Three years ago, Tom Hanks starred as Colonel Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie biopic.
The film portrayed the manager as a Machiavellian villain who exploited the King as his carnival geek.
But was the story of their relationship really that simple? A new book with compelling unseen evidence begs to differ.
Peter Guralnick, the author of the definitive Elvis Presley biographies Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love, has now written a new one on Parker.
The Colonel and the King is split in two halves, with the first being a biography and the second featuring previously unpublished correspondence from Parker’s archives.
Speaking with The Guardian, Guralnick said: “The letters gave me a window into what was behind the public statements… I intended not to excuse [the Colonel] nor to condemn him.” Yet amid the complexity of Parker’s character, there was one huge myth that the author wants to dispel: that the illegal immigrant manager wouldn’t let Elvis work abroad for fear of being deported. On the contrary, the Elvis history believes the Colonel, who was also a close friend of President Lyndon B Johnson, could have easily obtained a US passport through his marriage to an American. Additionally, what Guralnick found in Parker’s letters was that the manager was seriously considering a global tour up until 1960 and after Elvis’ live comeback, a 1973 Japanese string of concerts, too. As for the real reason the King never performed live outside the US, it turns out the star himself wasn’t that interested.
Meanwhile, the Colonel had concerns over security, what with Elvis travelling with his large quantity of drugs and firearms. The author added, “What he was talking about was the security to keep Elvis from being busted. Who was going to carry the drugs, which went with Elvis everywhere? Who was going to carry the guns?”
The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley and the Partnership that Rocked the World is published on August 14,2025.