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Elvis Presley singer and rock legend had many close relationships throughout his meteroic career which ended in 1977. DEVOTION TO HIS MOTHER The first woman in Presley's life was his mother Gladys. In a newspaper interview with ''The Memphis Press Scimitar'', Elvis himself was open about the close relationship to his mother. "She was the number-one girl in his life, and he was dedicating his career to her."The writer called Elvis "a hillbilly cat", poked fun at Elvis's closeness to his mama and insinuated Elvis was "talented but simple." Summarized by Earl Greenwood, ''The Boy Who Would Be King'', p.155. Throughout her life, "the son would call her by pet names", and they communicated by baby talk.Guralnick, ''Last Train to Memphis", p.13. Presley even shared his mother's bed "up until Elvis was a young teen."Patrick Humphries, ''Elvis The #1 Hits: The Secret History of the Classics'', p.117. According to Elaine Dundy , "it was agony for her to leave her child even for a moment with anyone else, to let anyone else touch Elvis." Elaine Dundy , ''Elvis and Gladys'', p.71. His father still openly talked about Elvis's close relationship to his mother after his son had become famous.See Guralnick, p.13. During Presley's rising career, Gladys became despairing, depressed and lonely and began to neglect her health. She put on weight and began to drink everyday. She'd wanted Elvis to succeed, "but not so that he would be apart from her. The hysteria of the crowd frightened her.".Robert Rodriguez, ''The 1950s' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels, Cold War Crises, and All-American Oddities (2006), p.87 Doctors diagnosed liver problems, and Gladys's condition worsened. At that time, Elvis was still staying in Germany to fulfill his military obligations, but he got emergency leave to see her, and a special plane was chartered to bring him home. There he spent two days with his mother. However, shortly after his return to Germany, Gladys died on August, 14, 1958.See Rodriguez, ''The 1950s' Most Wanted'', p.87. When he heard that his mother had died, Elvis was "sobbing and crying hysterically",Guralnick, p.478. and eye-witnesses relate that he was "grieving almost constantly" for days.Guralnick, p.480. HIGH SCHOOL AND EARLY STARDOM Presley's early experiences being teased by his fellow classmates for being a "mama's boy" had a deep influence on his clumsy advances to girls. He didn't have any friends as a teen. Beginning in his early teens, Presley embarked upon the "indefatigable pursuit of girls", but was totally rebuffed. At school, anyone wishing to provoke a little girl to tears of rage had only to chalk "Elvis loves -" and then the girl's name on the blackboard when the teacher was out of the room." Elaine Dundy , '' Elvis And Gladys '', p.125. For interviews with teachers and former fellow students at Milam Junior High school in Tupelo, Mississippi, see Dundy, p.124. Presley's first sweetheart was the fifteen-year-old Dixie Locke , whom the singer dated steadily since graduating from Humes and during his Sun Records time. While still a rising star, Presley also had a relationship with June Juanico , who is said to have been the only girl his mother ever approved of, but according to Juanico's own words, she "never had sex with Presley."Quoted in Ruthe Stein, "Girls! Girls! Girls! From small-town women to movie stars, Elvis loved often but never true," '' San Francisco Chronicle '', August 3, 1997. In June Juanico's book ''Elvis in the Twilight of Memory'' she stated she was afraid of getting pregnant. However, since the singer's death many claims to relationships have been made by women who were no more than acquaintances or had short affairs which were exaggerated for personal gain.According to Ruthe Stein, "So many women, famous and not, have been linked to Presley that you wonder how he found time to have a career." The author also cites June Juanico who said, "I doubt Elvis was sleeping with those showgirls, either. The colonel had told him, 'For God's sake, don't get anyone pregnant' -- and Elvis wouldn't go against the colonel." See Ruthe Stein, "Girls! Girls! Girls! From small-town women to movie stars, Elvis loved often but never true," '' San Francisco Chronicle '', August 3, 1997. Juanico even blames Elvis's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, for encouraging Presley to go out with beautiful women only "for the publicity".Stein, "Girls! Girls! Girls!" '' San Francisco Chronicle '', August 3, 1997. Between 1954 and 1956, when his stardom began to rise, Presley became the subject of adulation and adoration of young