his friends over another interest
As years passed, Elvis began to feel increasingly distant from his friends over their lack of shared interests. Elvis dedicated himself to the study of spirituality, something his friends actively resented.
“They didn’t share his interests, they felt he was getting too involved, it was a threat to them, and it created a rift between them,” religious leader Daya Mata said. “They couldn’t really relate to him, they didn’t really understand his need, and evidently he couldn’t confide it to them.”
His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, also found Elvis’ interest in spirituality problematic. As a result, he ordered Elvis to stop spending alone time with the one friend who was interested in it.
He later regretted the direction his acting career took
In later years, Elvis said his stunted acting career left him full of regrets. He believed he could have done well in a dramatic role, but he continually made light musicals.
“People aren’t going to remember me because I’ve never done anything lasting,” he told his on-and-off-again girlfriend, Kathy Westmoreland, per the book The Colonel by Alanna Nash. “I’ve never made a classic film to show what I can do.”
Though Elvis expressed interest in this type of career, the forces around him made it impossible.
