Elvis and Gladys

by Elaine Dundy

Who on the planet doesn't know that Elvis Presley gave electrifying performances and enthralled millions? Who doesn't know that he was the King of Rock 'n' Roll? But who knows that the King himself lived in the thrall of one dominant person?

This was Gladys Smith Presley, his protective, indulgent, beloved mother.

Elvis and Gladys , one of the best researched and most acclaimed books on Elvis's early life, reconstructs the extraordinary role Gladys played in her son's formative years.

Uncovering facts not seen by other biographers, Elvis and Gladys reconstructs for the first time the history of the mother and son's devoted relationship and reveals new information about Elvis—his Cherokee ancestry, his boyhood obsession with comic books, and his early compulsion to rescue his family from poverty.

Coming to life in the compelling narrative is the poignant story of a unique boy and the maternal tie that bound him. It is at once an intimate psychological portrait of a tragic relationship and a mesmerizing tale of the early years of an international idol.

“For once, a legend is presented to us by the mind and heart of a literate, careful biographer who cares,” wrote Liz Smith in the New York Daily News when Elvis and Gladys was originally published in 1985. This is the book, Smith says, “for any Elvis lover who wants to know more about what made Presley the man he was and the mama's boy he became.”

The Boston Globe called this thoughtful, informative biography of one of popular music's most enduring stars “nothing less than the best Elvis book yet.”

Genres: Biography, Music, History

375 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Elaine Dundy (1921–2008) grew up in New York City and Long Island. After graduating from Sweet Briar College in 1943 she worked as an actress in Paris and, later, London, where she met her future husband, the theater critic Kenneth Tynan. Dundy wrote three novels, The Dud Avocado (1958), The Old Man and Me (1964), and The Injured Party (1974); a play, My Place (produced in 1962); biographies of Elvis Presley and the actor Peter Finch; a study of Ferriday, Louisiana; and a memoir, Life Itself!

Reviews

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite an insightful read and there was quite a bit here about both Gladys and to a lesser extent Vernon that helped to understand Elvis and why he was who he was. There was also a lot of interesting family background of Elvis' maternal side especially. It was heartbreaking to see how much the loss of his beloved Mother cost Elvis. Reading this, knowing very well what the outcome of every situation and every decision would be, I still kept thinking "What if?"
What if Gladys had lived longer? What if Elvis could break the hold the Colonel had over him? What if Vernon was able to stand up more? But sadly we cannot change history as much as we would like to and wish for a different story, a happier ending. Elaine Dundy has managed to give us a version here of a very special relationship and an enduring love...the one between a mother and her child...but more importantly she has touched on and debunked some of the myths surrounding Elvis and Gladys and the bond they shared. Reading this you cannot help but feel for both the son who could not save his mother and the mother that sacraficed everything for her boy.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

investigative reporting on Elvis' formative years, birth family, relationship with the Colonel. Even handed treatment, non-sensational. sympathic to the man as artist.

[Flat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading, but a bit meandering and speculative at times.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond the famous smirk, beyond the pelvic gyrations and the music that shocked and thrilled 1950s America, beyond the glam outfits of the ‘70s that out-glammed David Bowie, Elvis Presley is one of the most mysterious and profound figures in American history. Beginning as an ultra-confident performer and scandalous sex symbol to a somewhat toned down crooner after a stint in the Army, to a Hollywood star that appeared in a series of movies throughout the ‘60s that were, quite frankly, so bizarre as to be categorized as their own genre – then to reemerge as a mesmerizing performer outfitting himself in a fashion that nobody else could have ever gotten away with and who was supported by what had to be one of the largest traveling bands in history – to say that Elvis Presley was transcendent is an understatement.

There have been a number of books about Elvis Presley. Albert Goldman’s was basically a cosmopolitan’s condescending reaction to the ways of poor white people in the American South. Peter Guralnick’s two-volume biography is dutiful and respectful, but rather lifeless. One of the better books is “Elvis Presley – A Southern Life” by Joel Williamson that looks at the Elvis phenomenon from the perspective of his roots in the South and is one of the better books I have read on Elvis.

But “Elvis and Gladys” by Elaine Dundy is perhaps the best book out there as it examines the relationship that Elvis had with his mother – not exclusively, but as acknowledging that his love for his mother, and her love of her son, explains so much when we look as the tragic trajectory of Elvis’ life and career that came apart so very quickly and for all to see.

