Inside Priscilla Presley's Acting Career
Priscilla Presley was only 14 when she first met Elvis Presley and she spent more than a decade of her life stuck in the mold that the "Jailhouse Rock" singer forced her into. In a 2015 appearance on the ITV talk show "This Morning," she revealed that her husband even coaxed her into dyeing her hair jet black like his own so that they would look more alike, per the Daily Mail.
Priscilla married Elvis in 1967, and they celebrated the birth of their daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, the following year. But Priscilla grew tired of living under the King's thumb and divorced him in 1973. "Elvis lived by night and wanted me with him all the time," Priscilla told the Express. "I wanted to get a job — I wanted to act. That wasn't allowed." She revealed that watching Elvis work on movies had sparked her interest in appearing in front of the camera herself, and she began taking acting classes once she gained her freedom. However, she did tell TravelGirl, "I never started out to become an actress; it was never in my DNA shall we say."
Priscilla credits her ex's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, with helping her get the ball rolling on her acting career. He introduced her to talent agent Norman Brokaw, and it didn't take her long to land her big break. In the early '80s, she joined the cast of "Dallas" in a role that she felt she was perfectly suited for.
The parallels between Priscilla Presley and her Dallas character
Priscilla Presley was offered a role in the "Charlie's Angels" TV series a few years before her acting career took off. "That was one decision that I didn't have any trouble with. I told them 'no' right away," she told Interview in 1979. She didn't elaborate on why she didn't want the part, but she made her reasons for joining the cast of "Dallas" abundantly clear. She told TravelGirl that the Ewing family's Texas-sized drama already had her hooked on the show, and in a 1983 AP interview (via the Beaver County Times), she explained why she connected with her character, Jenna Wade. "She's extremely self-reliant, she has lived in Europe and has a child. Just like me," said Presley. "She has a lot of integrity, she's totally honest. I like her. How could I help but identify with her?"
Presley would later earn a glowing review from her castmate Patrick Duffy, who gushed to HuffPost, "It was a dream to have her on the show ... She was just absolutely fantastic to work with."
Her casting in "Dallas" wasn't just like striking black gold for her career; the Texas tea kept flowing for Presley when the show's costumer introduced her to Marco Garibaldi, per Vanity Fair. They started dating and welcomed a son, Navarone Garcia, in 1987. When UPI reported that Presley was pregnant, the outlet noted that her "Dallas" character was also an unwed, expectant mother at the time.
How Leslie Nielsen made Priscilla Presley comfortable with comedy
While Priscilla Presley appeared on "Dallas" for five years, she told a Twitter follower that her all-time favorite role was that of Leslie Nielsen's love interest, Jane Spencer, in "The Naked Gun" movies. She was nervous about auditioning for the part because she had no comedy experience, according to The Washington Post. However, the team behind the zany franchise — Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker — wanted her to play the straight woman to Nielsen's incompetent detective character who spends more time delivering hilarious one-liners than solving crimes.
According to Presley, Nielsen wasn't just a master of making moviegoers laugh; when the cameras weren't rolling, the silliness didn't stop. In fact, it started when Nielsen invited her to sit beside him during her first meeting with "The Naked Gun" cast and crew. "Little did I know what was coming next — he'd put a whoopee cushion under my chair!" she recalled to the Express. "There was this huge ripping sound and I cracked up laughing, Leslie had tears streaming down his face."
After playing Jane for the final time in 1994, Presley returned to television, landing small roles in series such as "Melrose Place" and "Spin City." Then, in 2019, her two worlds collided when she played herself in the Hallmark movie "Wedding at Graceland." In was filmed at Elvis Presley's famed Memphis estate, and Priscilla told Good Housekeeping that Elvis would have approved because he loved showing it off.