{"id":90978,"date":"2024-09-20T15:29:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T08:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/?p=90978"},"modified":"2024-09-20T15:29:42","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T08:29:42","slug":"elvis-wanted-to-marry-me-but-i-refused-the-starlet-who-had-a-passionate-affair-with-the-famous-artist-he-really-wanted-me-as-his-wife-but-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/elvis-wanted-to-marry-me-but-i-refused-the-starlet-who-had-a-passionate-affair-with-the-famous-artist-he-really-wanted-me-as-his-wife-but-i\/","title":{"rendered":"&ldquo;Elvis wanted to marry me, but I refused!&rdquo; The starlet who had a passionate affair with the famous artist: &ldquo;He really wanted me as his wife but I&hellip;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Debra Paget was extremely beautiful in her prime and charmed millions of Americans when she starred in Elvis Presley\u2019s film debut, Love Me Tender.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>The talented actress was <b>\u201dtouched by the hand of God,\u201d according to legendary director Cecil B DeMille.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'>Apparently, even the <b>\u2018King of Rock and Roll\u2019 became obsessed with her\u2026\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><img fetchpriority='\"high\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90986 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/debra-768x1042-1.jpeg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"768\"' height='\"1042\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/debra-768x1042-1.jpeg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Debra Page was born on August 19, 1933, in Denver, Colorado. Her real was Dabralee Griffin \u2013 but the actress changed her name as she moved towards movie stardom.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Raised in a showbiz family, Debra\u2019s parents moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s so that they all could be closer to developing the film industry in Hollywood. (Debra\u2019s two sisters, Tala Loring and Lisa Gaye, also had substantial film &amp; TV careers).\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Debra, who always wanted to be a dancer, has described herself as a \u201dpost-depression\u201d baby. She came into the world during a devastating and prolonged economic recession. Her family didn\u2019t have much, but Debra held her parents in high regard.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cWhen I looked back, we had so much love in our home,\u201d Debra said when being interviewed by Dale Evans Rogers.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u2018Most beautiful legs in the world\u2019<br>\n<span style='\"font-size:'>Pushed by her mother, Debra enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School when she was 11.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>The talented young girl landed never doubted herself, landing her first professional job aged eight. Soon after that, she starred in a production of Shakespeare\u2019s The Merry Wives of Windsor.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><img decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90985 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/30801653815_e0ca77e8e7_z.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"500\"' height='\"639\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/30801653815_e0ca77e8e7_z.jpg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Her motion picture career began at the age of 14, and her big break came in 1950 when she was cast in Broken Arrow. Co-starring alongside James Stewart, Debra Paget portrayed a Native American maiden called Sonseeahray <b>(\u201cMorningstar\u201d).\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'>Debra\u2019s <b>\u201cexotic\u201d looks won her several roles in adventure dramas, and she soon earned the reputation as the only starlet who had never been kissed.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'>In the 1950s, she earned the title<b> \u201cThe most beautiful legs in the world\u201d when the National Association of Hosiery Manufactures polled 15,000 people in the industry. The deeply religious Debra won by a wide margin, according to The Baltimore Sun.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><img decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90984 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/2183889274_12b412af96_k-768x975-1.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"768\"' height='\"975\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2183889274_12b412af96_k-768x975-1.jpg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>As a 14-year-old, Debra had signed an exclusive contract with 20th Century Fox. But it was when Paramount Pictures borrowed Debra for The Ten Commandments that she made her most successful movie.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Debra played the part of Lilia, the water girl, in Cecil B. DeMille\u2019s giant biblical, spectacular movie. The blue-eyed Debra had to wear brown contact lenses \u2013 something that caused quite some trouble for her.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cIf it hadn\u2019t been for the lenses, I wouldn\u2019t have gotten the part. They were awful to work in because the klieg lights heated them up,\u201d she said.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'>The movie, which won seven Academy Awards, changed her life forever.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201dIt was probably the highlight of my career, \u201d Debra said.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90983 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/5754701452_966bda7924_b-768x461-1.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"768\"' height='\"461\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/5754701452_966bda7924_b-768x461-1.jpg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>Meeting Elvis<br>\n<span style='\"font-size:'>Debra Paget was a 22-year-old established Hollywood star when she stepped onto the set of Love Me Tender. Back then, she was probably the most beautiful actress of the Hollywood Golden age. And that is saying something.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>She and Elvis Presley first met months earlier when both appeared on the Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956. It was the moment when Elvis shocked conservative America by gyrating his famous, or infamous, pelvis during his now-iconic rendition of Hound Dog.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cAlthough I usually don\u2019t form an opinion of a person until I have met him,\u201d she explained. <b>\u201cFrankly I looked forward to my first meeting with Elvis Presley with mixed emotions. I\u2019d heard and read a lot about this new young singing sensation from Tennessee\u2014and most of it was not complimentary.