Priscilla Presley

Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Ann Presley (née Wagner, formerly Beaulieu; born May 24, 1945) is an American businesswoman and actress. She is the ex-wife of the late American singer Elvis Presley, as well as co-founder and former chairperson of Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), the company that turned Graceland into one of the top tourist attractions in the United States. In her acting career, Presley co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in the Naked Gun film trilogy and played the role of Jenna Wade on the long-running television series Dallas.
Early life
Priscilla Ann Wagner was born at Brooklyn Naval Hospital in Brooklyn, New York on May 24, 1945. Her maternal grandfather, Albert Henry Iversen (1899–1971), was born in Egersund, Norway. He immigrated to the United States, where he married Lorraine Davis (1903–1984), who was of Scots-Irish and English descent. Their only daughter was Anna Lillian Iversen (1926–2021), who later was called, or her name was changed to, Ann. She gave birth to Priscilla when she was 19 years old.
Presley's biological father was US Navy pilot James Frederick Wagner (1921–1945), son of Kathryn (1901–1995) and Harold Wagner (1897–1958) of Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania. At age 23 he married Presley's mother, Ann, on August 10, 1944. They had been dating for more than three years. Wagner died in a plane crash returning home on leave when Priscilla was six months old.
In 1948, Ann married a United States Air Force officer named Paul Beaulieu (1925–2018), from Quebec, Canada. The couple raised Priscilla along with half-siblings Donald (b. 1949), Michelle (b. 1954), Jeffrey (b. 1959) and twins Thomas (1962–2013) and Timothy Beaulieu (b. 1962). Priscilla took on the Beaulieu surname. Over the next few years, the growing family repeatedly relocated as her stepfather's Air Force career moved them from Connecticut to New Mexico to Maine. Priscilla describes herself during this period as "a shy, pretty, little girl, unhappily accustomed to moving from base to base every two or three years". Presley later recalled how uneasy she felt having to move so often, never knowing if she could ever make friends for life, or if she would fit in with the people she would meet at the next place.
In 1956, the Beaulieus settled in Del Valle, Texas, but soon her stepfather was transferred to Wiesbaden, West Germany. Priscilla was "crushed" upon learning this news, as it occurred just after her junior high school years, causing her to again worry about leaving her existing friends behind while needing to find new ones.
Life in West Germany
When the Beaulieus arrived in West Germany, they stayed at the Helene Hotel, but it became too costly after three months living there, so they sought another place to rent. The family settled into a large apartment in a "vintage building constructed long before World War I". Soon after moving in, the Beaulieus realized it was a brothel, but, given the scarcity of housing, they had little choice but to remain.
Life with Elvis
Germany
On September 13, 1959, 14-year old Priscilla Beaulieu met 24-year old Elvis Presley at a party, at his home in Bad Nauheim, Germany, which he had rented during his military service. Her presence is said to have made Elvis act like an "awkward, embarrassed" boy-next-door. He composed himself by the end of the evening. Priscilla's late return home on the night of that first meeting upset her parents, and they insisted that she never see Elvis again, but his eagerness for another rendezvous and his promise never to bring her home late again led them to relent. Thereafter, Priscilla and Elvis were frequently together until his departure from West Germany in March 1960. After Elvis left, Priscilla was inundated with requests for interviews from media outlets around the world. Priscilla received fan mail from Elvis fans, some positive and some negative, as well as mail from "lonesome G.I.s.". With gossip-magazine rumors swirling about his relationship with Nancy Sinatra, Priscilla became convinced that her romance with Elvis was over and she would never see him again.
Move to Graceland
After Elvis's return to the US, Priscilla managed to stay in touch with him by phone, though they did not see each other again until the summer of 1962, when Priscilla's parents agreed to let her visit for two weeks. They allowed her to go on the condition Elvis pay for a first-class round trip and arrange for her to be chaperoned at all times, and that she write home every day. Elvis agreed to all these demands, and Priscilla flew to Los Angeles. Elvis told her they were going to Las Vegas and, to confuse her parents he had Priscilla write a postcard for every day they would be away – to be mailed daily from Los Angeles by a member of his staff.
