ELVIS PRESLEY MOVIE – LOVING YOU
Interestingly, at a time when almost every teenage girl in America was sighing for the handsome king of rock ‘n’ roll (as one of the journalists called Presley in late December 1956) and whispering his name in her sleep, Dolores Hart, when asked to play with him in in the movie, she had no idea who he was… Elvis Presley! ” I really didn’t know who he was ,” she said in later interviews. “ When I first met him, I asked him what he did. I remember he was very polite. He was a true gentleman and called me Miss Dolores. It wasn’t until later that I found out what a talented singer he was .”
Despite these somewhat awkward beginnings (in another interview, Hart admitted that the moment she met Presley was one of the ” most embarrassing ” situations for her ), the acquaintance of Elvis and the debut actress quickly turned into a friendly relationship.
In between shoots, the two spent a lot of time together. They joked and talked for hours, including about movies, acting and religion. ” I remember one moment when we were on a break from filming ,” Dolores Hart told Fox News. “ (Elvis, author’s note) came up to me, handed me a Bible and said, ‘Miss Dolores, would you please open this book? What you see? What does that mean to you? So I gave my opinion on what I saw. From then on, we spent time between shoots talking about the Bible .”
The actress was charmed by Elvis’s sincerity and keen interest in the subject. ” He wasn’t trying to pretend anything ,” she said. “ There were no cameras or cameras around to take pictures of us. He just did what was in his heart .”
Equally well was Presley’s collaboration with the older and much more experienced Lizabeth Scott. ” What was most impressive about Lizabeth’s performance was her relationship with Elvis, which revealed both her deep respect for him and his talent ,” wrote Bernard F. Dick in Hall Wallis: Producer to the Stars. ” Even though Deke’s falling in love with Glenda might have seemed a bit far-fetched in the script, Lizabeth and Elvis worked so well together that they became a natural combination of protégé and promoter on screen. “
Other female roles in Presley’s second film included Janie Lund (pictured above), an American actress, model and singer who began her Hollywood adventure as a child. “Loving You” was her third film (after an episodic role in the comedy “Our Gang Follies of 1938” and the musical “Don’t Knock The Rock”, in which a whole galaxy of rock’n’roll stars of the time appeared, including Bill Haley and Little Lichard). She played the role of Daisy Bricker, a charming Rivers fan who, after one of his performances, barged into his dressing room to kiss him. For this reason, some sources claim that Lund, and not Dolores Hart, was the first actress Elvis kissed on the big screen.
According to press speculation at the time, Lund and Presley also briefly dated off-set.
Lund was by no means the only actress the media linked with Presley at the time.
In August 1957, Modern Screen magazine published an extensive article, “My Weekend with Elvis” (much larger than the role of Sally, which the actress played in the film), which records the memories of Yvonne Lime, another newcomer (previously she only starred in “The Rainmaker” ) stars from the cast of “Loving You” from a stay at Graceland, where Presley invited her for Easter. ” He was a true gentleman, devoted to his mother and fond of singing religious songs at parties ,” recalled Presleya Lime. ” His rock’n’roll image, long hair and sideburns were explained as a sign of non-conformity .”
Heather Ames, Kathie Anderson, Joan Bradshaw, Melinda Byron and Medge Blake also received even smaller, cameo roles in the new Paramount production.
The main male role went to Elvis, of course, and he was undoubtedly the biggest star of the film. But not the only one. Hal Wallis engaged many outstanding actors in “Loving You”.
And so, as Walter ‘Tex’, Warner cast Wendell Corey (pictured below), a forty-three-year-old Hollywood veteran who had acted in more than thirty (!) productions before starring in Presley’s film.
The actor made his big-screen debut as Johnny Ryan in the 1947 film Desert Fury. The cast of this film (produced by Hal B.Wallis) also included Lizabeth Scott, with whom he formed an unforgettable duo a decade later in the musical film “Loving You” described in this text.
It is worth emphasizing that throughout his career, Corey was very lucky to perform alongside the biggest stars of Hollywood at the time.
Just three years after his screen debut, he was cast as Cleave Marshall in the drama The File Of Thelma Jordon, starring Barbara Stanwyck as the female lead.
Four years later, in 1954, he starred as Lieutenant Thomas Doyle opposite Grece Kelly and James Stewart in Alfred Hitchock’s thriller Rear Window.
Even more impressive was James Gleason, who played Carl Meade in Loving You.
Born in New York in 1882, the actor, playwright and screenwriter made his debut on the big screen in 1922 in the romantic comedy Polly Of The Follies.
However, before he got into the world of film, Gleason wrote plays and performed, among others, on the famous New York Broadway (where his plays were also presented).
And although in the following years, the actor received mainly minor roles – a hot dog seller in “Change Of Heart” from 1934 or a milk cart driver in the drama “The Clock” from 1945, starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker , this did not prevent him from achieving significant successes in the professional field.
Already in 1929, the musical film “The Broadway Melody”, for which Gleason wrote the dialogues and co-wrote the screenplay, was awarded an Oscar in the Best Picture category (as a curiosity, it is worth adding that Gleason also played a small role in the aforementioned film).
Twelve years later, mostly identified with ” a world-weary tough guy with a hidden heart of gold ,” the actor was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of boxing manager Max ‘Pop’ Corkley in the fantasy comedy Here Comes Mr. Jordan.
Another name not to be overlooked when discussing the casting of the second Elvis film is undoubtedly Paul Smith. An American actor with an extremely characteristic ” perpetually perplexed or confused expression “.
In “Loving You”, the sixth film in his output, he got the role of Sketer – a funny member of Elvis’ band who lends the singer his guitar before each performance. The instrument always comes back to him with broken strings.
According to Presley’s Australian fan club, “Elvis Australia”, ” this part of the script was an inside joke picked up by screenwriter Hal Kanter, who observed that Elvis often breaks strings during his performances .”
Information provided by EP Promised Land (Poland) Marius Ogieglo http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/
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