Nobody cared about what Elvis wanted. Related: Why Elvis' Reviews Are So Positive. Yet no one ever thought to investigate the Colonel's past. Col. Tom Parker, 87, a onetime carnival pitchman who shrewdly guided singer-actor Elvis Presley's career for 22 years, died here Jan. 21 after a stroke. AsSmithsonian Magazinereports, van Kuijk, who was born in the Netherlands, created an elaborate fake past for himself. Viewers who are more familiar with Elvis Presleys music than his life story might be surprised by the prominence Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) in Baz Luhrmanns Elvis biopic. Elvis died at the age of 42, in the year 1977. There is still money to be made even more so that he is dead. 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. Even so, he continued to sell out shows and hit the Top 10 charts. Moreover, he wanted to clear his own debts and open a stream of unlimited revenue for himself. Colonel Thomas Andrew Parker Age 87 Born Monday 28 Jun 1909 Died 21 Jan 1997 Start a FameChain Other Partners Married 1935 Marie Parker Professional Partners Colonel Tom Parker Siblings Other Partners Professional Partners Loanne Parker Siblings Sister Linda Brown Loanne Lee Parker Age 84 Born Thursday 11 Jul 1935 Died 9 May 2020 Start a FameChain This took a mental toll on Parker. As a veteran even a veteran with a stain on his record Parker would have been an ideal choice for the draft. There was something unusual about the kind of music he created. Where Is Jung Myung Seok Now? His beliefs were unwavering, and he was loyal only to financial gains. Presleys first single with RCA was Heartbreak Hotel an instant classic that RCA disliked at first due to its lyrics, which told the story of a lonely mans death by suicide. He worked with traveling carnivals and eventually got into music promotion, changing his name to Tom Parker (taking the name from his Army recruitment officer) and erasing any mention of his true origins. In 1953, Mr. Arnold fired him, and Mr. Parker went on to start his own promotion company and to manage the singer Hank Snow. Most managers earn between 10 and 15 percent of what their clients make but from the very beginning, Parker soaked his only client for more. Spoiler alert! Parker quickly set to work promoting Presley, arranging tour dates and television appearances (including Presleys famous performances on The Ed Sullivan Show), and by the end of 1956, he and Presley had signed a contract making Parker the musicians sole and exclusive adviser, personal representative and manager.. King, who worked as a DJ in Memphis at the time,would certainly have been aware of Elvis, and vice versa, but they would not have been hanging out and catching acts such as Little Richard as the movie portrays,says Nash. The next morning he died from complications of the stroke at a hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada, at age 87. Parker realized early on the bigger potential of Austin Butler's Elvis and transitioned to managing him full-time. She says in her book Elvis and Me that she would occasionally hear that he had checked into the hospital, and that she would then call to see if he was all right, Nash says. The Tom Hanks Tom Parker portrayal is certainly one of the highlights of the movie, giving audiences something they aren't used to seeing from the actor. Elvis had reached the state of exhaustion. He told Elvis to perform at the International Hotel Las Vegas, and during the show, without telling him, entered into negotiations with Meyer Kohn (though, in reality, it was Alex Shoofey, the president of the hotel, who did the negotiations with Tom Parker). Parker was an avid gambler, which is believed to have been the source of many of his "fast money" dealings with Austin Butler's Elvis. Breaking News. From his exorbitant 50-percent fee for his services to a multitude of deals where he actually made more money than his client, Parker violated plenty of ethical rules, even if Presley willingly signed the contracts. Everybody wanted a piece of Elvis Presley, and Tom Parker knew that this dopey-eyed singer would help him earn a fortune. I think I didn't hear you very well. Parker died on January 21, 1997, of complications from a stroke. AKA Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk. Parker returned to the U.S . In a review of a biography of Parker in The Washington Post, book critic Jonathan Yardley reflects that The hold [Parker] had on Presley is an enduring mystery. Presley remained loyal to Parker, even