Priscilla Presley

Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Presley, September 2003
Born	Priscilla Ann Wagner
Other names	Priscilla Beaulieu
Occupation	Actress/Businesswoman
Years active	1977–present
Spouse	Elvis Presley (1967–1973)
Partner(s)	Elvis Presley (1959–1967) Mike Stone (1972–1975) Michael Edwards (1978–1984) Marco Garibaldi (1984–2006)
Website	http://www.priscillapresley.com/

Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (born Priscilla Ann Wagner on 24 May 1945, Brooklyn, New York) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer and actor Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer/songwriter Lisa Marie Presley. Priscilla is the founder of Elvis Presley Enterprises, where she served as chairman of the board from 1982 to 1998. As an actress, Priscilla is best known for co-starring with Leslie Nielsen in the three successful Naked Gun films, and for her five-year run playing the character Jenna Wade on the popular television series Dallas.

Ancestry & Early Life

Presley's grandfather, Albert Henry Iversen, emigrated from Egersund in Norway to the United States in the beginning of the 1900's. He married Lorraine Davis, who was of Scots-Irish and English descent. They had three children: Albert junior (March 1922), James Richard (March 1924) and Anna Lillian Iversen (March 1926). Later she was called, or her name was changed to, Ann. She was called Rooney (short for Annie Rooney) as a child. At the age of nineteen she became mother of Priscilla. Both Presley and her mother still have cousins in Norway. In a letter to the City Hall of Egersund, Ann asked for information about their relatives, and wrote that Priscilla was very interested in knowing about them. Presley's parents visited family members in Norway in 1992; Ann said their daughter was supposed to join them, but was busy at the time.

Presley has her "own place" in Egersund, Priscilla Presleys plass. When she was told about this tribute being planned, by a visiting Norwegian relative (summer 2007), and asked what she thought, she answered: "Oh, it's marvellous!". The area is outside the house, Kirkegaten 23, where her grandfather was born in 1896, and lived. Presley and her family were invited by the lord mayor of Egersund to the opening ceremony of Priscilla Presleys plass, which took place 23 August 2008, but were unable to go due to Lisa Marie Presley being pregnant.

Priscilla Presley's biological father was US Navy pilot James Wagner (called Jimmy or Jim). His parents were Kathryn and Harold Wagner. 10 August 1944, at the age of 23, he married Presley's mother; they had been dating for more than three years. He was killed in a plane crash when Priscilla was six months old.

In 1948 her mother met a man from Quebec, Paul Beaulieu, who was a United States Air Force officer. The couple were married within a year. Beaulieu took over the raising of Priscilla and was the only father Priscilla would ever know. Over the next few years, Priscilla grew up quickly, helping to care for the growing family as her father's Air Force career moved them from Connecticut to New Mexico then to Maine. Priscilla later recalled that she felt uncomfortable moving so often because she never knew if she could make friends for life, or even if she would fit in with the new people she met on each move.

In 1956, the Beaulieus moved to and settled in Austin, Texas.

Life with Elvis

Pre-marital relations

Elvis and Priscilla began dating in 1959 while he was serving in the army in Germany. At the time, she was 14 and he was 24. Priscilla wrote in her autobiography, Elvis and Me, that Elvis refused to have sex with her until they were married. However, biographer Suzanne Finstad writes in her book that Priscilla and Elvis slept together on their second date, and that Priscilla was not a virgin when she met him.

They spent a lot of time together until Elvis left Germany in 1960. Althought they frequently stayed in contact over the phone, they would not see each other in person until Priscilla visited him at Graceland in 1962. After another visit that year, Priscilla asked her parents if she could move there. They made Elvis promise that he and Priscilla would eventually marry if she moved to Graceland. During the fourth quarter of her senior year, Priscilla moved to Graceland in a guest house with Elvis' father, stepmother, stepbrothers and stepsister. She moved in with Elvis shortly after her 18th birthday. Elvis proposed to Priscilla shortly before Christmas 1966 after nearly four years of living together.

Marriage

Priscilla and Elvis were married on May 1, 1967, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Aladdin Hotel.

Their only child, daughter Lisa Marie, was born exactly nine months later on February 1, 1968.

During the late sixties, Elvis' career took off again, and he was constantly touring and performing in Las Vegas over the next few years. Due to Elvis being away so often and his ever-growing drug dependence, their marriage soured. Some of his health problems troubled his doctors and so they went undiagnosed until long after his death. Elvis was a keen karate student, and persuaded Priscilla to take it up. She thought it was a good idea to concentrate on a hobby to pass the lonesome time. While Elvis was rumored to have had at least one long-term affair (with Ann-Margaret) as well as several flings with other women during their marriage, Priscilla had an affair with her karate instructor, Mike Stone.

Separation and divorce

Elvis and Priscilla separated on February 23, 1972 after 13 years together. Elvis filed for divorce in August of that year. Friends of the family say that Elvis was extremely angry after Priscilla told him about her affair with Stone. In the months following their separation, Priscilla visited Elvis in Las Vegas where she claims he forced himself upon her and said "This is how a real man makes love to a woman." Priscilla and Elvis were divorced on October 9, 1973, agreeing to share custody of their daughter. They remained friends until Elvis' death on August 16, 1977.

Post-Elvis Relationships

Priscilla has not remarried since her divorce from Elvis in 1973, although she has had several long-term relationships. Shortly after her separation from Elvis, she left memphis and moved to the Marina Del Ray area in Los Angeles, California with karate instructor Mike Stone. The relationship ended in 1975.