\u201d\n</b></b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90992 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/screenshot_1726820677.png%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"566\"' height='\"746\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/screenshot_1726820677.png' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>The young singer surprised Debra in many ways during their first, memorable meeting. As a born-again Christian, you might think that Debra disliked The King, but it was quite the opposite.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>When Mr. Berle introduced the 21-year-old rising star to Debra, he firmly grabbed her hand and said:<b> \u201cI\u2019m glad to meet you, Miss Paget.\u201d\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'>Elvis then shook her mother\u2019s hand with <b>\u201dequal vigor,\u201d excused himself, and a couple of minutes later came back with a chair for her.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cWe were together for only a couple of hours but sometimes you can learn more about a person in a short span of time than in weeks of seeing one another constantly. I felt I did. From the very beginning, Elvis impressed me as a pleasant, sincere, obliging young man,\u201d Debra recalled.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>The proposal<br>\n<span style='\"font-size:'>A few months later, Debra starred opposite Elvis in Love Me Tender \u2013 his first movie. According to Daily Express, the singer became obsessed with his co-star. He believed that Debra was <b>\u201dthe most beautiful girl he had ever seen\u201d and even visited her parent\u2019s house.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cFrom the time he first came to the house, my folks have considered Elvis a member of the Paget clan\u2014a feeling which, I believe, he reciprocated,\u201d Debra explained.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'>But Debra and Elvis\u2019s relationship was more family-oriented than a whirlwind romance \u2013 at least in the eyes of the young actress.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cI was very shy, very quiet and very immature for my age. I was in my very early 20\u2019s but I was emotionally more like a 16-year-old. Elvis and I just sort of came together like a couple of children really.\u201d\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90982 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/GettyImages-74291463-768x958-1.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"768\"' height='\"958\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/GettyImages-74291463-768x958-1.jpg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Elvis, however, seems to have thought otherwise.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cFollowing the film, he did ask me to marry him but my parents objected to my getting married. I cared about Elvis, but being one not to disobey my parents, that did not take place,\u201d Debra shared.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'>In the end, Debra turned Elvis down \u2013 she had already fallen in love with Howard Hughes, a famous film producer and billionaire.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Debra would later marry actor and singer David Street, but she always spoke fondly of Elvis. And Elvis didn\u2019t forget Debra either \u2013 many think she did set the template for Elvis\u2019 fixation with the \u2018Debra Paget look.\u2019 For example, it was reported that young Priscilla Beaulieu changed her hair and make-up when she learned about Debra.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90981 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/5190922784_7b52897004_k-768x964-1.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"768\"' height='\"964\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/5190922784_7b52897004_k-768x964-1.jpg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Debra left the entertainment industry in 1964 and is now 89 years old. Sadly, there is not much information about her life today; Debra seems to live a quiet and private life out of the limelight.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>Elvis and Joan Blackman<br>\n<span style='\"font-size:'>Interestingly, Elvis\u2019s proposal to Debra in the late 1950s wasn\u2019t the only time he wanted to marry a co-star. After shooting Blue Hawaii with Joan Blackman in 1961, he wanted to tie the knot with her as well \u2013 while he was dating Priscilla.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90988 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/ak.jpeg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"692\"' height='\"928\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ak.jpeg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Joan Blackman, who looked very much like Priscilla, has shared what really happened during the making of Blue Hawaii.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cWhen we first set eyes on each other (in 1957), there was a spark, a magic in the air\u2026 There was just that special something between us, sometimes so warm and wonderful you could almost reach out and touch it,\u201d she told the Midnight Globe newspaper in 1977.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'>In the sensational interview, Joan Blackman said that Elvis <b>\u201dreally wanted\u201d her as his wife and that he repeatedly begged her to appear in his movies, but she turned him down each time.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><b>\u201cI wanted parts because of my ability, not because I was dating Elvis,\u201d she stated.\n</b><p><span style='\"font-size:'><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-90987 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/legendstitch.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/09%5C/GettyImages-607400252-768x994-1.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"768\"' height='\"994\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/GettyImages-607400252-768x994-1.jpg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Debra Paget was extremely beautiful in her prime and charmed millions of Americans when she starred in Elvis Presley\u2019s film debut, Love Me Tender. The talented actress was \u201dtouched by the hand of God,\u201d according to legendary director Cecil B DeMille. Apparently, even the \u2018King of Rock and Roll\u2019 became obsessed with her\u2026 Debra Page\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":90996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-90978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Elvis-wanted-to-marry-me-but-I-refused.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91000,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90978\/revisions\/91000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}</p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></b></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></b></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></b></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></b></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p>