It was during this visit, while on a trip to Las Vegas, that Priscilla first took amphetamines and sleeping pills to keep up with Elvis's lifestyle. After another visit at Christmas, Priscilla's parents let her move to Memphis for good in mid-March 1963. Part of the agreement was that they would eventually marry. She would finish her senior year at an all-girls Catholic school, the Immaculate Conception High School, and live with Elvis' father and stepmother in a separate house a few streets away from the Graceland mansion at 3650 Hermitage Drive, until she graduated in May. However, according to her 1985 autobiography, Elvis and Me, she "spent entire nights with Grandma [Elvis' grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley] at Graceland and gradually moved her belongings there". It is believed she had her permanent residence at Graceland as early as May 1963. Her parents eventually agreed to her living there if Elvis promised to marry her. Priscilla later said, "The move was natural. ... I was there all the time anyway."
Priscilla was keen to go to Hollywood with Elvis, but he kept telling her he was too busy and had her stay in Memphis. During that period, Priscilla read reports about an affair between Elvis and his Viva Las Vegas co-star Ann-Margret in the press. Priscilla confronted Elvis, who explained the reports as rumours to promote the film, urging her to not trust the press. Over the next few years Elvis had numerous intimate relationships with his co-stars, but denied having them to Priscilla.
Eventually she was allowed to visit him in Hollywood, but her visits were kept short.
Marriage and pregnancy
Shortly before Christmas 1966, Elvis proposed to Priscilla, after being reminded of the record contract's RCA "morals clause" by his manager Colonel Parker. Priscilla suggested in a 1973 interview with Ladies' Home Journal that she and Elvis were quite happy to just live together, but "at that time it wasn't nice for people to [just] live together". According to his cook Alberta and friend Marty Lackner, Elvis was reluctant to marry and upset about not having a choice. Others, such as Joe Esposito have asserted that Elvis was excited to marry Priscilla.
In her book, Elvis and Me, Priscilla describes Elvis as a very passionate man who was not overtly sexual towards her. According to her account, the singer told her that they had to wait until they were married before having intercourse. He said, "I'm not saying we can't do other things. It's just the actual encounter. I want to save it." Priscilla says in her autobiography that she was a virgin and she and Elvis did not have sex until their wedding night. However, this claim is questioned by biographer Suzanne Finstad.
The couple married on May 1, 1967, at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. The wedding, arranged by Parker to maximize publicity, featured very few guests and was over in only eight minutes. It was followed by a quick press conference and a $10,000 breakfast reception, attended by friends, family, and business associates from MGM, RCA, and the William Morris Agency. The wedding caused rifts between Elvis and several of his closest friends, including Red West, who were not invited to the actual wedding ceremony. Although the blame mainly fell on Parker, resentment was held for years to follow.
Following the reception, Priscilla and Elvis boarded a private jet and enjoyed a short honeymoon in Palm Springs. On May 4, they flew back to Memphis and retreated to their private ranch, just over the Mississippi state line, for a three-week break. Many of Elvis' inner circle joined them, although for the most part the couple were left alone and were able to enjoy each other's company without the intrusion of the Memphis Mafia. "I loved playing house", she later remarked; adding, "Here was an opportunity to take care of him myself. No maids or housekeepers to pamper us." In an attempt to heal rifts, Elvis and Priscilla held another reception at Graceland on May 29 for the friends and family who were unable to attend the original ceremonies.
Soon after, Priscilla found out that she was pregnant. She was upset at such an early pregnancy, certain that it would destroy the closeness she had finally found with Elvis. She had asked him earlier if she could take birth control pills, but Elvis had insisted they were not perfected yet. She considered abortion, and even discussed it with Elvis at one point, but both decided they could not live with themselves if they had gone through with it. Their only child, Lisa Marie, was born exactly nine months after their wedding, on February 1, 1968.
Priscilla wrote in Elvis and Me that she began taking private dance lessons around the time her husband was filming Live a Little, Love a Little (1968). She found herself deeply attracted to the instructor, known simply as Mark in the book, and she confesses to having a short affair. She implies regret, however, saying, "I came out of it realizing I needed much more out of my relationship with Elvis".
Despite Priscilla's affair and Elvis's on-and-off affairs with his co-stars, the first few years they were married seemed a happy time for the couple. However, when Elvis's career took off again after his 1968 television special, he was constantly touring and playing in Las Vegas, having affairs whilst Priscilla stayed at home to care for their daughter Lisa Marie.
