Elvis Presley 'Regretted' Not Doing Barbra Streisand'sA Star Is Born,Says Priscilla (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Elvis Presley; Barbra Streisand.Photo:Bettman/Getty; Screen Archives/Getty

Bettman/Getty; Screen Archives/Getty

Elvis Presleyalmost starred in 1976’sA Star Is Born.

Barbra Streisandinitially had the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in mind to play her onscreen love interest in the film, but Elvis' manager Colonel Tom Parker told him not to take the role. The part ultimately went toKris Kristofferson.

“Barbra had offered him the part,” Elvis' ex-wife Priscilla recalls to PEOPLE. “Colonel talked him out of that saying, ‘Oh, it’s not going to be good. She’s going to be in charge, not you. Her movie, not yours.’ Elvis regretted that because he felt he could have played that part.”

Elvis' complicated dynamic with Parker is explored in the new Netflix documentaryReturn of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley(streaming now). The film looks back on how Parker got Elvis locked into an multi-year movie contract following his return from the Army in 1960.

Over time, Elvis became increasingly frustrated with the scripts he was being presented.

“One day he was reading a script, and he threw it across the room and said, ‘I’m not doing this,’” says his longtime friend Jerry Schilling. “The Colonel loved Elvis and vice versa, but Elvis outgrew the Colonel.”

Jerry Schilling in Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley.Netflix

Netflix

Priscilla, 79, says he “wanted to be in great movies, not the stupid movies that he did likeGirls! Girls! Girls!That wasn’t Elvis.”

“Colonel did not get him really at all,” she says. “That was hard for both Jerry and I, but you couldn’t say anything to Colonel. You just had to keep quiet.”

Jerry Schilling and Priscilla Presley in New York City in May 2022.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

“Colonel went to Hal and said, ‘What about Elvis for this movie?'” Schilling says. “Because Elvis really wanted those type of movies. Hal went to Michael Curtiz, the director, and he said, ‘No Elvis.’ Hal and the Colonel said, ‘Why don’t you just have lunch, just meet with him?’ Michael fell in love with Elvis as an actor. At the end of that picture, it was his fourth, Elvis walked over to Michael and said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Curtiz. Now I understand what a director is.'”

The movie roles that followedKing Creolewere less creatively fulfilling to Elvis, but he was able to breathe new life into his career with his ‘68 Comeback Specialthat aired on NBC on Dec. 3, 1968.

Though Parker tried to get him to do a family-friendly Christmas special, Elvis insisted on a return to his rock roots.

Elvis Presley during his 1968 ‘Comeback Special’ on NBC.Gary Null/ NBC Universal via Getty

Gary Null/ NBC Universal via Getty

The special went on to become the highest-rated show of the year for NBC. Elvis dedicated himself to live performances from then on, and he played hundreds more concerts before his death at age 42 in 1977.

“I feel strongly I lost my friend at an early age out of creative disappointment. I know I did,” says Schilling. “That creative disappointment caused other problems. But when he had a challenge like the'68 Special, he would go into training like Muhammad Ali. He’d lose 20 lbs.”

source: people.com