Elvis Presley Dancer Admits He Thought Working With The King Was a ‘Step Down’

Most dancers would have jumped at the chance to work with Elvis Presley in the ’60s.

But Christopher Riordan admits he was already busy and had been working with legends including Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady when he got the opportunity, so he was less impressed.

Speaking on the September 16 episode of the That’s Classic! podcast, Riordan, 88, said, “I was working with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, and I asked, you know, for some details and what is this about and who’s in it and so on.”

He continued, “And then finally they said it’s Elvis Presley. And I just sort of turned my nose up at that because I thought, you know, I’ve been working with such wonderful people … Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Fred Astaire, Paul Newman. I thought, ‘Who wants to work with Elvis Presley?’

“I was a bit of a snob, you know, at the time. I thought, ‘This is a step down.'”

But Riordan was about to become a father and needed the money, so he says he reluctantly took the job.

He added, “I would get a good dancer’s salary so I didn’t have to learn lines. I [thought] it should be an easy job.”

Riordan was put near the back of the dancers and thought this would be his only project with the singer.

On the final day, though, Presley was standing by the doors as Riordan left, keen to show his gratitude.

“He said, ‘Um, I’ll see you on the next one.’ And I said to myself, ‘The hell you will.'”

But the personal thank you from The King must have been enough to persuade Riordan to give him another chance. The pair became friends and worked on six films together, including Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, Tickle Me and Spinout.

Speaking to Remind magazine in June, Riordan explained that their friendship grew in part because he treated Presley normally and helped lighten the mood on set.

He said, “I made him laugh. I made him feel good. He wasn’t real happy about doing some of those films, and I just injected my sense of humor, and he also knew that I wasn’t impressed by him, and that impressed him.”