Separation and divorce
Priscilla took up karate after Elvis, a keen karate student, convinced her to do so. Priscilla, keen to share her husband's interests, thought it was a good idea, as a hobby to concentrate on would pass the time she spent alone. Following disruptions from Elvis, Priscilla began taking lessons from Mike Stone, a karate instructor she had met in 1972 backstage at one of Elvis' concerts. She soon began an affair with him. Priscilla states in her book, "My relationship with Mike had now developed into an affair. I still loved Elvis greatly, but over the next few months I knew I would have to make a crucial decision regarding my destiny". She later states, "Elvis must have perceived my new restlessness". A couple of months later, she said that Elvis had requested to see her in his hotel suite. It was then that she writes in her book that Elvis "forcefully made love to me...[as he said] 'This is how a real man makes love to his woman'".
She later stated in an interview that she regretted her choice of words in describing his actions, and said it had been an overstatement. She went on to say following the incident, "what really hurt was that he was not sensitive to me as a woman and his attempt at reconciliation had come too late", suggesting that his actions were a deliberate attempt at reconciliation or compensation for his lack of sexual interest in Priscilla which had been a source of hurt and discontent for her for years. Priscilla states in her book, "He had mentioned to me before we were married that he had never been able to make love to a woman who had a child" and she later expressed the personal repercussions of their sexual dysfunction, saying, "I am beginning to doubt my own sexuality as a woman. My physical and emotional needs were unfulfilled." After this incident, Priscilla summarized, "this was not the gentle, understanding man I grew to love".
Priscilla and Elvis separated on February 24, 1972, and filed for legal separation on July 26. To avoid Priscilla having to make her home address available on public records, risking the security of her and Lisa Marie, Elvis filed for divorce, on his 38th birthday, January 8, 1973. Later that month, Elvis reportedly became paranoid about Mike Stone and said, "There's too much pain in me... Stone [must] die". His intense outbursts continued, unable to be calmed by a physician and large doses of medication. He did not accept offers by his bodyguard to arrange a contract killing.[page needed][page needed] The divorce was finalized on October 9, 1973.
The couple agreed to share custody of their daughter, and Priscilla was awarded an outright cash payment of US$725,000 as well as spousal support, child support, 5% of Elvis' new publishing companies and half the income from the sale of their Beverly Hills home. Originally the couple had agreed upon a much smaller settlement; a $100,000 lump payment, $1,000 a month spousal support, and $500 a month child support. Priscilla was keen to make it on her own and prove that her marriage to Elvis was not about money. After consulting her new lawyers, her demands increased, pointing out that a star of Elvis' stature could easily afford more for his former wife and child.
Priscilla and Elvis remained close, leaving the courthouse on the day of their divorce hand in hand.
Personal life post 1973
Though she has never remarried, Presley has had numerous romantic relationships since her divorce from Elvis. Following her divorce from Elvis, Presley lived with karate instructor Mike Stone. The relationship dissolved in 1975. She then dated photographer Terry O'Neill, lawyer Robert Kardashian, hairdresser Elie Ezerzer and financier Kirk Kerkorian.
Beginning 1978, Presley had a six-year intermittent live-in relationship with model Michael Edwards, until he began developing feelings for the teenage Lisa Marie. Lisa Marie was aged 10 to 16 during his relationship with her mother. Edwards recounts the tale of their relationship in his book Priscilla, Elvis, and Me (1988), which discloses her liaisons with Julio Iglesias and Richard Gere in the early 1980s.
Presley's longest relationship had been with Brazilian screenwriter-turned-computer-programmer Marco Antonio Garcia (a.k.a. Marco Garibaldi), with whom she lived for 22 years. The two were introduced by costumer Kathy Monderine in 1984 after he wrote a script that she read, hoping to produce. Their son, musician Navarone Garibaldi, was born on March 1, 1987. During her pregnancy, Presley was starring in the primetime soap opera Dallas. Her pregnancy was written into the storyline. In 2006, they ended their relationship. At the beginning of their romance, Presley ensured Garibaldi sign a promissory agreement that if they should break up, he would not write a book about her.
Between 2006 and 2009, Presley dated British TV executive Nigel Lythgoe. In the early 2010s she was linked to restaurateur Richie Palmer, ex-husband of Raquel Welch, as well as Australian entertainer Barry Crocker and disc jockey Toby Anstis.
In 2017, it was suspected by various news outlets that Presley was in a relationship with a longtime friend, Welsh singer Tom Jones, who had become a widower the year before. In 2021, Jones commented on these rumors, stating that they have known each other since the 1960s and that they merely have a close friendship.
