I never gave Elvis any advice. I would only say in the scenes with his parents, he knew that he was acting with two experienced professionals. He in turn was professional with me and with Roland Winters, who played his father. We didn’t spend a lot of time with him socially. He had his own coterie around him. But, being with him was always a pleasant experience. He was a nice, young guy.

I’ve had a lot of fun through the years with the Mother’s Day card story, which was that in the film, I played Elvis’s mother, and for years after that, I would receive a Mother’s Day card from him. In truth, I’ve never believed those cards came from Elvis. They came from Colonel Parker. I had no way of knowing if Elvis even knew they were being mailed. But it was fun to receive them, and it did make for a fun story. Elvis was essentially a one take actor. He liked to get his scenes in one take. It wasn’t the kind of material that allowed him to show signs of unusual talent. What I do remember is that he was experienced with karate. During free time on the set, he broke bricks with his hand.