Dundy’s book is a piercing study of Presley’s relationship with not just Gladys, but his extended family that came to include friends from his high school days, many of whom he later employed. Where Albert Goldman ridicules Elvis as a rube hick, and Guralnick’s take on Elvis is a nearly worshipful, Dundy conducts her study as a way to come to some understanding of how Presley’s rise to an almost unprecedented level of fame impacted his very close-knit, poverty-ridden Southern family. Something significant and universal is played out in the Elvis saga, and Dundy knows it. It is to her great credit that she acknowledges the mysterious nature of the Elvis Presley story and sees something of the cosmos in play. To the book’s credit it is not a biography – Priscilla and Lisa Marie are hardly mentioned. But the extended family of Elvis is closely examined, especially Gladys’ side, and it is the entrance of ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker that, while instrumental in making Elvis happen, is also responsible for tearing Elvis and his mother apart. This is what killed her and is probably what killed him.

It is clear that Elvis’ main motivation throughout his career was the economic betterment of his family. He never really left home and while so many fans grate at how Parker kept Elvis from achieving even greater renown, like perhaps allowing him to broaden his talents as an actor that a number of movie directors recognized he certainly had, Elvis allowed himself to be reigned in, cranking out what came to be known has ‘Elvis movies’ throughout the ‘60s, what should have been his prime years for performing live.

Dundy makes mention of a number of Elvis stories that, in her book, enhance the almost other-worldly quality that other people came to see in him. For instance:

“In the beginning of August, 1956, at a Fox sound studio in a room full of aspirants waiting to do their screen tests, Maureen Stapleton, in Hollywood for the first time and for the same reason, was waiting with her four-year-old son, Danny. ‘Elvis was there, too,’ she recalls. ‘He must have been going to record ‘Love Me Tender’: It was around that date. Anyway, he had his guitar. I was double over, gripping my stomach with an attack of nerves. Suddenly there he was banding over me asking, ‘Is there anything wrong, ma’am?’ I said I was going to take a screen test and couldn’t get my stomach to stop churning. And if I wasn’t surprised already, he said, ‘I feel that way every day of my life, ma’am.’ Then they called him in to do his song. My turn was next. When he came out, instead of leaving he came up to me and said, ‘Don’t worry about your kid, ma’am. I’ll sit with him and look after him. Go on now. Don’t worry. He’ll be alright with me, ma’am.’ I couldn’t believe it. There had to be dozens of other people in the room still waiting who could have looked after Danny. When I came out of my test, there they were, the two of them. Danny was totally absorbed. Elvis was showing him how to play his guitar.’ When Maureen thanked Elvis, he said, ‘That’s all right, ma’am, and good luck, ma’am.’ Then he went to the door and opened it. The roar from the fans outside came rolling into the room, shaking the rafters. Elvis turned to Maureen, smiled and said again, ‘Good luck, ma’am.’ And went out into the din.” (271)

Dundy is also very frank as to why Gladys was so unhappy, despite seeing her son achieve everything that either of them could have ever dreamed of:

“Ask any of Gladys’ acquaintances – the ones originally from East Tupelo who continued to see her from time to time and who noted her rapid decline, while they watched her son become the most famous boy in the world – the short pertinent question, ‘What killed Gladys?’ And the answer, equally short and made no less shocking for being delivered with the same flatness of tone, will be, ‘Elvis, of course.’ Lillian (Elvis’s aunt), from a much closer vantage point, concurs. ‘After Elvis became famous,’ she says, ‘Gladys was never happy another day. Only when he’d come back, the little he could, to be with her in Memphis, they she’d be all right for a spell. But the further along he got, the more she worried. And after he went to Hollywood and then was on the road all the time in between doing pictures and she didn’t hardly get to see him at all because he never got to come much, you know – she never had peace no more. That’s right, girl. She never had peace no more.” (280)

It is when Elvis is inducted into the Army that Gladys rapidly declines. Her son was truly going beyond her reach and Dundy vividly recalls how Gladys didn’t even try to ‘put on a good face’ as Elvis reports for duty. She is miserable and she does not care who knows it. (Today we can find the photographs Dundy writes about on the Internet, and we find that she does not exaggerate in describing how beaten down Elvis’ mother appears). When she dies soon after this, the grief that Elvis and his father feel is deeply moving. Elvis yells at one point that all he ever did in life was for Gladys and his pain simply does not diminish.

