As a military brat she lived all over the US, eventually relocating with her family overseas to Wiesbaden, Germany, where she met Elvis when she was just 14 years old. After a seven-year courtship during which he insisted that she remain a virgin until their wedding night, Priscilla married the King of Rock and Roll in Las Vegas in 1967.
Priscilla, who once said she'd never dreamed of becoming an actress, lived the life of a wife and mother the next few years. When Hollywood producer Hal Wallis offered her a contract since she'd shown an interest in dancing and modeling, Elvis squashed that notion, saying, “A woman's place is in the home looking after her man.”
After divorcing Elvis in 1973 -- "It was never about me, it was really about him on every level," she said -- Priscilla opened a clothing boutique and developed into a businesswoman. She began acting and was offered a role as one of the angels in “Charlie's Angels,” but declined the part because she didn't care for the show.
Classic TV Beauties 1980s Countdown
PRISCILLA PRESLEY as Jenna Wade in "Dallas"
She'll forever be known as Mrs. Elvis Presley, but the wife of the King of Rock and Roll and the mother of Lisa Marie carved out a credible acting career, including her stint as Jenna on the prime time soap from 1983-88.
The blue-eyed brunette was one of three actresses to play Jenna – Morgan Fairchild and Francine Tacker were the other two – on “Dallas.”
Jenna was Bobby Ewing's (Patrick Duffy) first true love. She dumped him twice during the run of the series, the second time when she was kidnaped and forced to remarry ex-husband Italian count Renaldo Marchetta. Jenna was the mother of Bobby's only true biological child, giving birth after he jilted her. She later married Ray Krebbs, Bobby's half-brother, and they moved to Switzerland.
Priscilla earned laughs from comedy audiences when she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in three “Naked Gun” movies. She played Jane Spencer, assistant to the evil Vincent Ludwig, and later married Nielsen's character Sergeant Frank Drebin in the parody based on the short-lived TV series “Police Squad.”
Offscreen, Priscilla has been credited for single-handedly saving Graceland as a national treasure.
In the early 1980s, Elvis' home was in danger of being sold due to rising maintenance expenses and property taxes. Priscilla founded Elvis Presley Enterprises, opened the home to tourists in 1982, and within months turned Graceland into a moneymaker,
“I look at it as it's something I had to do,” she told Katie Couric. “I had this vision that Graceland is suited for a king and it is his castle, and people should really see it as he loved it.”
Born Priscilla Ann Wagner in Brooklyn, Priscilla was the daughter of a Navy pilot who was killed in a plane crash returning home from service when she was six months old. Her mother remarried an Air Force officer, and Paul Beaulieu became the only father she ever knew.
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She co-hosted “Those Amazing Animals” in 1980, then three years later made her acting debut in “The Fall Guy.” She landed the role of Jenna Wade the following year.
While starring in “Dallas,” she authored the best selling memoir “Elvis and Me” (1985) and produced the TV movie based on her book in 1988.
More recently, Priscilla competed on “Dancing with the Stars" in 2008.
“The hardest thing I've ever done,” she said. “I've never performed live on stage, let alone in front of 23 million people. It was a horrifying feeling. Now I understand what stage fright means...I'd wake up at 2 am trying to remember a certain step and have a brain freeze.”
Although she's spent her entire adult life in the spotlight, she said that the public doesn't know the real Priscilla.
“I'm extemely private so I don't think people really know who I am,” she said in an interview with www.backinmemphis.com. “Sometimes when I see photos of myself in the media I look so reserved, almost unapproachable and aloof. I think it's a protective mechanism one acquires.
“I think they'd find it surprising that I can be a lot of fun and I have a really good sense of humor,” she said. “I have a close-knit group of gal pals who grew up with me that I like having over for dinner. We laugh, we watch movies, we come up with fun games to play.”
