Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, would have turned 80 today. We all know about his iconic hit songs like "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog" and "Love Me Tender," his movie star turns in a slew of silver-screen entries like "Blue Hawaii" and "Viva Las Vegas," and, of course, his big TV special career comeback.
But there's a murkier area of lore surrounding The King, who died Aug. 16, 1977 at 42 years old. On the day Elvis would have become an octogenarian, let's take a look at five strange but true Elvis Presley facts.
1. Elvis had an identical twin brother
Elvis was born 35 minutes after Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother -- who was stillborn, according to History.com. Elvis spoke about Jesse throughout his life, History reported.
2. Alice Cooper almost killed The King
Legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper says he was invited in 1971 to meet Elvis in Las Vegas -- along with Chubby Checker, Liza Minnelli and porn actress Linda Lovelace. As Cooper says in the video below, Elvis handed him a Smith & Wesson .38 and said "I'm gonna show you how to take this gun out of someone's hand."
"Now I'm standing there with a snub-nose .38 on him, [with] a little angel and a little devil on my shoulder," Cooper recalls. "The little devil says, 'shoot him.' I go, 'I can't shoot him.' The little angel goes, 'wound him. Just wound him. It'll be the best story ever. You shot Elvis Presley.' By the time I could make up my mind, the gun was on the ground."
3. Elvis only performed in North America
The biggest rock star in world history only played in the United States and Canada. "A number of sources have suggested that Elvis' manager, Colonel Parker, turned down lucrative offers for the singer to perform abroad because Parker was an illegal immigrant and feared he wouldn't be allowed back into the U.S. if he traveled overseas," History reports.
4. Elvis had a pet chimp
Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, wasn't the only superstar with a chimp -- in fact, the King of Rock and Roll did it first, according to a CNN Larry King interview with Joe Esposito, Elvis' Army buddy, right-hand man and member of "The Memphis Mafia," the nickname given to Elvis' entourage.
5. He hated a TV personality so much, he shot the TV
Rumors abound that Elvis was fond of shooting up TV sets -- and there's proof he did it at least once in the form of a shot-up TV at Graceland, his sprawling residence-turned-museum. But is it true he once shot out a TV screen just because singer and actor Robert Goulet was on the tube? Elvis' friend Marty Lacker says it's true.
"It has been implied that actor Robert Goulet struck up a close friendship with one of Elvis' girlfriends when the star was away in Germany serving in the army," The Mirror reported. "And so, according to friend and confidant Marty Lacker, whenever Goulet popped up on screen, Elvis was keen to pop that screen out."