as Parker exploited and benefited from his star power and talent. Elvis finally brought the pink Cadillac and a huge mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. He dreamt of donning the same suit that B.B King wore, one day. The six-day exhibit drew hundreds of Presley fans, and Col. Parker seemed at the height of his glory as he escorted the tours. Everybody loves Tom Hanks but they may not love Tom Parker, the predatory music manager he plays in Elvis. Priscilla left Elvis in 1973, as she felt that the only time he was alive was when he was performing on stage. And when he said that, I said, 'Oh, well, okay, now that's brand new.". However, the tide wasn't actually changed until a 1968 TV special, produced by Scott Binder, put Elvis the singer back on top, while simultaneously showing the Colonel how close he was to losing the singer to another producer. Eventually, Parker began to manage musicians. The following discusses plot points from the new "Elvis" movie and the real life of Elvis Presley. In the end, they'd become dependent on one another and were in too deep to even know how to start over. Eventually, this uneven arrangement led to a truly incredible scenario: Elvis Presley's manager made more money than Elvis himself. One of the most surprising things about Colonel Tom Parker is that he wasn't an American, he never held American citizenship, and his real name wasn't Tom Parker. The actor won his first Oscar for Philadelphia, where he played an AIDs-afflicted lawyer, losing significant weight to portray the character's declining health. One of the suits was filed by a lawyer for Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie. Even Tom knew that he was doing so only to win their trust, and that, in fact, the business manager would be nothing but a puppet whose strings would be controlled by Tom himself. But it was not so. Elvis and B.B. The cause was complications from a stroke, said Bruce Banke, a longtime friend and a former executive at the Las Vegas Hilton. The country was hurting, but Elvis could neither do anything about it nor express his views through his music. Despite his unpopularity with Presleys relatives at this time, he refused to write a tell-all book about his years with the singer. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Meet Colonel Tom Parker, a complex man who was not all bad but certainly not all good. That night at the Louisiana Hayride, he saw each and every member of the audience soaked in that kind of dilemma. Col. Parker stayed in the position until "the King of Rock 'n' Roll" died Aug. 16, 1977. . Iratta Ending, Explained: What Happens To Vinod? He properly saluted and sird me left and right, and I always admired that in him., Austin Butler as Elvis:His acting lessons began when Tom Hanks delivered a typewriter to his door. In the end, both Elvis and Colonel Parker shared a tragic journey that mirrored their working relationship. The Masked Lookalike Explained, Every Baz Luhrmann Movie, Ranked According To Box Office Mojo, Tom Hanks' Tom Parker isn't his usual role, The New Mad Max Might Break A Decades Old Series Rule, Chris Pratt Joins Luigi Actor To Troll Super Mario Bros. Movie Voice Critics, Warner Bros Just Destroyed The Rings Of Power. Who would account for that mental and physical fatigue? So far as the wider world knew, the Colonel was Thomas Andrew Parker, born in Huntingdon, West Virginia, some time shortly after 1900. "I had the luxury of essentially recreating somebody who no one really knew. And, in fact, there is an unsolved murder in Bochstraat that fits the timeline of Parker's movements: In 1929, a woman named Anna van den Enden was beaten to death behind her husband's grocery store. When Elvis wanted to break the association, Parker sent him a notice, in which he stated that the singer owed approximately eight million dollars to him. In February of 1957, historian Michael T. Bertrand writes, Edward R. Murrow invited Elvis to appear on his prestigious evening news program. On top of that, Parker found venue upon venue for Elvis to perform in, be it recording studios, Hollywood films, TV specials, and even satellite broadcasts, immersing the artist into the cultural zeitgeist while keeping him landlocked in North America. With Elvis in Las Vegas, Parker ran up enormous debts with the casinos and was focused on keeping Presley working constantly so he could cover his debts. And, notably, Parker did not accompany Presley on the trip, fearing being exposed as an illegal immigrant with