elvis Facts, Loving You, 2 - 3

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Loving You, 2 / 3

Elvis Presley's second movie was "Loving You", filmed in 1957 for Paramount Studios.

Elvis left Memphis by train for Hollywood on January 10, 1957.
After recording sessions he reported on the 14th to the Paramount makeup and wardrobe departments for his new role as singer Deke Rivers. Edith Head, as noted in Part 1, was the lead designer for this film.
Probably the most notable costume in the film is the famous red and white cowboy suit worn when Deke sings "Teddy Bear". Makeup was overseen by Wally Westmore.

It was on January 14, 1957 that Elvis first had his natural light brown hair dyed black. He had decided it would look good on film, as did the dark hair of Tony Curtis, one of the actors he admired. He let his hair go back to its natural color while serving in the U.S. Army, 1958-60.
But for that and a brief time in the early 1960s, Elvis kept his hair dyed black for the rest of his life.

Lizabeth Scott played Deke Rivers' manager, Glenda Markle, who was a essentially a female version of Elvis's real-life career manager, Colonel Parker, the supreme promoter.
Ms. Scott, a sultry blonde with a husky voice, was discovered by Hal Wallis in 1945 and was often compared with actress Lauren Bacall. She appeared in many films between 1945 and 1957, most of them for her mentor Mr. Wallis and Paramount. Among her film credits are: "You Came Along", "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers", "Dead Reckoning", "Desert Fury", and "I Walk Alone". Except for a role in 1972's "Pulp", "Loving You" was her last film.
Ms. Scott is generally regarded as one of the queens of the "film noir" genre of movies. Among her honors is a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Wendell Corey played Walter (Tex) Warner, the leader of the band that Deke joins. Mr. Corey, son of a minister, was born in Massachusetts in 1914. He was a stage actor in the 1930's and 40's until he signed with Hal Wallis in 1946.
"Loving You" reunited him with Lizabeth Scott, with whom he had worked in "Desert Fury" and "I Walk Alone".
During his career, Corey served stints as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and president of the Screen Actors Guild. He served on the Santa Monica California City Council in 1965. He was defeated in 1966 in his run for the House of Representatives. Elvis once named a pet cat Wendell in his honor.

Dolores Hart played Deke Rivers' love interest Susan Jessup. Ms. Hart was born Dolores Hicks in Chicago in 1938. Coincidentally, her uncle was Mario Lanza, a singer Elvis admired.
Hart worked with Elvis a second time when she co-starred with him in "King Creole" in 1958.
Among her other credits are the films "Where the Boys Are", "Francis of Assisi", "Sail A Crooked Ship", and "Come Fly With Me". She decided to become a nun and, in the 1960s, walked away from a successful and promising acting career before it had peaked. She is now Mother Dolores, but is still a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Jana Lund has the distinction of being the first actress to share an on-screen kiss with Elvis.
Her character Daisy Bricker stole that kiss when she snuck into Deke Rivers' dressing room on a dare.
(Dolore Hart, later in the same film, shares the first on-screen kiss initiated by an Elvis character.)
Ms. Lund's character is also the catalyst for the big fight scene between her boyfriend Wayne and Deke.
Lund also had roles in the films "High School Hellcats", "Hot Car Girl", and "Married Too Young".

The character of Wayne, who loses the fight in the diner, was played by Kenneth Becker.
Mr. Becker can also be seen in the Elvis films "G. I. Blues", "Girls! Girls! Girls!" and "Roustabout".
Mr. Becker also had a number of guest roles on TV western series such as "Gunsmoke", "Bronco", "Bonanza", and "Wanted Dead or Alive".

Paul Smith played Skeeter, the band mate who loans Deke his guitar. In the film Deke always breaks the strings on Skeeter's guitar until Deke's growing importance with the group prompts bandleader Tex to buy Deke a guitar of his own. (That bit in the script was an inside joke that writer Hal Kanter picked up on as Elvis actually did often break his guitar strings.) Among Paul Smith's film credits are "Cowboy Blues", "The Westward Trail", "Battle At Apache Pass", "All That Heaven Allows", and "Funny Face".

Booking agent Carl Meade was played by James Gleason, who was born into a New York theater family in 1882.
After serving in the Spanish-American War, he joined the stock theater company that his parents were running in Oakland. He and his wife toured in road shows until he enlisted during World War I.
When he returned to the stage after the war, he tried his hand at writing and producing and then focused on being a character actor. Mr. Gleason appeared in over 125 movies. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1942 as Best Supporting Actor for the 1941 movie "Here Comes Mr. Jordan".

Ralph Dumke, another well-known character actor, played Jim Tallman. He had a recurring role as Mr. McAfee in "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" on television. His movie credits include "All The King's Men", "Daddy Long Legs", "Artists and Models", "The Solid Gold Cadillac", "The Buster Keaton Story", "Wake Me When It's Over", and Elmer Gantry".

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