In the 1960s, Elvis Presley focused less on recording rock n’ roll music and more on starring in movies, mostly romantic comedies with some Presley performances squeezed in, and often co-starring a young, up-and-coming female actor. In 1961, Presley played a small-town criminal with a gift for writing in “Wild in the Country,” opposite former model Tuesday Weld.
The movie was filmed in Napa Valley, California, and an on-set romance quickly developed between Presley, 25 at the time, and Weld, 17. It was over almost as soon as it began. “Their affair lasted only a short while before it mellowed into a friendship,” Presley’s road manager, Joe Esposito, wrote in his memoir “Good Rockin’ Tonight.” “Tuesday was a free spirit; she would never have put up with Elvis, who liked to control his women.” Esposito reflected negatively on Weld’s behavior, mentioning how on a date with Presley, she threw objects out of a moving car for fun.
Presley may have lost interest in Weld because of the other female lead in “Wild in the Country.” “He also spent time on location talking with Hope Lange,” Esposito wrote. “He probably had eyes for her, but Hope wasn’t the type to go for a casual movie location affair.”
