Colonel Tom Parker

Has there ever been a biopic of him?

Yes he was an illegal immigrant with an assumed ID. This informed some of his bad management decisions. He would not leave the US for any amount of money.

Deport all the illegals!!!!

The film completely demonised him. I wonder how close that was to reality.

Sadly, Elvis suffered from tinymeat.

Colonel Tom Parker may have helped make Elvis a star, but he pretty much ruined his career with all those horrible movies, and binding Elvis to movie contracts and Vegas.

However, Elvis was a grown man and could have found new, better management, but he chose to remain loyal to this grifter.

Parker tried to cheat writers out of royalties by getting them to turn over publishing rights, as he tried with Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You and she said no.

He took advantage of young vulnerable Elvis, and made 50% of whatever Elvis made. So yes, I would say he was a bad guy.

When Elvis fired him he made it so they couldn’t, by charging millions Elvis barely had to buy out his contract. Two days later Elvis rehired him.

How can you be a refugee from the Netherlands? Don’t refugees come from countries where their lives are in danger?

r8, he was not a refugee. Though he was possibly a fugitive...

I've read a few Elvis books, and I'm an adjunct music business instructor at a major west coast university.

The Colonel was an asshole, and a weasel. BUT he was an innovator when it came to the Elvis brand. He knew the brand was what brought in generational wealth. He was a heartless bastard. When Elvis died, someone in the press asked him "What happens now?" and he replied "Nothing changes." It's one of my favorite anecdotes about CTP.

He took 50% of that wealth. He was robbing Elvis

Albert Goldman was, I believe, the one who uncovered Parker's history in his controversial biography of Elvis, way back in 1981. Good read.

I heard that Elvis never left the US because he didn't want to risk bringing his drug stash with him or being caught without a supplier.

I toured Graceland. Elvis wasn’t hurting.

But Parker wasn’t the only one stealing. Motown ripped off all of their artists.

"ruined his career"

WIth the small caveat that it was one of, if not THE most, successful and enduring artistic careers of all time....

I understand what you're saying, but I think the "harm" Parker did to Elvis' career is often overstated. If only Col Parker hadn't been around, Elvis could have been the next... what... the next Elvis?!

And would YOU want to sit around and watch Elvis in "serious" dramatic films? He did make a couple, so anyone can have at it, I guess... They're actually less entertaining than, say, Blue Hawaii and Viva Las Vegas, which are silly, stupid and fun.

I think the harm of Parker is overstated, and the harm of his entourage--who encouraged his interest in guns, who made fun of his growing interest in things like opera and spirituality, who encouraged his philandering and juvenile behavior--is usually underplayed.

Elvis was taken as a joke for a while r15.

When he died people changed their tune.

CTP had a very obvious non-American, and audible to those who travelled, Dutch pronunciation.

“D”-sound for “th” “S” that sound more like a “z”

“Doze” instead of “those”

How nobody sniffed him out the moment he first spoke is beyond me.

"Elvis was taken as a joke for a while"

Yeah. While he was one of the biggest box office draws of the 60s!! Even when he was in crap films, he was still a star and a box office draw; even to other Hollywood stars, he was a star. Not sure that would have been the same if he'd kept making prestige films like Charro.

Viva Las Vegas is part of the picture, part of what made and makes Elvis "Elvis." Parker was no fool and likely understood this.

I'm a bit of a contrarian, sure, but in the end, I just don't see Parker's influence as being so wildly sinister or ruinous as others seem to. Any accusation of "ruin" has to come in the context: it was one of the most successful and beloved artistic careers of all time. That doesn't just "happen."

Parker felt cruddy movies wouldn't hurt Elvis in the long run, and in many ways, he was right. Everyone always thinks it should have been better, bigger, somehow. In my view, the career WAS big because of the decisions Parker made, and other decisions, even those that seem to have more artistic intergrity on the surface, could have just as easily diminished rather than improved the career..

Would YOU rather watch Charro or Viva Las Vegas?

Elvis and Judy Garland were so similar. Tremendous charisma/talent July was robbed by Fields and Begelman, sid luft, etc. Elvis by Parker etc. Both fed drugs to keep them working and producing millions. Until they both just wore out.

Boo-hoo. Crooked old White man taking advantage of the young and dumb. That's what they do

Movies like Viva Las Vegas were designed for the teenybopper crowd. And they stuck with him when he was a bloated mess in his later career.

And of course, the musical Bye Bye Birdie is based on Elvis.

Dog catcher of Tampa Florida for a bit.