Through her daughter, Lisa Marie, Presley has four grandchildren including actress Riley Keough. Her grandson, Benjamin Keough, died by suicide at age 27 on July 12, 2020. Presley became a great-grandmother through Riley Keough in 2022.
Her daughter, Lisa Marie, suffered cardiac arrest and died on January 12, 2023, at age 54.
Business
In 1973, following her separation from her husband, Presley set up a clothing boutique in Los Angeles called Bis & Beau with her friend and stylist Olivia Bis. In a 1973 interview to promote the opening of the store, Priscilla said, "After the separation, I had to make up my mind about what I wanted to do, and since I had worked with Olivia for such a long time on my own clothes, I decided to try it professionally. We both do the designing for the shop, and have people who sew for us." Elvis, supportive of Priscilla's business, contacted several friends in public relations to help promote the launch. The shop was a successful business venture, with celebrity clients including Diana Ross, Carol Burnett, Jill Ireland, Mary Tyler Moore, Victoria Principal, Michelle Phillips, Dyan Cannon, Julie Christie, Suzanne Pleshette, Cher, Liza Minnelli, Lana Turner, Barbra Streisand, and Natalie Wood shopping there regularly. The shop closed in 1976.
After Elvis's death in 1977, his father Vernon was one of the executors of his estate, which was held in trust for his daughter Lisa Marie. Vernon named Priscilla to be his successor upon his death. She assumed the role following Vernon's 1979 death. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Lisa Marie's inheritance to only $1 million. Taxes due on the property and other expenses due came to over $500,000. Faced with having to sell Graceland, Presley examined other public homes and museums. She hired a CEO, Jack Soden, to turn Graceland into a tourist attraction. Graceland was opened to the public on June 7, 1982. Only four weeks after opening Graceland's doors, the estate made back all the money it had invested. Priscilla became the chairperson and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), stating that she would remain in the position until Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. Under Priscilla Presley's guidance, the enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.
In 1988, Presley launched her own fragrance, Moments, and followed this up with a range of best-selling perfumes in the 1990s – Experiences in 1993, Indian Summer in 1996, and Roses and More in 1998. She has also successfully sold her line of products live on the Home Shopping Network and was coached by veteran HSN host Bob Circosta.
In 2006, Presley flew to Sydney, Australia for the debut of her worldwide line of bed linens called the Priscilla Presley Collection. She partnered with Australian designer Bruno Schiavi for the line.
She has helped to produce feature films including Breakfast with Einstein and Finding Graceland. In September 2000, Presley was elected to the board of directors at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 2015 Presley became the executive producer of a 14-track album titled If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She said, "If Elvis were here, he would be evolving and taking risks, seemingly like everybody else today". Also in that year the U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan and Priscilla Presley dedicated an Elvis "forever" stamp, which featured a 1955 black-and-white image shot by photographer William Speer. It was Priscilla's second dedication of a USPS stamp honoring her ex-husband. The first Elvis stamp, issued in 1993, were the most popular stamps sold in the Postal Service's history. This second contribution also made Elvis Presley the first musical artist to be featured in two different issues of its commemorative stamps collections.
On August 16, 2019, it was announced that Presley, in conjunction with John Eddie, as well as Sony Pictures, would create and produce Agent Elvis, a Netflix adult animated fictional series focusing on her former husband's nightly incursions as a spy for the US Government while he remained a musician during the day. The series' first teaser was published on the official Elvis Instagram account on June 15, 2022. The image showed an illustrated Elvis donning a black trench coat. Presley was featured as a cast member in the show, voicing her own animation character.
Acting career
Presley had shown an interest in dancing and modelling. She did model for a local store one time. Hal B. Wallis, a Hollywood producer who had financed many of Elvis's earlier films, showed interest in signing Priscilla to a contract. However, during her marriage she never pursued these activities as a career, instead calling acting or filmmaking a hobby. Priscilla was sensitive about Elvis's opinion, because he did not want to let Priscilla have her own career, repeating the then-popular saying, "A woman's place is in the home looking after her man". Priscilla neither pursued fashion modelling nor did she sign any exclusive contracts, instead choosing to comply with her husband's wishes.
