Elvis Threatened to Kill His Friend for Daring to Stand Up to Him

In the middle of a ski trip, Elvis Presley’s friend, Jerry Schilling, grew frustrated with him. The musician had made a series of nonsensical demands and refused to explain them. When confronted about this, Elvis grew angry. Though he didn’t say anything to Schilling’s face, Elvis threatened to shoot him for saying anything.

Elvis Presley threatened violence against a friend

After their rental period on a ski trip ended, Elvis decided he wanted to extend the vacation. He instructed Schilling to find them new accommodations, which he did despite the last-minute notice. Once they had all settled into the new rental homes, an exhausted Schilling went to bed. At three in the morning, though, Elvis called Schilling to tell him he wanted to switch houses.

“He said he was coming over, so I moved into the small bedroom to give him the master bedroom,” Schilling said in the book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “When he showed up with Billy and Red, he was just totally wired. He said, ‘I thought I told you I wanted to move back into the house.’ I said, ‘Jesus, I’ve been working to find a place for three days straight. I need to get some sleep.’ He said, ‘You do?'”

Schilling said he grew increasingly upset, and Elvis eventually stormed out of the room. He began venting to his bodyguard Red West and pulled out a gun as he did.

“I’ll kill the sonofab****,” Elvis told West.

Elvis’ friend said he knew he had to leave even though it was difficult

Despite his anger, Elvis remained calm when he addressed Schilling. It didn’t matter, though; Schilling had made up his mind to leave.

“I said, ‘You know what, Elvis? I don’t want to stay here. In fact, I’m leaving.'”

Elvis seemed to realize he had made a mistake, but Schilling stayed firm in his decision. The following day, he left. He explained that it wasn’t easy to leave Elvis’ orbit, but he knew he had to do it. 

“I wasn’t trying to be difficult,” Schilling said. “He had done more for me than anybody else in my life. It was just there were too many people bumping into each other, people were calling him, ‘Boss.’ Everything lapsed into everything else, and the rest of the world was just this tiny little bubble that you couldn’t really relate to anymore. You almost felt naked going out into the world when you left that environment, because it was all just based on him. But it was time.”

Elvis had blown up at Jerry Schilling before this 

Years before, Elvis had blown up at Schilling for talking to Priscilla Presley. Schilling and Priscilla were close in age, so they connected. Priscilla said he was one of the few people at Graceland to whom she could relate. Elvis put a stop to their friendship after finding them talking together in the kitchen.

“‘Cilla, you don’t need to be roaming around here late at night,’ he said, angrily ordering me upstairs,” she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “Behind me, I could hear him lashing out at Jerry. ‘If you want to keep this job son, you mind your own business. If there’s anyone who’s going to ask her how she feels, it’ll be me. You better mind your own goddamn business.'”

Because of this outburst, Schilling and Priscilla began avoiding each other.