Priscilla then had brief relationships with lawyer Robert Kardashian and singer Julio Iglesias.

In 1978, Priscila began a relationship with male model Michael Edwards. She purchased a home in Bel Air and he moved in with her shortly after. The relationship lasted six years before they split in 1984. In his tell-all book Priscilla, Elvis & Me, Stone says that he was attracted to Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie, and claims that Priscilla had a one-night-stand with Richard Gere in 1983, for which Edwards forgave her.

Priscilla met screenwriter Marco Garibaldi in 1984 and quickly began a serious relationship with him. The couple moved in together and had a son, Navarone (born March 1, 1987). In August 2005, Navarone was arrested for possesion of magic mushrooms. Priscilla and Marco broke up in April 2006 after 22 years together. In 2007 Priscilla was linked with Nigel Lythgoe.

Priscilla has been a devoted member of the controversial Church of Scientology since being introduced by John Travolta in 1979. She speaks publicly for the religion's anti-psychiatry front group, the CCHR.

Career

Acting

Priscilla had ambition to be an actress since she was a child, but did not pursue an acting career until after Elvis' death. Though she had once been considered as part of the original lineup for Charlie’s Angels, her acting career began modestly with a co-hosting job on the ABC series Those Amazing Animals from 1980 to 1981. Her first appearance was a guest spot on The Fall Guy in 1983. Her first film role was in the 1983 TV movie, Love is Forever, opposite Michael Landon. She later graduated to a recurring role as Jenna Wade, Bobby Ewing’s first love and mother of his son, Lucas, on Dallas from 1983 to 1988. She departed the series after disagreeing with the direction of her character and the series, settling into a regular rotation of guest star roles and appearances on Elvis-related documentaries and specials.

In 1988, Priscilla starred opposite Leslie Nielsen in the action comedy The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, which unexpectedly became a huge box-office hit. She returned to the role in the hit 1991 sequel The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, followed by Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, in 1994.

Priscila's only other feature film has been the poorly received The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, in 1990. She hasn't acted in nearly a decade. Her most recent appearances have been on the television shows Melrose Place, in 1996, Touched by an Angel, in 1997, and in Spin City, in 1999.

Products

Priscila maintained a successful boutique from 1973 through 1976. Celebrity clients included Natalie Wood, Barbra Streisand, and Cher. She eventually signed with the William Morris Agency and landed a job as the national spokesperson for Wella Balsam’s line of hair products. Priscilla also launched her own fragrance, Moments, in 1988. Its popularity yielded a second brand, Experiences, in 1994, and Indian Summer followed in 1996.

Business in Graceland

Main article: Graceland

After the death of Elvis' father Vernon in 1979, Presley served as co-executor of his estate. Marty Lacker, a close friend of Elvis says he was approached by Priscilla after the singer's death "to help talk Vernon into naming her [in his will]."

Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Lisa Marie's inheritance to $5 million. Priscilla examined other famous house-museums, and hired a CEO to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. She became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises. It cost $536,000 to open Graceland, a massive gamble at the time and one which was certainly not guaranteed to pay off, but that money was earned back in the first 38 days that it was open to the public thanks to each days tour selling out one after another. After Graceland opened to the public in 1982, the enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.

In addition, in 2000, Presley was elected to the board of directors of MGM, with the prime vote coming from Kirk Kerkorian, who dated Priscilla in the 1970s.

Dancing with the Stars

Presley was a contestant on Season 6 of Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with Louis van Amstel.

She referred, on air, to Dancing with the Stars as "the hardest thing she's ever had to do." She scored 24 out of 30 on the [foxtrot] on March 18, 2008, the second-highest score of the evening. The following week she scored 21 for her first Latin dance, Mambo. The third week she danced the Tango and was highly praised by the judges coming second on the leaderboard with a score of 26. The fourth week she danced the Waltz and scored only 22. The judges lowered her score due to a lift in the routine. In the results show the following night, Priscilla found herself in the bottom two, but just managed to stay in the competition. The fifth week, Priscilla danced the Rumba and scored 21, leaving her at the bottom of the leadboard. Priscilla found herself in the bottom two once again and this time she was voted off with the least amount of votes. The fifth week, she was eliminated.

Performances

Week #	Dance/Song	Judges' score			Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1	Foxtrot/ "Feeling Good"	8	8	8	Safe
2	Mambo/ "Bossa Nova Hand Dance (Deixa Isso Pra La)"	7	7	7	Safe
3	Tango/ "El Choclo"	8	9	9	Safe
4	Viennese Waltz/ "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"	7	7	8	Bottom Two
5	Rumba/ "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"	7	7	7	Eliminated

Portrayals

Priscilla has been portrayed by Season Hubley in the film Elvis (1979), Susan Walters in Elvis and Me (1988), Alyson Court in Elvis Meets Nixon, Antonia Bernath in the CBS miniseries Elvis (2005) and Erin Chambers in Tears of a King.

Bibliography

• Priscilla Presley, Elvis and Me (1985), ISBN 0-399-12984-7
• Priscilla Presley, Elvis by the Presleys with Lisa Marie Presley (2005), ISBN 0-307-23741-9
• Suzanne Finstad, Child Bride:The Untold Story Of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (1997)

External links

• Official Site Priscilla Presley
• Priscilla Presley at IMDb
• Priscilla Beaulieu Presley Fansite
• Elvis Presley Directory