Hollywood starlets such as Natalie Wood , Judy Tyler , Shelley Fabares , and Connie Stevens . His mother believed that Wood was a schemer who hoped to "snare" the singer only "for publicity purposes."Gavin Lambert, ''Natalie Wood: A Life'', p.205. When a columnist wanted to know if the romance with Presley was "serious," Natalie's cool answer was, "Not right now." "But who knows what will happen?"Lambert, p.206. The author adds, "By this time, Natalie had learned an important lesson in handling the press. Titillating curiosity without satisfying it was always more effective than the standard denial of 'We're just good friends.' " One of her judgments of Elvis was, "He can sing but he can't do much else."Lana Wood, ''Natalie – A Memoir by Her Sister'' (1984). THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE Several authors have written that "Elvis busied his evenings with various girlfriends"Connie Kirchberg and Marc Hendrickx, ''Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American Dream'' (1999), p.62. or that his "list of one-night stands would fill volumes."Jim Curtin, ''Elvis: Unknown Stories behind the Legend,'' p.119. According to eyewitness Byron Raphael, who worked for Presley's manager Parker, the star even had a secret one-night stand with Marilyn Monroe in a hotel room.This was sensationally reported by many tabloid newspapers in October 2006. See, for example, ''New York Post'', October 1, 2006; ''Daily Mail'', October 4, 2006. However, it is unclear whether the "sex symbol" actually had sex with most of the women he dated.See, for instance, Byron Raphael with Alanna Nash , "In Bed with Elvis," ''Playboy'', November 2005, Vol. 52, Iss. 11. Ruthe Stein, "Girls! Girls! Girls! From small-town women to movie stars, Elvis loved often but never true," '' San Francisco Chronicle '', August 3, 1997. His early girlfriends Judy Spreckels and June Juanico say that they had no sexual relationships with Presley. Raphael and Alanna Nash have stated that the star "would never put himself inside one of these girls..."Byron Raphael with Alanna Nash , "In Bed with Elvis," ''Playboy'', November 2005, Vol. 52, Iss. 11, p.64-68, 76, 140. The article claims that "the so-called dangerous rock-and-roll idol was anything but a despotic ruler in the bedroom ... He was far more interested in heavy petting and panting and groaning" and "he would never put himself inside one of these girls ... within minutes he’d be asleep." During his military service, he had "discovered prostitutes and picked up the intense fear of sexually transmitted diseases which led to claims that he had a morbid fear of sexual penetration."Tracy McVeigh, "Elvis Special: Love me tender." ''The Observer'', Sunday August 11, 2002. Because of his shyness, Albert Goldman says, "no woman ever saw Elvis undressed." June Juanico "recalls a time when she stood up to Elvis in front of his band of hangers-on, who even then were beginning to accompany him everywhere. He grabbed her arm, took her into the bathroom and declared: 'Look, you are so right, I am really sorry.' He kept her there for five minutes, then swaggered out, his image intact." star and actress June Wilkinson remembered that she "met Elvis on the set of ''King Creole''. He invited me to dinner at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. ... Then Elvis gave me a tour of his suite, sat me on the bed in his bedroom and sang to me for two hours. That was it. The next day ... we had dinner again. He was very sweet, and he was friendly. He had more than sex on his mind. He got me to the airport on time, and our paths never crossed again."Paul Parla and Charles P. Mitchell, ''Screen Sirens Scream!: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s'' (2000), p.235. However, the singer was not always sweet and friendly towards women. When Christina Crawford , the adopted daughter of Joan Crawford , visited Presley, they were watching ''Bonanza'' in the TV room. "Elvis had been puffing on a cigar ... as Christina tickled him and kidded around, apparently seeking more direct attention." Suddenly, as Buzz Cason relates, "she slung the contents of her cocktail glass right into Elvis's face. ... The cigar went 'phhhtttt' and he jumped up. ... He grabbed her by the hair. 