Colonel Parker chats with RCA Records execs as a newly-shorn Elvis gathers his Army uniform in the background
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As rock’n’roll-related reputations go, over the years, Colonel Parker’s has been shredded. Elvis Presley’s infamous manager died in 1997 –but even Tom Hanks’ recent portrayal in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic Elvis, is strangely ambiguous. Pre-filming, Hanks told Priscilla Presley that he considered the former carny a ‘scoundrel’. Yet Priscilla defended her former husband’s associate. “I was expecting to hear stories about the distrust she had for Colonel Tom Parker over these many years,” Hanks told Variety. “And she said, ‘No, he was awonderful man, and Iwish he were alive today. He took really great care of us.’”
25 March 1958: Elvis enjoys an army breakfast with Colonel Tom at Fort Chaffee on the day of his conscription
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