Elvis Presley stars in trailer for 1962 film Girls! Girls! Girls!
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Following his separation and divorce from Priscilla, Elvis Presley began dating Miss Tennessee model Linda Thompson. She ended up moving into Graceland with The King and the pair remained a couple from 1972-1976. Now 71, Linda occasionally shares pictures of her time dating Elvis on her official Instagram account.
The latest pictures from Linda show her with Elvis during a karate session and while on tour.
Originally shared by the elvis_and_linda_gram fan account, the latter also depicts the celebrity couple walking alongside Elvis bodyguard and Memphis Mafia member Red West.
While the karate one sees The King and Linda sitting and watching an instruction session.
Elvis was first introduced to the martial art during his military service in Germany from 1958-1960.
Elvis took karate lessons from Jürgen Seydel and went on to incorporate moves into his live performances.
In fact, his jumpsuits were originally inspired by his karategi, the traditional uniform worn when practising and competing in karate.
In 1960, Elvis received his first-degree black belt and continued to train in Memphis under instructor Kang Rhee.
While at Graceland he liked to show off his skills to guests in the space by the front door.
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Interestingly, the chandelier in that hallway is missing one of its links to this day due to accidental damage by Elvis when practising karate.
In the last year of The King’s life, a Japanese World War II veteran came to Graceland to gift him a samurai sword after hearing that the star’s instructor Ed Parker had been a champion in Japan.
This took place in late 1976 or early 1977 when Dick Grob was Elvis’ Head of Security.
He remembered how during that morning The King, who had been up all night as usual, was upstairs at Graceland in his pyjamas getting ready for bed.
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Receiving a call from the front gate, it turns out there was an elderly Japanese veteran in military uniform carrying a samurai sword.
Struggling with his English, the soldier said: “I brought this to give to Mr Presley.
“I was an officer in the Japanese military during World War II and I want to apologise to you and to Mr Presley for us fighting you guys. I’m really sorry about that.
“Because Mr Presley studied karate and learned from Mr Ed Parker, who was a champion in Japan, I want to give this to Mr Presley as a token of my appreciation.”
Dick was touched by this and took the samurai sword in for Elvis, who later started swinging the weapon around wildly in Graceland’s kitchen.
The Head of Security remembers jokingly pulling a gun on The King telling him he was being dangerous and must put it down or he’d shoot.
So Elvis walked on into the Living Room and put the samurai sword in a drawer, where it’s believed to have been left undisturbed until it was discovered by the Graceland team around 1982 when the home opened for tours.
Incredibly the weapon remains in that drawer to this very day.
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