'Get this bitch out of here!' he screamed, leading her toward the front door as she struggled to keep up with the rather quick pace as he was pulling her locks. Turmoil ensued as the 'boys' scrambled to assist trying to prevent too big of a scene."Buzz Cason, ''Living the Rock 'N' Roll Dream: The Adventures of Buzz Cason'' (2004), p.81. Peggy Lipton claims that Presley was "virtually impotent" with her. She attributed his impotence to his heavy drug abuse.In her memoir, ''Breathing Out'' (St. Martin's Press, 2005), p.172, Peggy Lipton further relates that Presley was like a "teenage boy". "He didn't feel like a man next to me - more like a boy who'd never matured." When he tried to make love with Lipton, "he just wasn't up to sex. Not that he wasn't built, but with me, at least, he was virtually impotent." Cassandra Peterson , better known as "Elvira', says she knew Presley for only one night and all they did was talk.Ruthe Stein, '' San Francisco Chronicle '', August 3, 1997. Priscilla Presley and Suzanne Finstad also claim that the singer wasn't overtly sexually active.Priscilla Presley, '' Elvis And Me ''. Suzanne Finstad, ''Child Bride''. These claims are directly contradicted by comments from actresses like (Presley's co-star in ''Viva Las Vegas'') refers to Presley as her "soulmate", but very little is revealed about their long-rumored romance, only that "in a moment of tenderness" he bought her a round bed in hot pink colors.Ann Margret with Todd Gold, ''Ann Margret: My Story'' (1994) On the other hand, Elvis dated many female co-stars from his movies primarily for publicity purposes. Ruthe Stein, "Girls! Girls! Girls! From small-town women to movie stars," ''San Francisco Chronicle'', August 3, 1997. 17-year-old actress Lori Williams and the singer, for instance, went together for a while "between the making of ''Roustabout'' and ''Kissin' Cousins''." She says their "courtship was not some bizarre story. It was very sweet and Elvis was the perfect gentleman." She also claims that Ann-Margret "was the love of his life."Tom Lisanti, ''Drive-In Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties'' (2003), p.207. Significantly, there was a great publicity campaign about the romance between Elvis and Ann-Margret during the 1963 filming of ''Viva Las Vegas'' and the following weeks,See Priscilla Presley, ''Elvis and Me'', p.175 f. which helped to increase the popularity of the young Hollywood beauty.In his critical study on the "dream machine" that publicists, tabloid newspapers, journalists, and TV interviewers use to create semi-fictional icons, often playing with inauthenticity, Joshua Gamson cites a press agent "saying that his client, Ann-Margret, could initially have been "sold ... as anything"; "She was a new product. We felt there was a need in The Industry for a female Elvis Presley." See Joshua Gamson, ''Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America'' (University of California Press, 1994), p.46. See also C. Lee Harrington and Denise D. Bielby, ''Popular Culture: Production and Consumption'' (2000), p.273. Ann-Margret remained close to Presley for the remainder of his life and also attended his funeral. It should be noted that the vast majority of books (including both of Guralnick's books) on Presley contain details of his many romances and alleged affairs including many while he was married to Priscilla. It has also been reported that Presley "adored to fondle and suck women's toes, and those in his entourage who were given the job of choosing companions for him would often be asked to check the girls' feet."Tracy McVeigh, "Elvis Special: Love me tender." ''The Observer'', Sunday August 11, 2002. However, Guralnick writes that for "the more experienced girls it wasn't like with other Hollywood stars or even with other more sophisticated boys they knew." Although they offered to do things for Presley, "he wasn't really interested. What he liked to do was to lie in bed and watch television and eat and talk all night..."Guralnick, ''Last Train to Memphis'', p.415. ANITA WOOD AND PRISCILLA BEAULIEU Anita Wood, another girl whom the singer's mother hoped Presley would eventually marry, was with him as he rose to superstardom, served in the US military and returned home in 1960. If he was planning to marry a girl he wanted her to remain a virgin. Anita Wood lived at Graceland for a time, though the star, according to his own words, didn't make love to her."You mean you didn't make love to Wood the whole four years you went with her?" "Just to a point. Then I stopped. It was difficult for her too, but that's just how I feel." See Priscilla Presley, '' Elvis And Me '', p.98. She moved out after confronting him over Priscilla Beaulieu . Presley had met Beaulieu in Germany while stationed there with the U.S. Army. She was only 14 years old when the singer began dating her. At that time, he even had a younger girl living in his house.See Scotty Moore, ''That’s Alright, Elvis: The Untold Story of Elvis’s First Guitarist and Manager, Scotty Moore'', p.162 Therefore, authors such as says that Elvis and