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The Real Elvis Off Stage

Contact Reporter Alyson McCarthy.

Elvis Presley's music and movie careers spanned three decades, including eight years on stage at the Las Vegas Hilton. But few people came to know the real Elvis off stage. Eyewitness News shares some Las Vegans' fondest memories of Elvis behind the scenes.

Jeff Taylor, Elvis historian and fan, says, "He never really knew how popular and important his music and his talent was. He never believed it."

Elvis Presley -- the King of Rock and Roll -- was the carefully crafted image created by his manager Colonel Tom Parker who guarded his prized client to the point of isolating him from the outside world.

"Rarely did we get an inside glimpse of Elvis as a person, the Colonel always kept that away from the public. He was an image, so we never really got to see who Elvis was," Taylor says.

But some rare footage shot behind the scenes at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1970 for a documentary revealed what a practical joker Elvis really was.

Jim Vernon remembers, "He was a fun guy to be around." Long-time Las Vegas Hilton security guard Jim Vernon spent many nights posted outside the door of Elvis' 30th floor suite where more than once the King called for help -- only to make a fool out of them. "He yelled, we ran in and he had soaked the marble floor. So, as soon as we hit we it we shot across the floor."

Actress Cynthia Pepper, Elvis' leading lady in the movie Kissin' Cousins , recalls the time Elvis, an expert in karate, taught her a move during rehearsal to use on him in one scene. "So, I threw him and he laid out flat on the floor and I thought, I've just killed Elvis. It took a minute or so for him to open his eyes and then he said, 'I gotcha!" And I told him I was really gonna kill him now."

But Pepper also recalls how insecure Elvis was, "He asked me one time, do you think they'll remember me when I'm gone?"

Pepper now lives in Las Vegas and spends a couple days a week sharing her memories with the public at the Elvis-A-Rama museum.

The Elvis-A-Rama museum boasts more than $6 million worth of authentic Elvis memorabilia, a collection second only to his home at Graceland, and a true testament to the fact that Las Vegas had become a second home to Elvis.

Pepper said, "It did become his town. And he loved it and they loved him."

Chris Davidson said, "I think there is no other person from that time period -- the 50s, 60s and the 70s who really made the impact that Elvis did."

Elvis-A-Rama museum owner Chris Davidson has spent most of his life collecting Elvis memorabilia and admiring the King whose life, he says, was cut short by the pressure of being a living legend. "Elvis said even in a crowd of a thousand people he was the loneliest guy on the planet."

It is said that Elvis brought so much happiness to so many people through his music and movies. It's just a shame he wasn't able to find his own happiness.

Here in Las Vegas, a search is underway for an impersonator to record a long-lost song that Elvis wrote but never recorded.