Debra Paget was stunning in her prime and captivated millions of Americans when she appeared in Elvis Presley’s cinematic debut, Love Me Tender.
The gifted actress was “touched by the hand of God,” according to famed filmmaker Cecil B DeMille.
The ‘King of Rock and Roll’ grew obsessed with her…
Debra Paget was born on August 19, 1933, in Denver, Colorado. Her true name was Dabralee Griffin, but the actress changed it as she rose to fame in the movies.
Raised in a showbusiness family, Debra’s parents relocated to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be closer to the development of Hollywood’s film industry. (Debra’s two sisters, Tala Loring and Lisa Gaye, both had successful film and television careers).
Debra, who has always desired to be a dancer, refers to herself as a “post-depression” baby. She was born in the midst of a terrible and extended economic recession. Debra admired her parents, despite the fact that her family was not wealthy.
“When I looked back, we had so much love in our home,” Debra remarked during an interview with Dale Evans Rogers.
‘Most beautiful legs in the world’
Debra, pushed by her mother, enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School at the age of eleven.
The intelligent little girl never doubted her abilities, getting her first professional job at the age of eight. Soon after, she appeared in a rendition of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Her film career began at the age of 14, with her big break coming in 1950 when she was cast in Broken Arrow. Debra Paget co-starred with James Stewart as Sonseeahray (“Morningstar”), a Native American maiden.
Debra’s “exotic” appearance landed her multiple roles in adventure dramas, and she quickly gained the distinction as the only actress who had never been kissed.
When the National Association of Hosiery Manufactures polled 15,000 industry professionals in the 1950s, she was named “The Most Beautiful Legs in the World.” The Baltimore Sun reports that Debra, who is very religious, won by a large majority.
Debra received an exclusive contract with 20th Century Fox when she was 14 years old. Debra’s most successful film, however, came when Paramount Pictures hired her for The Ten Commandments.
Debra starred as Lilia, the water girl, in Cecil B. DeMille’s epic biblical film. Debra, who has blue eyes, had to wear brown contact lenses, which caused her a lot of grief.
“If it hadn’t been for the lenses, I wouldn’t have gotten the part. They were awful to work in because the klieg lights heated them up,” she said.
The film, which received seven Academy Awards, altered her life forever.
”It was probably the highlight of my career, ” Debra said.
Meeting Elvis
When Debra Paget arrived on the set of Love Me Tender at the age of 22, she was a well-established Hollywood celebrity. She was arguably the most gorgeous actress of Hollywood’s Golden Age at the time. That says something.
She and Elvis Presley first met on June 5, 1956, when they appeared on the Milton Berle Show. It was the moment Elvis startled conservative America by gyrating his renowned, or notorious, pelvis during his now-iconic rendition of “Hound Dog.”
“Although I usually don’t form an opinion of a person until I have met him,” she explained. “Frankly I looked forward to my first meeting with Elvis Presley with mixed emotions. I’d heard and read a lot about this new young singing sensation from Tennessee—and most of it was not complimentary.”
Debra Paget (Lilia) still alive, born 1933. #TheTenCommandments pic.twitter.com/OX4gSv07zt
— ross (@ross_rlz) April 21, 2019
During their first and unforgettable meeting, the young vocalist stunned Debra in a variety of ways. As a born-again Christian, you might expect Debra to despise The King, but the reverse was true.
When Mr. Berle introduced the 21-year-old rising star to Debra, he firmly grabbed her hand and remarked, “I’m glad to meet you, Miss Paget.”
Elvis shook her mother’s hand with “equal vigor,” left himself, and returned a few minutes later with a chair for her.
“We were together for only a couple of hours but sometimes you can learn more about a person in a short span of time than in weeks of seeing one another constantly. I felt I did. From the very beginning, Elvis impressed me as a pleasant, sincere, obliging young man,” Debra recalled.
The proposal
A few months later, Debra appeared beside Elvis in his first film, Love Me Tender. According to Daily Express, the musician developed an obsession with his co-star. He thought Debra was “the most beautiful girl he had ever seen” and even went to her parents’ house.
“From the time he first came to the house, my folks have considered Elvis a member of the Paget clan—a feeling which, I believe, he reciprocated,” Debra explained.
However, the young actress saw Debra and Elvis’ relationship as more family-oriented than a whirlwind romance.
“I was very shy, very quiet and very immature for my age. I was in my very early 20’s but I was emotionally more like a 16-year-old. Elvis and I just sort of came together like a couple of children really.”
Elvis, however, seems to have thought otherwise.
“Following the film, he did ask me to marry him but my parents objected to my getting married. I cared about Elvis, but being one not to disobey my parents, that did not take place,” Debra shared.
In the end, Debra turned Elvis down because she had already fallen in love with Howard Hughes, a famous film producer and billionaire.
Debra later married actor and singer David Street, although she always spoke highly of Elvis. And Elvis did not forget Debra; many believe she laid the groundwork for Elvis’ obsession with the ‘Debra Paget look.’ According to reports, when teenage Priscilla Beaulieu discovered about Debra, she changed her hair and makeup.
Debra quit the entertainment profession in 1964 and is now 89 years old. Unfortunately, there is little information regarding Debra’s life today; she appears to live a calm and private life away from the spotlight.
Elvis and Joan Blackman
Interestingly, Elvis’ proposal to Debra in the late 1950s was not the first time he wished to marry a co-star. After filming Blue Hawaii with Joan Blackman in 1961, he intended to marry her while still dating Priscilla.
Joan Blackman, who looked extremely similar to Priscilla, has revealed what really transpired during the filming of Blue Hawaii.
“When we first set eyes on each other (in 1957), there was a spark, a magic in the air… There was just that special something between us, sometimes so warm and wonderful you could almost reach out and touch it,” she told the Midnight Globe newspaper in 1977.
In the sensational interview, Joan Blackman stated that Elvis “really wanted” her as his wife and that he constantly requested her to act in his films, but she declined each time.
“I wanted parts because of my ability, not because I was dating Elvis,” she stated.