Presley had originally been offered a role as one of the angels on Charlie's Angels. She turned down the role because she disliked the show. Presley made her television debut as co-host of Those Amazing Animals in 1980. In 1983, she had her first professional acting role on a season 2 episode of The Fall Guy titled "Manhunter". She then went on to play in a television film titled Love is Forever, starring alongside Michael Landon. Although she was treated well by most of the cast and crew, and her acting was praised by several of her co-stars, she found Landon difficult to work with on set. After the television film aired, Presley took on the role of Jenna Wade in the soap opera Dallas. As the third actor portraying Jenna, she played the role for the longest of the three. In 1988 after five years, Presley left the show. Also during her tenure on the series, she was offered the role of Bond girl Stacey Sutton in A View to a Kill (1985), but due to scheduling conflicts, she had to decline the role.
In 1988, Presley starred opposite Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! as Jane Spencer. Critic Roger Ebert praised Presley's performance, saying her "light comic touch" helped balance out the film's more over-the-top humor. She would go on to act in the next two movies in the series: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994). All three films performed solidly at the box office. In between, she acted in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) with Andrew Dice Clay. During the mid-to-late-1990s she made guest appearances on the hit television shows Melrose Place, Touched by an Angel, and Spin City.
Presley made her pantomime debut in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the New Wimbledon Theatre, Wimbledon, London, during Christmas of 2012, starring opposite Warwick Davis. She reprised her role of the Wicked Queen at the Manchester Opera House in 2014.
Charity work and activism
Since 2003, Presley has been the Ambassador of the Dream Foundation, a Santa Barbara-based wish-granting organization for terminally ill adults and their families.
Priscilla Presley joined the church of Scientology at the time of Elvis's death, with her daughter. In 2006 she helped inaugurate the Narconon Stonehawk Rehabilitation Center in Albion, Michigan; Narconon is based on principles developed by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, and according to Presley is "capable of eliminating the very cravings that drive addicts in recovery back to drugs". Lisa had left Scientology by 2016; it was later further reported that Priscilla had distanced herself from the church at the same time as Lisa, but ultimately did not leave Scientology. Priscilla Presley immediately denied press reports in October 2017 that she had left the church.
In 2013, Presley spoke out against the Tennessee Ag-Gag Bill in a letter to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. Presley cited her and Elvis' love of horses and expressed her concern that the bill would hinder animal cruelty investigations and reduce protections for horses and other farm animals.
Honors
Presley was conferred the degree of Doctor of Humanities by Rhodes College in 1998. She was named godmother of the largest river steamboat ever built, American Queen, christened April 27, 2012 at its home port in Memphis. The AutoZone Liberty Bowl chose her as its 2018 Distinguished Citizen Award winner. On July 22, 2022, Theatre Memphis honored her contributions to Memphis art and tourism with a gala, "Honoring Priscilla Presley: The Artist, The Woman", featuring more than a dozen speakers and a live musical tribute. She has a square named after her in Egersund – Priscilla Presleys plass. The area is in the street outside the house where her grandfather was born in 1899, and lived.
Filmography
Portrayals
Since 1979, Presley has been portrayed in several screen and TV films focusing on various aspects of her life with Elvis Presley, her husband from 1967 to 1973. Actresses who played Priscilla Presley include Season Hubley in Elvis, the 1979 TV movie; Susan Walters in Elvis and Me, a 1988 TV miniseries; Kehli O'Byrnein in Elvis and the Colonel, a 1993 TV movie; Alyson Court in Elvis Meets Nixon, 1997; Antonia Barnath in Elvis, a 2006 TV miniseries; Ashley Greene in the fictional 2016 movie The Shangri la Suite; Olivia de Jonge in Elvis, 2022; and Cailee Spaeny in Priscilla, to be released in 2023.
Bibliography
Presley, Priscilla (1985). Elvis and Me. .
Presley, Priscilla; Presley, Lisa Marie (2005). Elvis by the Presleys. .
References
Sources
Clayton, Rose / Dick Heard (2003). Elvis: By Those Who Knew Him Best. Virgin Publishing Limited. .
Clutton, Helen (2004). Everything Elvis. .
Edwards, Michael (1988). Priscilla, Elvis and Me. .
Finstad, Suzanne (1997). Child Bride: The Untold Story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley.
Goldman, Albert (1981). Elvis. .
Guralnick, Peter (1999). Careless Love. The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. Back Bay Books. .
Guralnick, Peter; Jorgensen, Ernst (1999). Elvis: Day by Day. .
Presley, Priscilla (1985). Elvis and Me. .
External links
Official Website
Priscilla Presley with Barbara Walters 1985
1945 births
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American writers
21st-century American women writers
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Living people
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