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Girls! Girls! Girls! - 2 of 3
After location shooting in Hawaii was finished, filming resumed
on May 1, 1962 back in Hollywood at the Paramount Studios. On
weekends Elvis and the guys would play football in the local De Neve
Park with friends and other actors such as Ty Hardin, Bob Conrad,
Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, Gary Crosby and Max Baer, Jr. Also during
this time Elvis's name in connection with the filming of "Girls!
Girls! Girls!" was used without authorization in a Coppertone suntan
lotion ad in the June issue of "Ladies Home Journal" magazine.
Colonel Parker had Hal Wallis stop the ad.
One of Elvis's leading ladies in this film was Stella Stevens, born
Estelle Eggleston in Mississippi in 1936. Ms. Stevens attended
Memphis State College where she became interested in acting and
modeling. Her film debut was in the 1959 "Say One For Me." It was
the voluptuous beauty's role of Appassionata Von Climax in the film
"Li'l Abner" that got her noticed and she was soon the Playboy
Playmate of the Month for January 1960. She shared a Golden Globe
win in 1960 with Tuesday Weld, Angie Dickinson and Janet Munroe as
Most Promising Newcomer-Female. In Elvis's movie "Girls! Girls!
Girls!" she played a nightclub singer. However, her three solo songs
in the movie, "Never Let Me Go," "The Nearness of You" and "Baby,
Baby, Baby" were all sung by vocalist Gilda Maiken with Ms. Stevens
lip-synching. Ms. Stevens would go on to play numerous roles in film
and on television, working witsuch stars as Bobby Darin in "Too Late
Blues," Glenn Ford in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," Jerry Lewis
in "The Nutty Professor," and Dean Martin in "The Silencers." Her
son Andrew Stevens is also an actor.
Elvis's other leading lady was played by Laurel Goodwin and this
film was her movie debut.
She went on to have roles in the films "Papa's Delicate Condition,"
"Stage To Thunder Rock" and "The Glory Guys."
Her roles on TV have included "Star Trek," "The Virginian," "Get
Smart," "Mannix" and "The Beverly Hillbillies."
Elvis's nemesis Wesley Johnson was played by Jeremy Slate, who had
also played in the Elvis movie "G.I. Blues." Mr. Slate has had roles
in films such as "Wives and Lovers," "The Sons of Katie Elder" and
"True Grit," as well as numerous television roles in such series as
"Police Story", "Petrocelli", "The Rookies" and "Wonder Woman."
Robert Strauss played Sam, the owner of the Pirate's Den. You
might recognize him as Blackie in the Elvis movie "Frankie and
Johnny." He also had roles in "Stage To Thunder Rock" with Laurel
Goodwin and in "Li'l Abner" with Stella Stevens. This gravelly
voiced actor was the son of a theatrical costume designer and
started his career on Broadway, where, among other productions, he
played in "Stalag 17." He reprised his Broadway role of Stanislas
'Animal' Kasava in the 1953 film production of "Stalag 17" and
earned a 1954
Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor.
Papa Stavros was played by Frank Puglia. The Sicilian born
actor's career started at age 13 when he began to appear in Italian
opera. He moved to the U.S. in 1907 at age 15 and joined an Italian
theater group in New York.
In his career he played character roles in over 200 movies and TV
shows. One such role was the rug merchant in the movie "Casablanca."
Polish born actress Lili Valenty played Mama Stavros.
This character actress was often cast as a gypsy or a grandma in
movies and TV series.
Twins Barbara and Betty Beall played the Stavros twins Leona and
Linda. Their career had few roles.
They were always cast together as twins.
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