On this date in 1956, Elvis Presley made his acting debut in a forgettable piece of crap called “Love Me Tender,” launching his movie career and making today
NATIONAL ELVIS MOVIE DAY!
The King made 31 movies in all, usually playing a handsome young rebel with a guitar who gets in and out of trouble, sings a few songs, beats up the bad guys and gets the girl.
Whether it was a western, a beach movie, or an urban melodrama, it was basically the same movie 31 times, but the formula was campy fun, casting the impossibly handsome Presley with one up and coming beautiful starlet after another. Who can forget Ann Margaret with Elvis in “Viva Las Vegas?”
Never a candidate for an Academy Award, Presley wasn’t a horrible actor, just an indifferent one, content to play himself, do love scenes with gorgeous women and shake his hips during the musical numbers. Elvis movies made money, sold his records, and created a campy genre that people still like to watch.
•Suggested Activities: If you can’t find a partner, use a wooden chair.