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As far as brief internet research has uncovered, Kurt Russell is the only actor in history to have acted next to Elvis Presley, to have played Elvis Presley, and to have played an Elvis Presley impersonator. The first was in "It Happened at the World's Fair" in 1963, when the 12-year-old Russell infamously kicked Elvis in the shin. The second was in the biographical miniseries "Elvis," release in 1979 and directed by John Carpenter. The third, as easily the least popular, was Demian Lichtenstein's 2001 heist movie "3000 Miles to Graceland," a largely forgotten and critically lambasted piece of scuzz cinema on the latter-edge of Quentin Tarantino knockoffs. 

And we all likely remember the post-"Pulp Fiction" era with clarity. Many filmmakers tried to capture the flippant violence and ultra-witty banter that Tarantino pioneered, to largely mixed results. "Thing to Do in Denver When You're Dead," "2 Days in the Valley," "Goodbye Lover,...

The premise of the first season of the seminal 1965 sci-fi series "Lost in Space" (not to be confused with the Netflix reboot) cause the title to be a bit of a misnomer. The Robinson family, fleeing an overpopulated Earth in the distant future of 1997, was thrown off course during the launch of their starship, the Jupiter 2, thanks to the sabotage of a shady villain calling himself Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris). The Jupiter 2 sped off into the stars without instruction and was deposited far away from Earth in an uncharted part of the galaxy.

The Jupiter 2 crash-landed on a planet called Priplanus, with the bulk of the show's first season taking place there. The Robinsons weren't so much lost in space as they were stranded on a distant world. I understand the difference may be semantic, but the title "Lost in Space" implies a trek through the stars. Show creator Irwin Allen...

Kurt Russell's first acting gig was in the 1963 Elvis Presley vehicle "It Happened at the World's Fair," wherein he played an unnamed young boy hired to kick Elvis in the shin. Elvis, you see, wanted to romance a nurse at the Fair, and wanted to approach her with an injury as a way of breaking the ice. Russell was 12.

This early gig was parlayed into a successful career as a teen actor, and throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Russell appeared in multiple high-concept comedies for Disney. He was in three of the Medfield College movies — "Now You See Him, Now You Don't," "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes," and "The Strongest Man in the World" — as well as "Superdad," "Charley and the Angel," and "The Barefoot Executive." It wouldn't be until Robert Zemecki's 1980 comedy "Used Cars" that Russell would begin to shed his squeaky-clean teen image and begin appearing in more mature films,...

Younger audiences might know him as the dude who played Ego in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," but for everyone else, Kurt Russell is a Hollywood legend. That reputation was cemented in the 1980s, during which time Russell landed starring roles in such classics as "Escape From New York" (1981), "The Thing" (1982), and "Big Trouble in Little China." (1986). But he managed just as illustrious a run in the '90s — even if you only count his role in George P. Cosmatos' seminal 1993 Western "Tombstone."

While "Tombstone" isn't quite Kurt Russell's best film — it is surely among the finest entries in the man's filmography. Telling the story of Wyatt Earp (Russell) and the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral, "Tombstone" became an instant classic of the modern Western when it debuted, with Val Kilmer stealing the entire show as Doc Holliday. But Russell certainly delivered as the legendary lawman, and in the process,...

In Norman Taurog's 1963 film "It Happened at the World's Fair," Elvis Presley plays a crop-duster pilot named Mike whose crop-dusting plane was just repossessed by the local sheriff. While hitchhiking home, wondering how he'll get the money to buy back his plane, Mike comes upon the Seattle World's Fair. There, he instantly becomes smitten with a local nurse named Diane Warren (not to be confused with songwriter Diane Warren) played by Joan O'Brien.

To manufacture a reason to see the Fair's nurse, Mike pulls an 11-year-old boy out of the crowd and offers to pay the kid a quarter in exchange for a really, really hard kick to the shin. The kid is thrilled to have the money and dutifully thwacks the stranger. As Mike limps away, the kid mutters to himself "Adults. They're all nuts." The unnamed character was played by an uncredited Kurt Russell making his feature film debut.

