Introduction
HE THOUGHT WORKING WITH ELVIS WAS A STEP DOWN — THEN ONE QUIET GESTURE CHANGED EVERYTHING
There are stories about Elvis Presley that begin with screaming crowds, gold records, pink Cadillacs, and the unmistakable sound of a voice that changed American popular music. This story begins very differently, with a young Hollywood dancer hearing Elvis Presley’s name and quietly thinking that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. More than six decades later, veteran actor and dancer Christopher Riordan, now 88, can laugh at the arrogance of his younger self, but his recollection offers something far more revealing than another story about celebrity. It shows how one man entered an Elvis movie believing he already understood the star, only to discover that the private Elvis Presley was considerably different from the public image he had dismissed.
Riordan had reason to feel confident in those days. He had already moved through an extraordinary world of classic Hollywood, working around figures such as Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, and others whose names represented prestige to a young performer trying to establish himself. He had also been personally recognized for his dancing ability by Fred Astaire, and during the production of My Fair Lady, what began as a relatively limited assignment expanded into months of work after director George Cukor continued asking him to remain with the production. Riordan was therefore not an unknown dancer desperately waiting for his first opportunity. He had already tasted the upper levels of Hollywood craftsmanship.
Then Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer called. The studio needed a strong dancer for a new picture, and Riordan happened to have time available from My Fair Lady. He naturally asked who was starring in the movie, and eventually came the answer: Elvis Presley. Instead of excitement, Riordan remembered reacting with something close to disdain. After working in the company of performers he considered great Hollywood artists, an Elvis movie felt to him like a step down. In a recent interview, he readily described his younger self as something of a “snob.” Yet practical life has a way of challenging artistic pride. Riordan had financial responsibilities, a child was entering his life, the salary was attractive, and the job required dancing rather than memorizing extensive dialogue. So he accepted. The movie was Viva Las Vegas.
What happened next could almost have been written as a Hollywood comedy. Riordan was placed toward the back of the dancers, a position that initially irritated a performer who knew precisely what he could do. Then he reconsidered. Perhaps being invisible was actually a blessing. He could earn his paycheck, finish the picture, return to more prestigious work, and perhaps no one would even notice that he had appeared in an Elvis Presley movie. What Riordan did not know was that Elvis had already noticed him.
According to Riordan’s recollection, Elvis approached another dancer and asked about the talented young man positioned in the rear. Riordan himself was not present for that conversation and learned about it afterward, but the significance of the moment became clearer as the years passed. Elvis apparently wondered why someone with Riordan’s ability had been placed so far from the front. Riordan’s own website similarly recalls that Presley appreciated his talent and later repeatedly requested him for future projects. The relationship that followed would eventually stretch across six Elvis films — Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, Tickle Me, Spinout, Double Trouble, and Clambake — as well as Elvis’s landmark 1968 television special. Graceland’s own historical material confirms those credits.
Yet the remarkable part is that Elvis did not immediately tell Riordan what he thought. According to Riordan, Presley waited until the final day of Viva Las Vegas, when the dancer was nearly out the door, before stopping him. Elvis thanked him for his hard work, told him that his efforts had been appreciated, and casually suggested that he would see him on the next film. Riordan’s private reaction was essentially: not a chance. Even Elvis Presley personally thanking him had not changed his mind. At that moment, he still believed the relationship was finished.
Hollywood, however, had other plans. Months later, Paramount called Riordan about another production. The name that caught his attention was not Elvis Presley but Barbara Stanwyck, one of the most respected actresses of classic American cinema. Riordan accepted the job and only afterward learned that Elvis was the male star. The film was Roustabout, released in 1964, and it was there, Riordan later said, that his judgment began to change in a serious way. When Elvis saw him again, Riordan remembered that familiar grin, the expression he would eventually interpret as Presley’s silent way of saying, “I told you so.”