WHAT THE EL
One of Elvis’s oldest friends is Lance le Gault, who starred in the rock version of “Othello,” “Catch My Soul,” and will be in the film of it next year. They first met when they we’re both in the same show in the days before Elvis became famous; later, Lance was a stunt man in some of Elvis’s films.
“The stunt that I remember best was in Viva Las Vegas,” he told me. “Then – dressed as Elvis – I had to be pushed off a swimming pool diving-board by Ann-Margret (lucky man!) with a guitar slug round my neck. I had to splash down so that the guitar was left on the surface, and so that a wad of make-believe money fell from my pocket and got washed down one of the pool’s drains.
“I kept managing to do this. But it took so long to film it right that they sacked an underwater cameraman. When Elvis found out about it he kicked up a fuss and got the guy taken back.”
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