Elvis Presley and John Wayne are two icons of Americana whose symbolic legacy lives on nearly half a century after their deaths.
The Hollywood contemporaries, who’ve each obtained the Presidential Medal of Freedom, nearly co-starred collectively in 1969’s True Grit, for which Duke gained his Best Actor Oscar.
Nevertheless, Elvis, who drastically admired Wayne from watching his motion pictures as a toddler, would sometimes stumble upon the Western legend on studio heaps.
Given their shared patriotic and conservative values, it’s hardly shocking that the pair bought on like a home on hearth.
Now in an unique interview with Express.co.uk, the main points of their first assembly have been shared by Elvis’ step-brother David Stanley, a Memphis Mafia bodyguard to the King of Rock and Roll.
Speaking from the Las Vegas stage the place Elvis carried out his residency exhibits, David confirmed: “He loved John Wayne.”
The Memphis Mafia member recalled being “overwhelmed” assembly Duke, who had large arms and launched himself by saying, “My name is John Wayne”, to which he stuttered in reply as a young person, “I know who you are, sir”.
And when it got here to Elvis greeting the Western star, the King honoured Duke in probably the most extremely touching manner.
David recalled: “Elvis walked up to him, shook his hand and said, ‘I want to personally thank you for winning World War II.’ Now the only reason he said that was because John did all those army movies. So Elvis, like any other 10-year-old when the war was on… he just saw the John Wayne movies and he associated John Wayne with victory.”
Duke didn’t serve within the army throughout the Second World War however stayed in Hollywood making motion pictures, one thing his common directing collaborator John Ford would tease him for within the years afterwards. As a consequence, Wayne felt it his obligation to proceed to make patriotic conflict motion pictures that honoured veterans previous and current. In truth, Elvis did the identical after his military service in West Germany with motion pictures like GI Blues.
After we pointed all this out to David, he nodded and replied: “Elvis had that mentality when he met him. He honoured him.”
My Brother Elvis: An Evening with David Stanley, which features a tour of the backstage the place The King carried out, is held month-to-month at Westgate, Las Vegas, and tickets might be booked right here.
https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1979123/Elvis-Presley-John-Wayne-meeting