“And sensing her always inside him, and the wound inflicted by her loss increasing rather than healing, Elvis began an active search to understand the workings of this God who, it seems, had bestowed everything upon him only to take so much away. . . . (F)eelings of anger, resentment, and confusion surged up from his seeming submission, which drove him in many directions to seek an answer.” (364)

Elvis became interested “the study of all religions from Judaism to Buddhism and the teachings of theosophy with its beliefs in pantheistic evolution, reincarnation, the mystic, the psychic, the spiritual, the occult – in short, all the Aladdin lamps that lit up the 1960s.” (364)
“Numerology – the study of the occult significance of numbers – was of particular interest to Elvis…” (365)

One can now easily access performance films of Elvis Presley in the ‘70s – from his triumphant return to live performing for real in Las Vegas in 1970 to his quite shocking concerts some seven years later, where at age 42 Elvis embodied the tragic. While some may see his public demise as a cautionary tale about the ravages of drugs or show business or fast living, Dundy sees something more – a grief that could never be surmounted. She writes of a very disturbing event that happened near the end:

“Five months before Elvis’ death, while he was waiting in his car outside Graceland for the gates to open, his eyes fell upon a woman standing in the crowd. He invited her into his house and the following letter stamped with a sworn affidavit, on display at the Elvis Presley Museum in Memphis, tells us the rest of the story:

‘I met Elvis in early March 1977. In his own words I was a reincarnation of his mother (Gladys Love Presley). Love was also his name for me. In April 1977 he gave me this ring. It was a gift to his mother from him in 1955. These were Elvis Presley’s own words. I never doubted him one moment. It is one of the first gifts for her. Sincerely, Ellen Marie Foster, May 20, 1980, St. Charles, Ill.” (365-66)

When Elvis’ recently fired bodyguards published the book “Elvis: What Happened?” on August 4, 1977, Elvis was dead a few weeks later. Dundy asks a very poignant question here: Why had not Tom Parker seen to it that this book never saw the light of day? He had been very successful in protecting his ‘talent’ for so long – why not now?

“Elvis died at forty-two on August 16, 1977. It was two days after the anniversary of his mother’s death (in 1958). It has been pointed out that Gladys was in fact forty-six when she died but it was not until later, when Elvis had erected for her grave a marble monument that the secret of her age, validated only by school records, emerged. Forty-two was her age as reported throughout the media in 1958, the age she had chosen to be; the age Elvis believed her to be in the initial shock of her death. That age that would never be dislodged from his loyal mind.” (367-68)

When I recently watched an Elvis Presley concert filmed at Omaha, Nebraska on June 19, 1977 on YouTube (a truly chilling experience), I found myself asking “How did Elvis let this happen to himself? How could he allow himself to fall so far?” After reading “Elvis and Gladys” by Elaine Dundy I no longer ask these things.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So well researched and yet flawed like the man him self. His mother and his time did mold him and he seems to have been under the evil hold of Cornel Tom Parker. His Mother comes across as nervous and powerless --- was Vernon ( the Father) just a dolt?
That Elvis was such a cultural game changer and superstar from humble beginnings is an awesome human story. What we have in this text is a horrible tragedy with little joy. This text is an excellent read & one that I purchased at Graceland , but .... So hopeless sad.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of unnecessary details that don’t pertain to Elvis and his mother’s relationship that I think could have been left out. The book could have been shorter and more precise.

[Joe Buck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think if you're reading this book, or interested in reading this book, then you probably have at least some familiarity with the rise of Elvis Presley as well as his and his mother's close relationship. But just in case you don't, consider this a spoiler warning.

This one's a bit of a mixed bag. The premise, as I understood it, was an examination of the relationship between Gladys and Elvis. In actuality, the book is a "rise of Elvis" biography with more cutaways to Gladys.

