born in Iowa on October 17, 1926, Julie Adams' birth name was Betty May - later changed by Universal Studios, first to Julia and then to Julie. raised in Arkansas, Julie moved to California in pursuit of an acting career. there she became a part-time secretary while taking speach lessons and visiting studio casting departments.
Julie's first role was as a starlet in Red Hot and Blue (1949), in which she was credited under her birth name, followed by a series of six cheap westerns, all filmed in a period of 5 weeks. her big break came while reading lines opposite football player Leon Hart in a Universal Studios screen test intended for him. the Detroit Lions player proved a better athlete than an actor, but the studio fell for miss Adams and promptly changed her name and signed her up!
Julie's career began in B-movies, and the role that would bring her the most attention came in 1954 when she starred in Creature form the Black Lagoon.
A few films later, Adams made a shift to the idiot box, appearing almost exclusively in television from 1957 until present day (her most recent role being in the TV series Lost). 'course a movie or two did pop up in the middle of it all, which brings us to Julie's connection with the King...
In 1965 Adams had the fortune of appearing opposite Elvis, and the misfortune of appearing in one of his less than stellar screen endeavours. in Tickle Me Julie plays Vera Radford, owner of the dude ranch/health-spa-for-wealthy-hot-chicks that Elvis' singing rodeo cowboy character wanders into. what with all them women and the promise of hidden gold in a nearby ghost town thrown in, hilarity inevitably ensues (once again). the film made big money at the boxoffice, which is surprising considering they didn't even bother recording new songs for this one. the soundtrack is made up of songs recorded from 1960-1963, all having been released previously on various albums.
I love her! I met her at Graceland in January and she was really so sweet!
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling her story.
I don't believe Elvis dated her because she's 9 years older than him and Elvis never dated older women because they reminded him of his mother.
ReplyDeleteyou are correct, Elvis did not date her. this series is about women who appeared on screen with Elvis, not women Elvis dated. the title is just an attempt to be cute. thanks for you comment though :)
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