John Carpenter's "Escape From New York" is a cult classic for a reason — it rules. Released in 1981, "Escape From New York" is a down-and-dirty sci-fi action pic in which New York City has become a giant maximum security prison. As bad luck would have it, an attempted hijacking of Air Force One forces the President (Donald Pleasence) to eject from the plane in an escape pod. Guess where he ends up? Yep — NYC, baby! The Big Apple! The militarized government wants to save the President and retrieve a top-secret briefcase he has cuffed to his wrist, but New York is too dangerous to simply enter for your average rescue mission. So the powers-that-be strike upon a simple plan: they force criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) into doing the job.

Snake, a cool dude with an eyepatch and a whispery voice, has no real choice in the matter: a device...

Tl;Dr:

One of Elvis Presley’s songs from the 1960s reached No. 2 because of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ song has the same name as a famous tune from the 2000s. Elvis’ hit was co-written by a famous songwriter.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons had a bunch of big hits during the early 1960s. They even stopped one of Elvis Presley‘s songs from hitting No. 1. Notably, the song in question was from one of the King of Rock’ n’ Roll‘s classic movies.

1 Elvis Presley song from ‘Girls! Girls! Girls!’ battled Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Elvis Presley’s “Return to Sender” became a big hit. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 16 weeks. The track appeared on the soundtrack of the musical Girls! Girls! Girls! before appearing on the compilation album Elvis: 30 #1 Hits.

At this year’s Tony Awards, there are three actresses in contention for two separate performances in two separate productions they’ve appeared in this past season. They are Carolee Carmello, Crystal Lucas-Perry, and Phillipa Soo. Will any of them land at least one Tony nomination on May 2? Let’s go over each of the three.

Back in the fall, Carmello played John Dickinson in a limited run of Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of “1776.” Now she’s playing the wicked stepmother in Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s newest musical, “Bad Cinderella.” Carmello has been nominated three times before. First in 1999 for the original production of “Parade,” then in 2006 for “Lestat,” and in 2013 for “Scandalous.”

As she is on the ballot for Best Featured Actress in a Musical twice, it’s possible she could split her support in the nominating process. However, what could hurt her more from getting nominated...

While Elvis Presley is best remembered for his music, the Memphis singer had an impressive career in Hollywood movies. Elvis starred in 31 feature films and two concert documentaries. Still, he has a lengthier filmography than many might realize, and his 26th movie, Stay Away, Joe, premiered in New York City 55 years ago today.

Elvis Presley starred in many movies in a short period of time Elvis Presley as Joe | FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images

Elvis’ career in movies began in 1956 with Love Me Tender. The final film he starred in, Change of Habit, debuted in 1969, but he still featured in 29 other movies within that 13-year time frame. A few of his most famous movies include Jailhouse Rock, Viva Las Vegas, Blue Hawaii, and It Happened at the World’s Fair.

For a while, Elvis Presley was one of the world’s biggest movie stars and the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.

A number of great movies are leaving HBO Max at the end of March, so it’s time to prioritize these titles in your queue. Filmmaker James Gunn’s sequel/soft reboot “The Suicide Squad” will depart the streaming service on March 22 after first hitting HBO Max the same day it was released in theaters back in 2021. Similarly, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” was whisked away on March 1 after also getting a day-and-date release in 2021 (sorry/not sorry if you missed it).

You also only have until March 7 to stream “Just a Boy From Tupelo: Bringing Elvis to the Big Screen,” a short documentary on the making of the Oscar-nominated biopic “Elvis.”

