If Presley knew (and maybe he did) that a whole load of films/biopics/tributes would have been dedicated to him after his untimely death, he would have wanted the one man, the one friend, the one fellow icon who was as bigger than big as he was (and is) to be there with him. This fault aside, the new Presley film is indeed great, and Ali, if he were still with us, would have loved it.
We’ve seen so many Ali films/bios/tributes, and in one or two of them, Elvis appears, albeit briefly. The two knew each other, or at last knew OF each other, from a young age, and the two had a huge dose of mutual respect for each other, all the more so as they became friendly.
Ali, who loved his James Brown, his Sam Cooke, his Ray Charles, had a special place in his heart for Elvis:
“When I was 15 years old and saw Elvis on TV, I wanted to be Elvis,” Ali told Running with The Champ. “Other kids in the neighbourhood were listening to Ray Charles and James Brown, but I listened to Elvis. I admire him so much, and I decided that if I was going to be famous, I’d do it just like him. He’s one of the reasons I wanted to entertain people.”
Elvis, who took up karate but not boxing, once handed Ali a custom-made robe, with the words ‘The People’s Choice’ writ large on the back (Ali wore the robe just once, and lost his fight, never to don the robe again; at least not in public). The accompanying photos of Ali and a possibly somewhat out of it Presley might just have captured an Ali who was eclipsed, at least partially starstruck at meeting a man equal to him in the fame department – a fellow great. And that’s sure saying something. But of all the stars, legends, icons Ali met and spent time with during his life, it is entirely possible that he held Elvis in a higher regard than any of them.
And the feeling was mutual.
Elvis, who was suffering from drug addiction and serious weight problems by the mid-1970s, paid Ali an intimate visit at his Deer Lake training camp in 1975. Ali verbally documented the event, while Presley never did, The King having insisted on privacy at the time.
“Elvis was my close personal friend. He came to my Deer Lake training camp about two years before he died. He told us he didn’t want nobody to bother us,” Ali recalled in his biography. “Elvis had a robe made for me. I don’t admire nobody, but Elvis Presley was the sweetest, most humble and nicest man.”
Indeed, a common bond between these two is the fact that, despite the mega-stardom and the world adulation, humbleness and no failure to forget their respective roots was strong in their DNA. The two all-timers may have come from different backgrounds, from different racial backgrounds and cultures, and they may both have made their global impact in wholly different ways. But it’s so easy to picture Ali and Elvis sitting together, talking, chilling, enjoying one another’s company. Imagine if you can, Elvis and Ali discussing the torture of the sheer weight of expectation on their all too human shoulders; especially at a time when both men were at a stage in their lives when they knew the magic was desperately close to running out.
Ali knew Elvis, and he knew what he was going through. Presley knew Ali, and The King knew what he was going through. The rest of us? We were too happy to be entertained, thrilled, blown away by the sheer magic both super-duper-stars had given us and, we hoped, would continue to give us for years to come. The fact is, both kings DO continue to thrill us, to inspire us – to make us feel excited about being alive.
Neither icon has yet been handed the ultimate tribute, either via film or documentary. This will change one day. In the meantime, you and I can enjoy the new Elvis concert film. Even if it doesn’t feature a fellow it should have featured.
