www.elvis.com |
Blue Hawaii 1 - 2.
Filming for "Blue Hawaii", Elvis' eighth movie, began on March 27, 1961
in the lush islands of Hawaii.
Location shooting took place on the islands of Oahu and Kauai and was
finished by April 17th.
The cast and crew then returned to Hollywood where filming continued
until May 23rd.
The famous wedding scene was shot on Kauai at the Coco Palms Resort
Hotel which had been in operation since 1953. Unfortunately,
the resort closed after Kauai was hit with devastating Hurricane Iniki
in September 1992.
In the 1800s, the land where the Coco Palms is located was the ancestral
home of Kauai's last reigning queen, Queen Deborah Kapule.
The "Call to Feast" featured in the film with its ceremonial torch
lighting had taken place there every night at 7:30 PM for 40 years until
Iniki hit.
The original working title of the film was "Hawaiian Beach Boy" and the
screenplay was written by Allan Weiss, who later wrote five other Elvis
movies:""
"Easy Come, Easy Go, "Fun In Acapulco", "Girls! Girls! Girls!,
"Paradise, Hawaiian Style" and "Roustabout".
Elvis' leading lady in "Blue Hawaii" was Joan Blackman, who played Maile
Duval. The following year she played Elvis' love interest in "Kid
Galahad".
Elvis had dated the actress when he first came to Hollywood in 1956.
Angela Lansbury played the role of Elvis' ditzy mother even though she
was only 35 years old at the time and Elvis was 26. She began her career
in 1944 in a movie called "Gaslight", which quickly earned her an
Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She would go on to
achieve great fame and numerous accolades in film and television and on
Broadway. She has starred in such films as "National Velvet", "The
Picture of Dorian Gray", "The Harvey Girls", "The Manchurian Candidate",
"The Greatest Story Ever Told", "Harlow", "Bedknobs and Broomsticks",
"Mrs. Santa Claus" and "Beauty and the Beast" (voice for animation). She
is probably best known for her role as mystery writer and sleuth Jessica
Fletcher in the "Murder, She Wrote" television series.
To name just a few of her accolades, she has received three Academy
Award nominations, thirteen Emmy nominations,
six Golden Globe wins out of fourteen nominations, four Tony Awards and
the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000,
she was a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center Honors.
Roland Winters played Elvis' father Fred Gates. Like Lansbury, he was a
respected character actor with many films to his credit. One career
highlight was his portrayal of detective Charlie Chan in several of
the"Charlie Chan" movies from 1947 to 1950, the third actor to take on
that role in these films. He can also be seen portraying a judge in
Elvis' 1962 movie "Follow That Dream". You might also recognize him from
the 1973 remake of the movie "Miracle on 34th. Street" in which he played Mr. Gimbel. |
