'I'd never break a virgin - there's enough
prostitutes around,' he was fond of telling the Memphis Mafia in later
years. It was a rule he stuck to, at least in his early days. 'One of
the questions I'm always asked is, "Did you sleep with
Elvis?",' says June Juanico,
the woman Elvis nearly married in 1956. 'I tell 'em no.' Juanico talks
of the couple making love in 'their own special way' of Elvis saying he
wanted the first time to be special and of their agreement to wait
until they were married.
'There were a lot of virgins about in those
days.' June was Elvis' first serious love affair but the touching
sentimentality of their 2year relationship would perhaps be less
poignant had Elvis not gone on to become the rock n roll icon. 'Elvis
was a very sensitive person, very tender, but on the outside he was
very macho,' she says. An outspoken and feisty teenager, June recalls a
time when she stood up to Elvis in front of his band of hangers-on, who
even then were beginning to accompany him everywhere. He grabbed her
arm, took her into the bathroom and declared: 'Look, you are so right,
I am really sorry.' He kept her there for five minutes, then swaggered
out, his image intact.
June worked hard to keep Elvis grounded, but as
his fame and his touring increased, the relationship fizzled out, with
phone calls becoming less and less frequent. 'Two weeks went by, then
another week. Surely he would call for my birthday, I thought. But he
didn't.' Elvis was now in the big time and serial-dating, but the main
woman in his life was still his mother.
Gladys Presley had kept a close
watch on her son's morality, greeting June with kindness and eagerness
as she waited for a daughter-in-law. But in 1958, she died. It was a
bad year for Elvis to lose stability; he had just been enlisted. It was
while he was doing military service in Germany that he met the
14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu. This was also where he discovered
prostitutes and picked up the intense fear of sexually transmitted
diseases which led to claims that he had a morbid fear of sexual
penetration.
When he brought Priscilla back to the States to live at
Graceland, ostensibly under the chaperoning protection of his father
Vernon and his new wife Dee, Elvis also brought back a taste for
womanizing. From now on, the restraints were off. The partying that
had, in 1957, drawn thinly-veiled accusations of homosexuality - a
tabloid ran an article with the headline 'Presley's Powder-Puff Pals',
showing a picture of Elvis and Liberace with the caption 'Two prominent
bachelors' - was now progressing into fully-blown orgies.
His
fast-track to Hollywood only fed his appetite for sex. This was a time
when beauty pageants supplied the starlet factory.
Julie
Parrish was 25 when she first met Elvis on the set of
Paradise Hawaiian Style , a film notable for one of the most cringing
moments in any Presley movie. 'He had to sing to a dog,' says Parrish.
'The song was called, "It's a Dog's Life". It was so
embarrassing for him and we just couldn't stop laughing.' Parrish a
naive but driven young woman who had arrived in Hollywood via a
magazine competition. An Elvis fan she fought to get the role. 'I was
really scared, so nervous when I met him. The first scene we did
together was an embrace and he was very quiet at first. He was not an
educated man and he was quite guarded when he met people. But looking
into his eyes just took your breath away. There was an energy there
that almost knocked you to the ground. Was it sexual? You're damned
right it was. 'But, oh my God, what a kisser. You know, I tell people
I'm going to die happy because I got to kiss Elvis Presley. He had the softest lips I've ever kissed. Oh, he was the most
beautiful man.'
Like many of
Elvis'
Women she is coy about their off-screen relationship. 'Well, he
was with Priscilla at the time,' she says. 'We were naive about sex and
we were naive about drugs. We were all taking pills - if you were tired
you'd take a pill, if you wanted to go to sleep you'd take a pill. One
time on set I had a real pain in my side and Elvis scooped me up,
carried me into his trailer and shut the door. Outside the crew was
waiting and wondering, but Elvis was oblivious to the innuendo. He
placed his hand over my side and tried to do some healing on me.'
These movies were often lifted by the on-screen
chemistry between Elvis and his co-stars, which was usually mirrored in
real-life affairs. Natalie Wood, Connie Stevens,
Ann-Margret,
Juliet Prowse, Debra Paget, Anne
Helm were all on his arm at one point, while Priscilla was waiting at
home. Not that their relationship was entirely chaste in pre-wedding
days. Elvis spent hundreds of dollars on Polaroid film, snapping
Priscilla and her girlfriends cavorting around Graceland in their pants
and training bras. Elvis also adored to fondle and suck women's toes,
and those in his entourage who were given the job of choosing
companions for him would often be asked to check the girls' feet. Small
and delicate was the Presley ideal and at least two girlfriends
reported having been given the nickname 'Bitty' by Elvis in honour of
their 'itty-bitty' feet.
Cybill
Shepherd was Miss Teenage Memphis when she met Elvis in 1972. And
Shepherd's much-quoted claims that she taught him the joys of oral sex
is viewed with skepticism by other lovers of the King. 'I laughed when
I read that..' recalls, one Elvis lover, who wants to remain anonymous.
'I can just hear Elvis saying, "Oh, yeah, honey, I've never done
anything like that before. You want to show me that one more
time?". Nice lady but I don't know that Elvis had much left to
learn by that time it was a shuttle one came in the door as
another was flown to Vegas
Six months after Priscilla left, Elvis dated
Linda
Thompson. A beautiful university student, she was a virgin when
they met, but what started with marathon love-making sessions in Vegas
hotel rooms disintegrated into a sexless and gloomy existence. Of
all the women who lived with Elvis, few have been as frank as Thompson.