That said, Elaine Dundy is engaged with her subject matter and did a lot of research for this one. The first 50 or so pages are pretty much a genealogy of Elvis' maternal family since they were in Europe. I found it a bit of a slog (so-and-so begat so-and-so) and I wouldn't have missed much by just skipping it altogether. I'm glad she did the footwork, and I'm glad the information is out there for those who care to dive into that kind of thing, but it's not my bag. (I was glad when Guralnick opted not to go to such lengths in his own biographies.)

Look, at this point Peter Guralnick's biographies are the standard against which any Elvis biography is judged. Although it's very long and very comprehensive, it still can't cover everything in minute detail, and I understand that. But some of the things mentioned above seem to be too important for Guralnick to have glossed over.

Dundy makes some interesting proposals that I haven't seen much of elsewhere, but the book itself doesn't seem to explain them in any substantiated way. Such claims include that Gladys coached Elvis as a child to a performer. "The evidence indicates that Elvis was trained, rehearsed, and coached by Gladys [...] as thoroughly and as seriously as any other potential professional singer is coached" (127). She also posits that the Presley family toured churches performing as a signing trio. Again, a bold claim that I haven't really found evidence to prove or corroboration elsewhere.

She also claims that Elvis, Scotty, and Bill played music together -- quite often -- years before even the first Sun recording, and that they had worked up their version of "That's All Right Mama" at that time. Further, she claims that Bill Black was incredibly persistent in trying to convince Elvis to record a demo at Sun. Maybe this has been corroborated elsewhere, but this is the only place I've come across this suggestion.

More interestingly, Dundy provides much more detail about the root causes of Gladys' death than I've ever come across. Her point is that Gladys was a drunk in the last couple years of her life and essentially drank herself to death (or that her poor health only amplified the effects of her alcoholism). It's interesting to get this take on it, as usually Elvis' story is told simply with Gladys being sick and dying but with no further elaboration.

Elaine Dundy's prose can be incredibly purple at times, and she has the tendency to meander a bit too long about hypotheticals or just side-bar stuff that doesn't really add anything. Even though she spent a considerable amount of time in the south researching this, it is still quite apparent that there's a lot that she doesn't understand about the south. A lot of her descriptions of the south, southerners, etc. have a feel of back-handed compliment to them. A lot of broad strokes are painted about southerners as well, as if we're a monolith. In one passage, she attempts to make the point that although there are various and sundry regional dialects in the south, that these dialects are pretty much identical across racial lines. Obviously she hasn't heard of the Gullah (to name but one example).

She references Albert Goldman's book a few times, taking points and quotes from it. That kind of makes me suspicious, as it's generally known that Goldman specialized in takedown hit-piece biographies that weren't always factually sound.

Elvis and Gladys has an interesting enough premise. A lot of work went into this book, without a doubt. But the end result is kind of patchy and at times meandering. If you've never read a biography on Elvis before, there are certainly worse places to start, but there are better places to start too.

[Corrine Ardoin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elvis and Gladys examines the relationship between Elvis Presley and his mother. It covers the years from his birth in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1935 to his mother's death in Memphis, Tennessee in 1958.

The author, Elaine Dundy, begins with an exploration into the person, Gladys Presley, her family history, familial relationships, as well as her temperament and personality. This thoughtful study seeks to establish a foundational understanding of not only the American South, its historical landscape and times, but the crucial maternal influence Gladys Presley as an individual would have upon her son. It was this background, the author puts forth, that created the environment into which Elvis was born and informed his entire life. It was something he both loved and appreciated, yet it contained family secrets he was unable to live down and shield from his worst critics. The author explains, “But there was the grave issue of family pride and of family honor, grave realities to all southerners but graver still to Elvis, whose fight for these had been so hard won.”

As the story evolves, there is a sense that we are sitting opposite Ms. Dundy. She shares her discoveries with us and postulates on the whys and wherefores of Elvis's life in the 1950s. There was a growing tension between him and his mother in relation to himself and his greedy, controlling manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It was, as Ms. Dundy writes, what killed Gladys, her son's fame and the worry over what was being done to him.

In documentaries and in books about Elvis Presley, the questions are asked again and again, “What happened?” Why did Elvis stay with the Colonel when it was clear he would not have the career path of his choosing? Why didn't he get help for his many addictions to prescription medication? And, more importantly, why did he have to leave us so soon, at only age forty-two?