Priscilla slept together on their second date. Presley and Beaulieu were married on May 1, 1967 in Las Vegas, Nevada and daughter Lisa Marie was born nine months later on February 1, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. In her book, '' Elvis And Me '', Priscilla describes her daily life with her husband. She also says that Presley became fascinated with the occult and metaphysical phenomena and an addict to prescription drugs, which dramatically changed his personality from playful to being passive and introverted. After five years of marriage Presley and Beaulieu separated on February 23, 1972, agreeing to share custody of their daughter. When Priscilla left him for her karate teacher Mike Stone, the singer's "ego was damaged beyond repair. ... Considering Presley's status as a universal sex symbol ..., it is unlikely he was able to put this situation in any type of perspective other than having not been 'man enough' to hold his woman."Connie Kirchberg and Marc Hendrickx, ''Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American Dream'', p.109. According to Billy Stanley, he "wasn't the same person" as before.Cited in Connie Kirchberg and Marc Hendrickx, p.109. Sexual psychologists say that Presley is a "classic example of the mother/Madonna/whore split." He "adored his mother and never recovered from her early death." He met Priscilla "when she was 14. She became a mother at 22. It is said that Elvis never made love to her again after the birth of his daughter, and would never have sex with a woman who had had a baby. He did not remarry after his divorce from Priscilla and did not have any more children."Carol Martin-Sperry, ''Couples and Sex: An Introduction to Relationship Dynamics and Psychosexual Concepts'' (2004), p.24. LINDA THOMPSON AND GINGER ALDEN Six months after Priscilla left, Presley dated beauty queen , "is too polite to say."McVeigh, "Elvis Special" ''The Observer'', Sunday August 11, 2002. According to Elvis biographer , "The Secret Sex Life of Elvis." '' Penthouse '', August 1997, 22-29. THE MEMPHIS MAFIA AND OTHER MALE FRIENDS Apart from his relationships with women, Presley had many male friends.For the guys around him, see, for instance, Alanna Nash, ''Elvis Aron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia'' (Harpercollins, 1995). He reportedly spent day and night with friends and employees whom the news media affectionately dubbed the Memphis Mafia .See the many sources cited in the Wikipedia article on the Memphis Mafia . Among them were Sonny West, Red West , Billy Smith, Marty Lacker and Lamar Fike. Gerald Marzorati says that Elvis "couldn't go anywhere else without a phalanx of boyhood friends."Gerald Marzorati, "Heartbreak Hotel", '' The New York Times '', January 3, 1999. Even the girls he dated deplored, "Whenever you were with Elvis for the most part you were with his entourage. Those guys were always around..."Tom Lisanti, ''Drive-In Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties'' (2003), p. 80. According to asked Lamar Fike "how Elvis did it – this partying nearly every night," he "answered, 'A little somethin' to get down and a little something to get up.' Obviously, he was referring to the pills that started a trend that sadly in only a few years would lead to Elvis's untimely death."Buzz Cason, ''Living the Rock 'N' Roll Dream: The Adventures of Buzz Cason'' (2004), p.80. Samuel Roy says that "Elvis' bodyguards, Red and Sonny West and Dave Hebler, apparently loved Elvis—especially Red ... ; these bodyguards showed loyalty to Elvis and demonstrated it in the ultimate test. When bullets were apparently fired at Elvis in Las Vegas, the bodyguards threw themselves in front of Elvis, forming a shield to protect him." The author adds that the people who surrounded Presley "lived, for the most part, in isolation from the rest of the world, losing touch with every reality except that of his 'cult' and his power."Samuel Roy, ''Elvis, Prophet of Power'' (1989), p.87. According to Presley expert also confirms that the singer "had an entourage who spoke with Southern accents. The only one I remember was Nick Adams, the actor."Paul Parla and Charles P. Mitchell, ''Screen Sirens Scream!: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s'' (2000), p.235. "It has since been speculated in Hollywood gossip that Presley and Adams may have shared some sort of intimate encounter. But there's no definitive evidence one way or another."Tracy ''Elvis Presley: A Biography'',p.123. All of the singer's friendships are documented by many photographs. NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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