Elvis Presley on film and television

Elvis Presley was an American entertainer who achieved initial success as a singer, expressing an early career goal of following in the footsteps of his role models James Dean and Marlon Brando to become a top dramatic actor.[1] His manager Colonel Tom Parker's persistent lobbying of William Morris Agencypresident Abe Lastfogel for a Presley screen test paid off on March 26, 1956, when the singer auditioned at Paramount for a supporting role in The Rainmaker.[2] Although not chosen for the part, he signed a contract with Paramount producer Hal Wallis on April 25 that also allowed him to make films with other studios.[3]

His feature debut was in Love Me Tender for 20th Century Fox, with the commercial success of the soundtrack EP being a bellwether for the next three Presley films. Loving You, Jailhouse Rock and King Creole were dramatic storylines written around Presley in the role of a musical entertainer.[4] He would later state that King Creole was his favorite of all his films.[5] Flaming Star and Wild in the Country were rarities in his career, non-musicals focused on dramatic storylines. According to music historian Peter Guralnick, the sluggish financial returns of those two films became the justification for ignoring Presley's wishes and limiting him to the more profitable musical format.[6]. Ironically, it was a single shot of Flaming Star, when silkscreened by Andy Warhol which garnered, since 1998, more than a quarter of a billion dollars for auction houses and in private sales, most notably those entitled "Double Elvis" (three different versions of which selling at four auctions in 1989, 2012, 2018 and 2019), Triple Elvis(selling at auction in 2014), and Eight Elvises (selling privately in 2008).

In 1963, again ironically, as these silkscreens were being printed and shown at a Warhol exhibit in Los Angeles, Presley became bitter that his hopes for dramatic roles were not coming to fruition,[7] stating that Clambake was his worst film. He began to complain about the deteriorating quality of the films and his belief that his manager's objectives were more monetary than anything else.[8] At the expiration of all studio contracts, he returned to live entertaining. The two concert documentaries Elvis: That's the Way It Is in 1970 and Elvis on Tour in 1972 were the final theatrical releases for Presley.[9]