No, Elvis Didn't Fire Colonel Tom Parker From the Stage at Las Vegas. In the later years of his life Elvis performed several Las Vegas residency shows after the Colonel made a deal to keep him there in order to pay for his large gambling debt.
As Grunge points out, it's been alleged that Elvis's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, talked him out of touring abroad because Parker himself was an illegal alien. He had no passport documentation, and he feared that if he left American soil, he wouldn't be able to get back in.
Colonel Parker agreed to turn over all of Mr. Presley's master recordings to RCA for $1 million. The rest of the payment was for movies, television clips and Colonel Parker's rights to a 1977 videotaped Presley concert.
Despite taking 50 per cent of all the profits from Elvis' career, Parker was no less gullible than the 'rubes' whom he delighted in exploiting in his carnival days. The Colonel himself ended up being the greatest sucker of them all, giving back almost his entire fortune to the Hilton croupiers.
More still went to RCA records, sole owner of all of Elvis' music before 1973, thanks to a $5.4-million deal Parker arranged in that year. It is a deal that severed the Presley estate from the royalties for more than 700 songs and put $2.6 million in the colonel's pocket.
The money. It has been widely reported that the colonel took more than half of Presley's income in return for negotiating merchandising deals, TV appearances and acting roles.
At the time of Presley's death in 1977, it was suspected that Parker owed the Las Vegas Hilton over $30 million ($144,876,442 in 2022 dollars) in gambling losses. After a lifetime that saw him earn in excess of $100 million, Parker's estate was worth barely $1 million when he died.
He served for two years, went AWOL, got charged with desertion, and was punished with solitary confinement. This led to his admission to a mental hospital. The Colonel never made it past the rank of private when he served in the military, his discharge papers labeled him a psychopath.
"Because I don't know what Colonel Tom Parker looks like. I don't know what he sounds like. I've never seen a photograph of him. He's never been identified as anything other than this mercurial or puppeteer-like, quasi-evil, greedy manager that took advantage of Elvis from the get-go.
Presley Did Not Fire Parker on Stage
Presley rants about Parker's illegal alien status and reveals his gambling debt before firing him as his manager for the entire audience to see. Presley never fired Parker publicly, but he did have an on-stage meltdown at a Vegas show over the firing of a kitchen employee he liked.
They went motorcycle riding together in Nashville. Parker used Jimmie to sidle up to Elvis and form a friendship to get Elvis to sign with Parker and the elder Snow, who were then business partners. But then Colonel cheated Hank out of half of Elvis and that was that.
In 1993, Graceland purchased the property. Today, all shops and attractions in what is now known as Graceland Plaza are owned and operated by EPE.
As Alanna Nash' prodigious research has discovered, the Colonel left Holland most probably because, at the age of twenty, he bludgeoned a woman to death.
At the time of Elvis' death in 1977, his estate was worth about $5 million (roughly $25.4 million in today's dollars). Lisa Marie Presley inherited her father's estate when she turned 25 years old in 1993.
Col. Tom Parker, 87, a onetime carnival pitchman who shrewdly guided singer-actor Elvis Presley's career for 22 years, died here Jan.
In the later years of his life Elvis performed several Las Vegas residency shows after the Colonel made a deal to keep him there in order to pay for his large gambling debt.
Among those who participated in the public memorial service at Elvis Presley's mansion in Memphis, Tenn., were musicians Billy Corgan, Alanis Morissette and Axl Rose, as well as Priscilla Presley.
The only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie was the sole inheritor of her father's famed mansion.
After the home was opened to the public in 1982, the second floor was sealed shut out of respect to the family — and also to avoid any macabre attention at the scene of his death.
Did Ginger Alden Attend Elvis' Funeral? Yes. As his fiancée at the time, it is believed that Ginger Alden was present for Elvis' funeral. Following the funeral, however, she was reportedly banned from Graceland by Presley's family and had to receive permission to visit his grave.
Ginger Alden, Presley's former fiancée and final companion who found him dead in his bathroom in 1977, penned a tribute to the King of Rock and Roll's daughter, whom she had known for a short time before Elvis' untimely death.
Who attended Elvis Presley's funeral? An estimated 200 people attended Elvis' funeral, including his close friends and family. Many stars were at the funeral, including: John Wayne, Burt Reynolds, George Hamilton, Ann-Margret and Caroline Kennedy. Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' long time manager was also there.
He was believed to have been in debt to the Las Vegas Hilton for over $30 million at one point, which led to his eviction from the property after Elvis' death. Parker suffered a stroke in 1997, dying at a hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada after years of declining health, survived only by his second wife.