Ms. Dundy takes us along in her inquiry into these very questions. Following her lead, we share in Elvis Presley's meteoric rise to fame and popularity as we press ever closer to his fate. “...his power to haunt one compels me to make a few observations,” she writes in the Epilogue. Yet, in the end, we are left with that same sense of helplessness and sadness, such as his mother, his family, friends, and associates undoubtedly experienced.

Elvis and Gladys may provide a hard look at the facts, asking its own questions and exploring possibilities, but it ultimately leaves us with only the mystery. The lesson we must learn with every book and every documentary film, is that Elvis Presley was just a man, only a person. He dreamed and imagined and led his life best he could given his upbringing and the extraordinary circumstances thrust upon him at such a young age.

We can pick apart a person's life, but that does not mean we know them. Where we can find answers, is through Elvis's own inquiry into his life. He wanted to know why he was born, “to understand the workings of this God who, it seems, had bestowed everything upon him only to take so much away,” Ms. Dundy writes. It is in this vein, where we, like Elvis, become seekers, too, reaching beyond one man's life story, asking merely, “Why?”

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elvis and Gladys isn’t just a biography—it’s a tender excavation. Elaine Dundy writes with the precision of a historian and the ache of a storyteller, peeling back the rhinestones and flash to reveal the quiet heart behind America’s loudest icon. At its core, the book is about a boy and his mother. Gladys Presley—fiercely loving, fragile, funny, and haunted—shaped Elvis more deeply than any gospel choir or Memphis radio station ever could. Dundy’s portrait of their bond is haunting: two souls tangled in adoration and mutual dependency, their love both a lifeline and a weight.

This isn’t the Elvis of Vegas jumpsuits and tabloid tragedy. This is the Elvis of Tupelo porches, grief-soaked silences, and a voice born from need as much as talent. It’s the most human telling of his story I’ve ever read.

And for me, Elvis isn’t just a legend—he’s the legend. My hero, always. I grew up hearing his voice when I didn’t even understand English, feeling something ancient move in those blue notes. This book didn’t just teach me about his roots—it deepened mine. Elvis lives on not just in songs, but in people like me who still believe a voice can change the world.

[Christopher Renberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first books I read concerning Elvis. Dundy does a fine job in her research and detailing how Gladys and Elvis came to be and their special relationship. This is a must read for Elvis fans and probably for those casual fans as well. It is that good!

[Claudine Suor · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was anxious to read this book, there was so much detail about the history of Gladys that I started to get bogged down in those details. They did have a very interesting relationship that I believe is the case with many mothers and sons. Tragic lives!

[Linda A Seidman]

Interesting

A good insight to elvis's relationship with his mother, however I found it to be quite wordy & in to the weeds too much! Too much psychological conclusions, in my humble opinion.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

How sad is it that the fears that Gladys had for her son’s demise came true?

Great book overall, which states mostly facts with little personal opinion. Especially in Elvis’ early life.

The only thing I didn’t care for was the overly long passage about CP.

[Mary E. Dowd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This was a great piece of the Elvis puzzle unveiled. I would of liked to understand more about Elvis “becoming” Gladys towards the end of his life and perhaps more about Gladys’ presence in Graceland after her death. Must read!

[Vincenzo Ridente · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to know everything about the close bond between Elvis and his mother this is the book to read

[Carolyn Leshyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book on the relationship between Elvis and his mother, Gladys.

[Lisa Kamhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting look at the relationship and bond between Elvis and Gladys. It also uncovers the truth behind Gladys’ sadness and depression and her alcoholism.

[Kristen R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much incredible detail on Elvis' childhood and Gladys' side of the the family! Another must read!

[Tina Wasserbauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and fact filled.

[Julie-Anne Mee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to read ...

[Melissa Barstow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative

[Debbie Westerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my view this book has put Elvis' relationship with Elvis in a different light to what I previously had. I knew he was very close to his mum but not this close. It had me gripped from the first page it's one of those books that I couldn't put down very informative

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Elaine Dundy, and I love Elvis. I didn't like this book. It felt like a ancestry lesson more than provided anything interesting about Elvis.

[Vincenzo Ridente · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poignant breathtaking look into the special bond between Elvis and his mother definitely belongs in the top three of the best bios about Elvis

[chubs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading, but a bit meandering and speculative at times.