Even the toughest Hollywood icons get starstruck.
During a candid conversation on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, Sylvester Stallone opened up about one of the rare times his tough-guy exterior completely cracked. Back in 1976, fresh off the runaway success of Rocky, Stallone received word that Elvis Presley had invited him to Memphis, Tennessee.
It was the ultimate nod from music royalty, but as Stallone admitted to Shetty, the sheer magnitude of standing face-to-face with the King was too much to handle. This decision led to a fateful outcome he still regrets decades later.
“There’s a few things I truly regret,” Stallone began. “Like not meeting certain people like Charlie Chaplin or Elvis.”
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“I was invited. And I was too shy,” the actor, known for his on-screen tough-guy persona, said.
He continued, “I was too shy to meet Elvis. Can you imagine?”
“In 1976, when Rocky came out, he invited me to Tennessee to go to his home, and then go to a local theater and watch Rocky with him alone,” Stallone said, still in disbelief. “And so I go when an opportunity like this, even though you may have a head cold, go.”
He concluded, “I don’t care if you’re not feeling well. Go!”
When Shetty asked what about that particular meeting made him shy, Stallone mused before answering. “What was I going to say to Elvis? Would I be tongue-tied?”
Presley would have likely screened the film for himself and Stallone at the Memphian Theater, which he regularly rented out for private midnight movie screenings with his inner circle. Reportedly, after the missed meeting, Stallone sent Presley his own copy of Rocky to watch. The singer died one year later, on August 16, 1977.
Presley’s connection to Rocky actually hit much closer to home. Decades before Stallone’s hit swept theaters, the King dated singer-songwriter Carol Connors—who went on to co-write the film’s iconic theme song, “Gonna Fly Now,” alongside Bill Conti and Ayn Robbins. Reflecting on her romance with Elvis, Connors shared with ReMIND Magazine, “Elvis was my first boyfriend, and every lady who reads this will know what I mean by my very first boyfriend.”
Rocky transformed into a movie blockbuster, with 10 Academy Award nominations. It won Best Picture and scored Oscars for Directing (John G. Avildsen) and Film Editing (Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad). According to Screen Rant, Stallone was in the middle of filming his 1978 labor drama F.I.S.T. when news broke of Elvis’s death in August 1977.
Sylvester Stallone is promoting his new book, The Steps: A Memoir. The book is currently available in hardcover, audiobook and eBook.
Related: 1976 Oscar-Nominated Hit Has Just 30 Words—But Became an Iconic Movie Song
