ELVIS, FLAMING STAR
– A Challenging Role for Presley –
(Part 6)
By Mariusz Ogieglo
…Winter Tears
After several weeks of intensive preparations and the completion of the soundtrack, the entire film crew finally left for the film set near Hollywood where filming of the film adaptation of Clair Huffaker’s book was officially to begin. On August 16, 1960, both Elvis and the rest of the cast moved from Los Angeles to the town of Thousand Oaks, located about forty miles away, to film the exteriors of the new film at the Conejo Movie Ranch.
It is worth recalling here that before the aforementioned location became a favorite location of Hollywood filmmakers, it played a completely different role. Namely, the lands, about ten thousand acres, purchased in 1910 by Edwin and Harold Janss were just an ordinary farm, known locally as Janss Conejo Ranch, where for many years thoroughbred racehorses were bred.
The picturesque location of the ranch quickly caught the attention of Hollywood, and film crews first visited it in the late 1930s. In 1939, the Janns’ lands served as the backdrop for the film “Wuthering Heights” and just four years later, “Lessie Come Home” (known in Poland as “Lessie Return”) was filmed there. Over time, the Janns’ farm became a witness to many other legendary film stories, to mention just “Sands Of Iwo Jima” from 1949, “Davy Crockett. King Of The Wild Frontier” from 1955 and “Spartacus” from 1960.
Filming for Presley’s sixth film took less than two weeks.
ELVIS, FLAMING STAR
Elvis, who took his role in the new 20th Century Fox production very seriously from the start, was deeply involved in his role and tried to play every scene as best he could. Even when he began to doubt his acting skills…
One of the most frequently repeated behind-the-scenes stories from the set of the western Flaming Star is the one about Presley’s fight with two trappers (which Timothy Knight calls “the most emotionally charged moment in the movie”). “Elvis felt he couldn’t do it ,” recalled the film’s director, Don Siegel. “He felt his acting skills were too weak to handle it. When I told him we wouldn’t stop rehearsing the scene until he was happy with it, he begged me to give him more time to prepare .” It was even rumored that, in order to delay the shooting of the sequence, Elvis agreed to lend the director his new car. Siegel drove it for almost two weeks! “When the inevitable moment came to shoot the scene, I returned his Rolls-Royce to him. To my and Presley’s amazement, he played it like he never had in his life ,” Siegel commented.
ELVIS, FLAMING STAR
Witnesses to those events remember that Elvis, by then a black belt in karate, proved to be better in the above scene than the stuntman who was originally supposed to replace him.
Wanting to create the most authentic portrayal possible, Presley studied all the time and watched other, more experienced actors. “He was a wonderful man to work with ,” Barbara Eden recalled years later. “He had good manners. He listened to his superiors and never caused trouble. He didn’t have an inflated ego .” Marie Clayton, author of the album “Unknown Photographs of Elvis,” even noted in her publication that between shoots, the singer took lessons on how to hold a gun properly from Indian extras on the set.
On the set, as well as off, there was never a dull moment and there was always something going on. In between scenes, Elvis and his friends, despite the scorching heat (and safety precautions), organized, among other things, fierce football matches. “Determined to give his character as much authenticity as possible, Elvis performed most of the stunts himself ,” Sonny West remembered. “He escaped unscathed, but Red (West, author’s note), who played the brave Kiowa Indian in ‘Flaming Star,’ was not so lucky.
Although it is commonly said that Red broke his arm in one of the fight scenes, this was completely different. Red injured his elbow playing football. Later, all he had to do was hit something with his arm and it would immediately swell up. And that is exactly what happened in the movie, in the scene where he fights Elvis with knives. When Elvis pushed him away, Red fell straight into a rock. His arm swelled up terribly. But it was not broken .”
Of course, Presley also found time to chat with the other cast members. Barbara Eden, who played Roslyn Pierce, remembered him as a very nice and polite person to talk to. “We talked about a lot of things ,” she said in an interview. “Like weight. Yeah, because we were both careful about what we ate. ‘You don’t have a problem with that because you’re very thin,’ I told him. And he said, ‘No, no. My mother was obese and I inherited it from her. You can see it in my face, so I like to be really careful.’ “
ELVIS, FLAMING STAR
According to the actress, Elvis was also very interested in her marriage to actor Michael Ansara (the same one who would star opposite Presley in Harum Scarum five years later). “At the time, I was married to actor Michael Ansara ,” Eden recalled. “And Elvis wanted to know if it was difficult to balance marriage with acting. ‘It’s not that difficult,’ I explained. ‘It’s our job. We all have to go our own way and just do it well.’ “
Hearing these words, Presley allegedly confided in the actress about his fears about marriage and his relationship with Priscilla Beaulieu, whom he met in Germany. “I‘m really thinking about marriage, but I’m a little scared ,” the singer reportedly told the actress. “‘Oh, have you met anyone?’ I asked. ‘Yeah, I met a girl there. She’s awfully young. I don’t know,’ he replied .”
In late August, Elvis returned to Hollywood, where filming of Flaming Star was completed at the 20th Century Fox studio.
Information provided by EP Promised Land (Poland), Mariusz Ogieglo. http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/
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