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Dolly Parton made a career-defining choice when she refused to let Elvis Presley record one of her biggest songs — and it may have made her a lifelong enemy in his camp. Standing her ground on copyright, Parton chose business over flattery, a move she calls the most important of her career.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis (2022) | Credits: The Jackal Group

While it cost her a collaboration with the King, it cemented her as a music industry powerhouse.

When Dolly Parton said no to Elvis Presley — and kept her biggest hit Dolly Parton on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Credits: NBC

Elvis Presley wanted I Will Always Love You, but Dolly Parton wasn’t about to give it away — not even to the King himself.

Back in the ‘70s, when Parton’s heartfelt ballad was climbing the charts, Presley expressed interest in recording it. For Parton, it was a dream come true.

Elvis Presley is famous as the King of Rock and Roll and his feats in the music industry continue to be celebrated and praised. However, outside of the fame and glamour, he remains one of the most scrutinized figures in music history. Although one cannot deny his legacy as a musician genius, his personal life has taken the front seat as far as contemporary discourses are concerned.

Elvis Presley | Credit: Elvis Presley: The Searcher / HBO

Having lived a life full of unmatchable achievements and controversy, his alleged relationships with young, underage girls paint a disturbing picture of the legendary icon’s personal life.

Elvis Presley and his fixation on young girls Priscilla Presley in The Naked Gun | Credits: Paramount Pictures

While Elvis Presley is one of the most celebrated artists of all time, his life and achievements have been marred by controversy. Throughout his life, the King of Rock and...

One of the most emotional segments of the annual SAG Awards ceremony is the “In Memoriam.” Netflix will live stream the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday with host Kristen Bell.

Among the Oscar winners and nominees who will have their lives celebrated are Teri Garr, Louis Gossett, Jr., James Earl Jones, David Lynch, Joan Plowright, Gena Rowlands, Maggie Smith, and honorary recipient Donald Sutherland. Some of the past Primetime Emmy winners and nominees include John Amos, Dabney Coleman, Shelley Duvall, Linda Lavin, Martin Mull, Bob Newhart, and Alan Rachins,

Seesag Life Achievement award: Full gallery of recipients since 1995

There are more than 100 actors and actresses who died since the last SAG Awards ceremony:

Marla Adams

Anouk Aimée

Jean Allison

John Amos

Erich Anderson

John Aprea

Niels Arestrup

Erica Ash

John Ashton

Susan Backlinie

Barbara Baldavin

Bobby Banas

Terrence Beasor

Joan Benedict

Meg Bennett

Robyn Bernard

Mark Blankfield

Tom Bower...

Jan Shepard, the actress who graced both the big screen and TV during Hollywood’s Golden Age, has passed away at 96. Born Josephine Angela Sorbello on March 19, 1928, in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, Shepard wasn’t just a name in the credits—she was a dynamo of talent.

Her career spanned decades, from classic films to the era of cowboy-filled TV shows. Shepard passed away on January 17, 2025, due to pneumonia and respiratory failure.

Jan Shepard

Though she’s no longer with us, her legacy blazes bright through her iconic roles, especially her indelible collaborations with Elvis Presley. Let’s take a look at her most iconic junctures, her remarkable career on TV, and the love story that endured longer than most Hollywood stars could ever dream of.

Jan Shepard’s iconic roles alongside Elvis Presley Elvis Presley and Jan Shepard in a scene from King Creole (Credits: Paramount Pictures)

Jan Shepard had her share of unforgettable roles,...

Jan Shepard, who acted opposite Elvis Presley in 1958’s King Creole and 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style, and appeared in more than 30 TV Westerns, died Jan. 17 at a hospital in Burbank, Calif. of pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure. She was 96.

In King Creole, noted as Presley’s favorite of his films, she portrayed his on-screen sister Mimi. Eight years later, Shepard played Presley’s business partner’s wife in the ’60s buddy musical comedy. In an interview from last year, Shepard said she wasn’t a fan of Presley’s ahead of working with him, but “once I met him, I just adored him.”

Per an official obituary, Presley and Shepard got on well and went to off-set lunches (where Marlon Brando once made a chance appearance). Describing him as a “big teddy bear,” Shepard once recalled that he gave her a pair of 10-cent earrings as a joke before...

Jan Shepard, who guest-starred on Rawhide, The Virginian, Gunsmoke and two dozen other TV Westerns and played opposite Elvis Presley in movies eight years apart, has died. She was 96.

Shepard died Jan. 17 at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure, her son, Hollywood prop master, Brandon Boyle, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She was a good one and will be dearly missed,” he said.

Shepard portrayed Mimi, the sister of Presley’s Danny Fisher, in the Michael Curtiz-directed King Creole (1958) and the wife of Danny Kohana (James Shigeta), who partners with Presley’s Rick Richards in a helicopter business, in Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966).

“The first time, I found him to be just the cutest kid around, a big teddy bear, a lot of fun,” she said in an interview for Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald’s 1999 book, Westerns Women. But on their next movie,...

A mutant stalks the Earth when the body of a dead astronaut is used as an alien incubator … Meanwhile, people are being attacked by giant leeches … It doesn’t get any more revolting (or entertaining) than that in this ‘50s creature double feature from producer Roger Corman and Emmy-nominated director Bernard Kowalski (Hot Car Girl).

Night of the Blood Beast (1958)—with an extensive restoration, a new 4K scan from original 35mm archival elements—and Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)—newly restored in HD—will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on 12th November 2024, in a special collector’s two-disc edition from Film Masters.

Night Of The Blood Beast (1958)

Astronaut John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) dies upon returning to Earth following a space mission, but mysteriously comes back to life! As the scientists at a remote space research station investigate Corcoran’s revival, they discover that a parasitic, alien lifeform is utilizing...

Movies from the “golden age” of black and white films (approximately the 1930’s through the 1950’s) almost invariably contain well-written dialogue and strikingly subtle humor, making them a favorite among many fans of cinema. The horror movies of this more subtle period in film history are therefore of a cerebral nature, primarily relying on the viewer’s imagination to generate the true sense of horror that modern movies generate through more visual means. It is these oft-ignored horror movies that will be the focus of a series of articles detailing the reasons why true fans of horror movies should rediscover these films.

With this 8th installment in the Forgotten B&W Horror series, we begin looking at a few movies that blur the line between horror and science fiction – a blurring that occurred with many sci-fi movies of the 1950′s.

Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) tells the story of a...

I thought you might like the attached picture of a classic drive-in movie marquee from the early 60s.  The beautiful lady is actress Jan Shepard, posing with her classic 50s sports car.  As best as I've ever been able to tell, Third of a Man appears to be a lost film.  Neither Jan Shepard nor James Drury have any idea what happened to the film, and apparently the now-deceased director had no idea either.

Martin Sheffield

Retro responds: Thanks so much, Martin.....great photo. It was obviously taken at the drive-in located in Van Nuys, California in 1962. Our research shows that Third of a Man is indeed a little-known film, created for the bottom of double-bills. However, it was released by a major studio, United Artists and afforded a rare starring role for the great character actor Simon Oakland, which makes us want to see it even more. ...