Although her role as Lilia the water girl in The Ten Commandments was her signature role in a 15-year Hollywood career, Debra Paget is best remembered today by Elvis enthusiasts as Presley's first leading lady in his 1956 debut film, Love Me Tender.
One of Elvis' biggest crushes didn't think much of him at all before they met. 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.
With her strong performance in “Loving You”, Lizabeth Scott demonstrated that she was up to many more film roles, had she wanted them. But there would be just one more movie for her. “Pulp” in 1972 has since become a cult favorite.
How old was Debra Paget when she made Love Me Tender?
Debra Paget was Elvis Presley's first leading lady in films, co-starring with him in Love Me Tender (1956). While Love Me Tender was Elvis' first film, it was Paget's 20th picture, although she was only 17 months older than the 21-year-old Presley. [Debra began her motion picture career at the age of 15.
Elton John once said, There are only two things I know about Canada: hockey and Anne Murray." In a recent interview, Linda Thompson, a friend of the late Elvis Presley said, "Anne Murray was the King's favorite female singer and he used to listen to 'Snowbird' more than any other song.
Elvis let it be known early on that he hoped to follow in the footsteps of his idols James Dean and Marlon Brando, to become a top dramatic actor. His debut was in 1956's Love Me Tender, and by the early 1960s he had established a popular formula of romantic musicals.
The dark-haired-but-blue-eyed Paget found herself the studio's go to woman for ethnic roles. She played Middle Eastern, Native American, South Sea island, and East Indian parts. For some films, she'd wear contact lenses to turn her eyes brown.
Filming of the movie's climactic sequence, including the death scene for Presley's character, took place at the Bell Moving Picture Ranch in the Santa Susana Mountains west of the San Fernando Valley on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
• Elvis and Debra Paget's relationship was platonic
The actress portrayed her own relationship with Elvis as being more family-oriented than romantic. “From the time he first came to the house,” she recalled, “my folks have considered Elvis a member of the Paget clan—a feeling which, I believe, he reciprocated.
Paramount PicturesDolores Hart kisses Elvis in the 1957 moviea "Loving You." Hart is now a cloistered nun whose abbey needs millions of dollars in renovations to meet fire and safety codes, add an elevator, and make handicapped accessibility upgrades.
Elvis Presley's song “Love Me Tender” was such a huge hit that the producers changed the title of movie he was singing it in to match the song. The movie came out in November 1956, two months after Presley sang the song on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” The song hadn't been released yet.
Spoiler alert: Elvis' character dies at the end of "Love Me Tender." Fans heard this spoiler, too, and as you can imagine, were not happy with this ending. The ending was altered just a bit to appease fans: Clint still died, but a ghostly image of him appeared over his grave singing "Love Me Tender."
No, Elvis did not write his songs. He was an interpreter of Music, not a writer. He was a gifted singer who could turn any song that someone wrote into his own, and it was usually better that the original.
Debra became a born again Christian and came out of retirement to host a religious show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Today she lives a quiet life in Texas.
Who did Elvis call the greatest singer in the world?
Elvis Presley publicly stated in one of his Las Vegas concerts in 1976, that Roy Orbison was the "greatest singer in the world” indicating that Orbison had the most prefect voice. Elvis had so much respect for Orbison's songs that he would never ever do any cover versions of them.
Speaking on This Morning on Wednesday (25 October), Presley's best friend, Jerry Schilling said the singer died because of “creative disappointment”. He said: “My friend was a genius and in periods of his life he was given mediocre work.” He added: “I lost my friend at an early age because of creative disappointment.