an assumed name. Alanna Nash's biography of Parker, The Colonel, claims he may have been trying to avoid passport scrutiny because he might have been a suspect in a murder in Breda. Col. Parker also arranged Presley's early television appearances, including three on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1956 and 1957 that helped catapult the young singer to national stardom. Media in category "Colonel Tom Parker" The following 3 files are in this category, out of 3 total. Rarenotes that despite being a superstar, Elvis Presley only toured outside the U.S. three times all in 1957, and all in Canada. Col. Parker was credited with getting Presley a $35,000 recording contract with RCA Victor in the mid-1950s when Sam Phillips of Sun Records in Memphis decided to sell Presley's contract. Paul Shirey is a senior news writer for Screen Rant. See the article in its original context from. ", 'Where has this been hiding? When they've done all they can with him, then they start picking on me.". How did Colonel Tom Parker die? Just how true are they? Even his birthplace was in dispute: He said West Virginia, but most reference books said the Netherlands. Almost foreshadowing the route he was to take with Presley, Mr. Parker landed Mr. Arnold roles in several Hollywood movies and booked him in Las Vegas. Elvis could have played the lead in West Side Story, for example, or the role that made Jon Voight a star in Midnight Cowboy. In 1955, Presley agreed to accept Mr. Parker as an adviser. Col. Tom Parker, the strict, unorthodox and controversial manager who orchestrated Elvis Presley's career from 1955 until the singer's death in 1977, died yesterday at Valley Hospital in. Having been a staple in The King's life for so long, he was well known to Elvis' ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, who humored his appearances at such venues, regarding him as a family friend despite their clashes over the estate. From director Baz Luhrmanns research in Memphis and Elvis birthplace ofTupelo, Mississippi, to scores of well-researched biographies, there is laudable accuracy to the film, which is streaming and on demand now (HBO Max,Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play and other platforms). Elvis was asked to perform, but his contract wouldnt allow it, Nash says. Much of the money went to Col. Tom Parker, the King's enigmatic, cigar- chomping manager and Svengali. He organized a satellite concert, the credit for which he proudly took, as it was watched by more than 1.5 billion people. Times, He was usually in good spirits, talking about the carnival days, the Eddy Arnold days, the Elvis days. Related: Elvis True Story: Who Was Orion? Tom Parker Is Dead at 87; Controlled Presley's Career, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/22/arts/tom-parker-is-dead-at-87-controlled-presley-s-career.html. Nash notes that Parker (played in the film by Tom Hanks) was an inveterate gambler dating back to his early years in the carnival business, often decamping for Hot Springs, Arkansas, orPalm Springs, California,to satisfy his needs. No, he never would have done that, Nash says. They gave him a choice. He moved to Las Vegas and in 1989 got married a second time, to a woman named Loanne. He sold programs and counted tickets at his shows. As noted byThe Washington Post, in 1981, Albert Goldman published a biography of Elvis Presley that was pretty scathing in its portrayal of Parker and exposed his true identity to the world. Tom knew that Elvis was the golden goose and Hank was a story of the past. I believe in the kind of cinema that not necessarily makes you laugh or cry but moves something inside you. His reasoning was that he'd served in the U.S. military without permission from the Dutch government and thus had forfeited his Dutch citizenship. More: Does Elvis Have An After Credits Scene? Here's why Colonel Tom Parker is so controversial. In Las Vegas, he worked as an adviser for Hilton Hotels, consulting on entertainment. Baz Luhrmanns film takes you to that golden era when the alleys of Hollywood were hit by a sandstorm from Memphis, Tennessee. In August 1987, he held a rare news conference as the 10th anniversary of Presley's death approached. He was ready to sacrifice his own prodigy for the sake of it. He was 87 years old. Tom Hanks' portrayal of Elvis' manager Colonel Tom Parker in the 2022 biopic created controversy - here's the true story behind Hanks' Tom Parker. His first wife, Marie, died in 1980. Colonel Tom Parker had swagger.