Other noteworthy films leaving HBO Max this month include “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Contagion,” the extended version of “Dances with Wolves,” “Ghostbusters,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Love & Basketball” and “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

Baz Luhrmann's remixed version of the life and times of Elvis Presley feels like the exuberant director's version of a comic book movie (an opinion /Film's Rafael Motamayor agreed with in his review). "Elvis" has garnered a whopping eight Oscar nominations this year and the jam-packed soundtrack was also Grammy nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack. Featuring songs from Tame Impala, Eminem, Kacey Musgraves, Yola, and Elvis Presley himself, one of the most surprising additions to the soundtrack comes from an obscure song choice from Stevie Nicks. The whimsical cover "Cotton Candy Land" appears in the opening scene, setting the stage for Luhrmann's dreamlike biography. 

"Cotton Candy Land" was recorded by Presley for the 1963 musical "It Happened At the World's Fair" (not to be confused with the found footage horror film "We're All Going to the World's Fair"). The song was never released as a single, allowing for the classic...

You know Kurt Russell from "Big Trouble in Little China," "Tombstone," "Stargate," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," and the 1979 TV movie "Elvis." But did you know that he actually got to work with Elvis? He was 10 years old at the time, and the film was 1963's "It Happened at the World's Fair," as we learn in a 2016 interview with GQ. The film had Elvis Presley as a crop-dusting pilot who ends up at the World's Fair. Elvis's character Mike likes a nurse (Joan O'Brien) who isn't interested. He pays Russell's character a little spare change to kick him in the shins, so he has a reason to visit this nurse. Of course, later on, the boy blows Mike's cover by asking if he'd pay to have the kid do it again.

Russell says in the GQ article that he really wasn't familiar with Presley as a rock and roll...

Strangely, Elvis Presley and Kurt Russell's careers are intrinsically linked. For more than four decades, Russell has been a Hollywood mainstay. With his chiseled chin and rugged good looks, the actor looks like he was born to be a Hollywood A-lister. His performance in 1981's "Escape from New York" put him on the map as one of Hollywood's hottest action heroes. With subsequent films "Silkwood" and "Overboard," Russell would prove he had the acting chops to succeed in any genre.

But it didn't always feel like that. Russell made his feature film debut in 1963 with an uncredited role in the Elvis Presley movie "It Happened at the World's Fair." Despite rubbing elbows with one of the most popular entertainers of the era, Russell would spend the next 16 years toiling away in film and minor television roles, waiting for his big break. Ironically, an unexpected reconnection with the King of...

One of the reasons "Forrest Gump" is a cherished movie is because of the way it lightheartedly traverses decades of key moments in U.S. history and popular culture through the eyes of an altruistic titular protagonist, Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) -- inspired by a couple of real-life blokes. In the eyes of the film, even one simple person can make a big impact on the world around them. The film cleverly blends these events with a fictional narrative to show the significance of Forrest's actions.

In "Forrest Gump," during Alabama Governor George Wallace's 1963 "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" event where he protested the de-segregation of schools, Forrest curiously watches from the crowd and then helps African-American student Vivian Malone when she drops her books on her way into the school.

Later, during an appearance alongside John Lennon on "The Dick Cavett Show," Forrest inspires the lyrics to Lennon's best-selling single "Imagine.

Warner Bros. Discovery has had a rough go of it recently. The newly-formed mega corporation’s decision to callously prune HBO Max’s servers of hours of content has led to mountains of bad PR and billions of dollars in market cap losses. Suffice it to say, a jam-packed list of new HBO Max releases for September 2022 would provide some welcome relief for the “House of the House of the Dragon.”

Unfortunately, HBO Max’s new releases this month are uncommonly light. It’s impossible to say whether this is the result of more Wbd meddling or simply some bad scheduling luck but either way it’s not going to make any executives’ seats less warm. There are only a handful of notable originals this month, led by season 2 of the Spanish language comedy Los Espookys on Sept. 16. That is joined by a pair of documentaries, Escape from Kabul on Sept.

Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl in the 1960s "Batman" series, died this week after a two-year battle with breast cancer at the age of 78.

If you trace the line of butt-kicking women in movies and TV all the way back, you'll find Craig right there at the beginning. She originated the role of Batgirl in the third and final season of "Batman" in 1967, ka-powing bad guys next to Adam West and Burt Ward. As a trained dancer, she even did her own stunts.

