Elvis Was Different From the Characters He Played in 1 Surprising Way, Said His Bodyguard

Elvis Presley acted in 31 films in his career, portraying many different characters and singing many different songs for the soundtracks. The characters in these films varied greatly — in his debut film, Love Me Tender, he played the younger brother of a Confederate soldier and in Fun in Acapulco, he played a lifeguard with a fear of heights. Clearly, these characters are different from each other and Elvis’ real self. According to Elvis’ longtime bodyguard, many of Elvis’ characters shared a common trait that Elvis himself did not have.

Elvis differed from his movie characters in a surprising way

A number of Elvis’ movies take place beachside. His characters like to surf and swim, something his friends said he wasn’t all that comfortable doing in real life. According to his longtime bodyguard and friend, Red West, Elvis hardly even used the swimming pool at Graceland.

“I guess the swimming pool was there for show, because Elvis really ain’t that keen on swimming,” West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “I don’t know whether it’s because he doesn’t like his hair being messed up or he is straight out afraid of the water. But he ain’t no big swimmer, no matter what you have seen in the movies.”

According to his cousin, Billy Smith, Elvis never learned to swim all that well.

“Elvis was always scared to get into unfamiliar waters,” Smith said, per Express. “Swimming pools yeah, because he could see the bottom and all that. But when it comes to lakes and stuff like that, no, no, because he never really learned how to swim very well.”

He faced his fears of swimming for one film

Elvis’ fear of deep, unfamiliar water became a problem for him on the set of Easy Come, Easy Go. In it, he portrays a deep-sea diver who tries to find gold on a sunken ship.

“He was a little leery so they had another person who was there, that helped him along,” Smith said.

The other man went underwater and kept a grip on Elvis for any scenes in which he to let go of the boat.

“He was really good at holding his breath,” Smith said of Elvis’ helper. “Two or three minutes he could hold his breath.”

Elvis was similar to one of the characters he played

While Elvis differed from many of his water-loving characters, he had perhaps too much in common with another. According to his bodyguards, Elvis grew to resemble his Jailhouse Rock character. In that film, his character is a musician who grows increasingly egotistical.

“Now, I don’t mean he was selfish and big-headed all the time,” West said. “But he took to fits of anger that none of us had ever seen before. He wanted to be treated as something special.”

Elvis made outsized demands of his entourage, making him seem increasingly unrecognizable to those who had known him since the start of his career.