Elvis Presley may have been a movie star, but he also loved many of his big-screen contemporaries from the Golden Age of cinema.
Alongside John Wayne, who the King was incredibly kind to upon meeting, another American icon favourite of his was Clint Eastwood.
Express.co.uk recently interviewed Elvis’ step-brother David Stanley, who was one of his Memphis Mafia bodyguards.
After listing a few of The King’s favourite movies, he said: “He loved Clint Eastwood. Anything. Dirty Harry.”
And it turns out Elvis had a very special private way of honouring the now 94-year-old Hollywood legend when home at Graceland.
David explained: “[Elvis] would watch the movie and become the character. You’d see it the next day.” He said he’d asked The King, “Who are you today?” and the singer would reply, “I’m Clint Eastwood today” while putting on a voice or even pointing a gun like Dirty Harry around Graceland. Meanwhile, Elvis and Eastwood would often bump into each other on film sets and The King loved that The Man With No Name star was always armed.
Speaking previously with USA Today, Eastwood shared: “I was always wearing a gun. Presley loved to do fast draws and stuff, so we always did fast draws together. I liked him. He seemed like a good guy. Had a lot of guys hanging around, big entourage. I get a kick out of my wife, who is quite a few years younger. She’ll say, ‘Did you know Elvis Presley?’ I’ll say, ‘Sure’. ‘James Dean?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Bobby Darin?’ ‘Yeah’ She’ll look at some old picture of me and say, ‘What a babe!’ (Laughs) We were all hanging around at the same time, in the 1950s. We were all here in town, and all struggling in various things. I was doing Rawhide. There was a camaraderie among the younger group.”
My Brother Elvis: An Evening with David Stanley, which includes a tour of the backstage where The King performed, is held monthly at Westgate, Las Vegas, and tickets can be booked here.