Before her acting career, Craig danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She segued into acting, and appeared in television and movies - including two with Elvis Presley, "It Happened at the World's Fair" and "Kissin' Cousins." Along with her turn as Batgirl, Craig memorably danced as a green-skinned slave girl for Captain Kirk on "Star Trek."

Craig leaves behind her husband, Kenneth Aldrich, and sister,...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actress Yvonne Craig, who specialized in playing perky and sexy characters in TV shows and feature films, has died after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 78 years old. Craig broke into the film and TV industry in the late 1950s, making her big screen debut in the exploitation film "Eighteen and Anxious". Before long, she was not only co-starring with Elvis Presley in "It Happened at the World's Fair" and "Kissin' Cousins", but also dating him as well. There was no shortage of work for the attractive Craig during the 1960s and she appeared on numerous TV series including "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." In fact, Craig filmed extra sequences for extended two-part episodes of the show that were released theatrically under the titles "One Spy Too Many" and "One of Our Spies is Missing".  However, it was when producer William Dozier cast Craig as Batgirl...

Yvonne Craig, an actress best known for portraying Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Batgirl on the 1966 television series Batman, has passed away at the age of 78. She was at her home in Pacific Palisades at the time of her passing and had been battling breast cancer, which had metastasized to her liver. In addition to Batman, she also appeared on Star Trek, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island, The Mod Squad, and The Many Lives Of Dobie Gillis. Her movie appearances included It Happened At The World's Fair and Kissin' Cousins, which were both opposite Elvis Presley.  Craig is survived by her husband, her sister, and two nephews. ...

Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl on the Batman series in the sixties, has died at the age of 78, CNN reports.

After a two-year long battle with breast cancer during which the cancer metastasized to her liver, the actress died on Monday in her home in Pacific Palisades, California her family announced in a statement on her website.

"She had been in chemo almost continuously for the past two plus years since being diagnosed and that had weakened her immune system," the statement read. "This didn't dampen her sense of humor or her spirit, she intended to fight and win this battle.

Batgirl Yvonne Craig. Batgirl Yvonne Craig dead at 78: Also featured in 'Star Trek' episode, Elvis Presley movies Yvonne Craig, best known as Batgirl in the 1960s television series Batman, died of complications from breast cancer on Monday, Aug. 17, '15, at her home in Pacific Palisades, in the Los Angeles Westside. Craig (born May 16, 1937, in Taylorville, Illinois), who had been undergoing chemotherapy for two years, was 78. Beginning (and ending) in the final season of Batman (1967-1968), Yvonne Craig played both Commissioner Gordon's librarian daughter Barbara Gordon and her alter ego, the spunky Batgirl – armed with a laser-beaming electric make-up kit “which will destroy anything.” Unlike semi-villainess Catwoman (Julie Newmar), Batgirl was wholly on the side of Righteousness, infusing new blood into the series' increasingly anemic Dynamic Duo: Batman aka Bruce Wayne (Adam West) and Boy Wonder Robin aka Bruce Wayne's beloved pal Dick Grayson (Burt Ward). “They chose...

After months of courting, Quentin Tarantino has finally roped Don Johnson for Django Unchained, the director's next romp in the genre sandbox.

The former star of TV's Miami Vice will join Tarantino's upcoming spaghetti western as wealthy, vile plantation owner Spencer Bennett, who may or may not force his female slaves into prostitution and his male slaves into Mandingo-style death matches as Leonardo DiCaprio's character does — but, if we're lucky, Johnson's Bennett will definitely bedeck himself in pastel leisure suits with rolled-up sleeves. (Editor's note: Young people, that's funny because those are the clothes that Johnson wore as Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice when you were just a toddler playing in your standard-issue sandbox.)

Boy, Johnson is making quite a name for himself these days playing hateful character roles. He was last seen on the big screen starring as a loathsome, racist sheriff in Machete, Robert Rodriguez's grindhouse homage.