'There were times when he was very, very, difficult. There was a lot of
heartache and a lot of self-destructive behavior, which was very
difficult for me. Watching someone I loved so much destroy himself.'
Thompson saved Elvis from death on several occasions and would often
lie on the bed with her hand near his mouth to feel his breath as he
slept. It took a lot for Linda to leave Elvis. She loved him very much,
but the man she'd fallen in love with was gone. By the time she left in
1976, a year before his death, the beautiful country boy was
unrecognizable.
Some doubt he ever had sex again, and his final live-in girlfriend, who
became his third and last fiancée, is too polite to say. Ginger Alden,
another beauty queen, was barely in her twenties when she discovered
the lifeless body of Elvis Presley facedown in a Graceland bathroom.
Like Thompson before her, she gave up everything to become a 24-hour
nurse, hand-holder, even lullaby-singer, to a reclusive, drug-dependent
and deeply insecure man. She was also a witness to his last will and
testament. He left her nothing.
Anita had a lot in
common with Elvis. Like Elvis had moved to Memphis as a teenager from a
rural area of Tennessee where she was born. The first meeting of Elvis
and Annie (as he sometimes liked to call her) was set up by a mutual
friend as a blind date. Elvis and Anita spent a lot of time together in
Memphis before his career took off. They would usually spend their
dates at the movies, the skating rink or a place they both loved,
Libertyland. While dating Elvis, Anita also got to know Mrs.
Presley very well. The two got on famously, probably because of their
similar background. Anita would recall that Mrs. Presley half
expected her and Elvis to marry because they were so close and that she
just couldn’t wait to see their little children walking up the
driveway. As the film career kicked in they didn’t see too much of
each other and that’s where the movie magazine started to report
Elvis affairs with his leading ladies. As 1958 came so did the army and
Germany. Anita and Elvis exchanged love
letters at the time but it was here where their they parted
and a new name suddenly entered the headlines Priscilla Beaulieu.
When Elvis returned
from Germany little was mentioned of Priscilla so it was presumed that
she was just another name for his little black book. One thing
which Elvis did say about Priscilla was the when he first saw her he
nearly fell off his chair because she looked so much like, Love Me
Tender co-star, Debra Paget. If you look back you can immediately see
the resemblance.
When Elvis arrived in Hollywood the first actress he dated was Natalie
Wood of "Rebel Without A Cause" fame. They met when
Elvis was asked by Nick Adams who he met while making Love Me
Tender to make up a foursome. Elvis and Natalie began to date.
Being seen at cinemas, hamburger joints as well as riding on Elvis'
Harley Davidson. Natalie later recalled that once when they
returned to Elvis home at Audubon Drive after a ride they couldn’t
get up the driveway because of the crowd of fans. After Elvis
promised to sign autographs for them if they let him up to the
house. Finally when they did get into the house Natalie though
that Elvis would shirk his word. However, Elvis returned to the fans as
promised. Telling Natalie that his word meant for something and if it
wasn’t for them he wouldn’t be there in the first place. Natalie
was blown away by Elvis consideration, so unlike other Hollywood movie
stars. Soon after there were rumours that Elvis and Natalie would be
hearing the sounds of wedding bells. However, Natalie quelled the press
with, "Elvis was the only real boy I have ever met… But we are
both career mindful and at this time we both are committed our film
contracts." Some speculate that the Colonel Tom Parker
intervened, and in hindsight this may have been another factor. As one
fan was quoted as saying at the time, "Elvis is just one big hunk
of forbidden fruit!"
In the 60's Elvis raced
through a constant stream of female co-stars. There was Nancy Sinatra,
then 19, who presented him with a gift from her father to commemorate
their "Timex TV Special" Elvis first TV appearance since he
left the army. Nancy and Elvis known each other before and as was the
custom columnists presumed any friendship that went beyond three dates
meant the couple were engaged. All indications by the press were
soon quashed by Nancy, who spooked them by announcing her engagement to
singer, Tommy Sands. The pattern was familiar with all Hollywood's
loveliest costar figuring briefly in his life. The friendship flickered
out and only their names remain in the
record books.
Juliet Prowse generally
regarded as Frank Sinatra’
special girl landed a
"don’t call again" message
to Elvis while hinting
that Frankie was getting
sore at their friendship
on the set of GI Blues.
Once asked what type of
girl Elvis like to marry
by the press Elvis
replied, "The female kind,
sir!" Once a magazine
compiled comments from
several of Elvis' leading
ladies.
Here is what they had
to say: "He's a very well mannered and sensitive person, just like
me," Ursula Andress. "He knows how to be a gentleman and he
know a lady when he sees one," Ann Mobley "He’s naturally
kind, thoughtful and good.
Best of all, in spite
of his success he’s unassuming," Connie Stevens "As to
Elvis entourage I get along with every single on of them. They were
wonderful around me. Any girl who wants to date Elvis knows she has to
get along with the boys. The trouble is girls resent this they want to
get Elvis off by themselves."
Above all the
leading ladies Ann-Margret stood out from the rest. An obvious choice
for the perfect leading lady according to Elvis fans. It’s surprising
that she only starred in one film with him because they got on so well
together off and on screen. They also has a lot in common, Ann-Margret
like to ride motorbikes and it wasn’t a rarity to see them both go
riding off into the desert on their Harley Davidson. It didn't
take the press long to latch on and their he headlines speculated
wedding bells. From the photos taken of the two together you
notice how they seem relaxed in each other company and a certain
charisma between them. Even after Viva Las Vegas they kept in
touch. Sheila Ryan
