Debra Paget was stunning in her prime and enchanted millions of Americans when she appeared in Elvis Presley’s cinematic debut, Love Me Tender.

The gifted actress was “touched by the hand of God,” according to famed filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille.

Even the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ apparently grew smitten with her.

Debra Page was born in Denver, Colorado, on August 19, 1933. Her true name was Dabralee Griffin, but she altered it as she rose through the ranks of Hollywood.

Debra was raised in a showbiz family, and her parents relocated to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be closer to the development of the film business in Hollywood.

Debra, who aspired to be a dancer her whole life, has characterized herself as a “post-depression” baby. She was born amid a terrible and extended economic downturn. Debra’s family wasn’t wealthy, but she regarded her parents with great respect.

“When I looked back, we had so much love in our home,” Debra told Dale Evans Rogers during an interview.

‘The most gorgeous legs in the world,’ says one.
At the age of 11, Debra decided to enroll at the Hollywood Professional School after her mother encouraged her.

The gifted young lady never questioned herself, getting her first professional job at the age of eight. She then appeared in a staging of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Her film career started when she was 14 years old, and her big break came in 1950, when she was cast in Broken Arrow. Debra Paget co-starred as Sonseeahray (“Morningstar”), a Native American virgin, with James Stewart.

Debra’s “exotic” appearance landed her multiple parts in adventure plays, and she quickly became known as the only actress who had never been kissed.

She was named “the most beautiful leg in the world” by the National Association of Hosiery Manufacturers in the 1950s after a survey of 15,000 individuals in the industry. According to The Baltimore Sun, Debra, who is very religious, won by a significant majority.

Debra had signed an exclusive deal with 20th Century Fox when she was 14 years old. But Debra’s most successful film came when Paramount Pictures hired her for The Ten Commandments.

In Cecil B. DeMille’s massive, biblical, stunning film, Debra portrayed Lilia, the water girl. Debra, who has blue eyes, had to wear brown contact lenses, which caused her a lot of grief.

“I wouldn’t have gotten the part if it hadn’t been for the lenses.” “They were unbearably hot to work in because of the Klieg lights,” she said.

The film, which won seven Academy Awards, profoundly altered her life.

“It was probably the highlight of my career,” remarked Debra.

When Debra Paget arrived on the set of Love Me Tender, she was a 22-year-old established Hollywood star. She was undoubtedly the most gorgeous actress of the Hollywood Golden Age at the time. And that is saying a lot.

She and Elvis Presley originally met months earlier, on June 5, 1956, when they both performed on the Milton Berle Show. During his now-iconic version of Hound Dog, Elvis startled conservative America by gyrating his famed, or notorious, pelvis.

“However, I usually don’t form an opinion of someone until I meet him,” she added. “To be honest, I had mixed feelings about my first meeting with Elvis Presley.” I’d heard and read a lot about this new young Tennessee singing sensation—most of it was not flattering.”

During their first unforgettable encounter, the young vocalist stunned Debra in a variety of ways. As a born-again Christian, you’d assume Debra despised the King, but the truth was quite the contrary.

When Mr. Berle presented Debra to the 21-year-old rising star, he gripped her hand firmly and exclaimed, “I’m glad to meet you, Miss Paget.”

Elvis then shook her mother’s hand with “equal vigor,” withdrew himself, and returned a few minutes later with a chair.

“We were only together for a couple of hours, but sometimes you can learn more about someone in a short period of time than you can in weeks of seeing each other constantly.” I thought I did. “From the beginning, Elvis struck me as a pleasant, sincere, and accommodating young man,” Debra recounted.

Debra appeared in Elvis’ debut film, Love Me Tender, a few months later. According to the Daily Express, the musician developed a crush on his co-star. He thought Debra was “the most beautiful girl he had ever seen” and even paid a visit to her parents’ home.

“My parents considered Elvis a member of the Paget clan from the time he first came to the house—a feeling I believe he reciprocated,” Debra added.

But, in the opinion of the young actress, Debra and Elvis’ relationship was more family-oriented than a whirlwind romance.

“I was very shy, quiet, and immature for my age.” I was in my early twenties, but I felt like a sixteen-year-old. Elvis and I simply kind of fell in love like a couple of kids.”

Elvis, on the other hand, seems to have had a different opinion.

“Following the film, he proposed to me, but my parents were opposed to my marriage.” “I cared about Elvis, but I’m not one to disobey my parents, so that didn’t happen,” Debra said.

Debra eventually turned Elvis down since she was already in love with Howard Hughes, a renowned film producer and millionaire.

Debra eventually married actor and singer David Street, but she never forgot Elvis. And Elvis didn’t forget Debra; many believe she was the inspiration for Elvis’ obsession with the ‘Debra Paget look.’ For example, it was stated that when Priscilla Beaulieu discovered Debra, she altered her hair and makeup.

Debra retired from show business in 1964 and is now 89 years old. Unfortunately, there isn’t much information on her life now; Debra seems to live a peaceful and private life away from the spotlight.

Elvis Presley and Joan Blackman
Interestingly, Elvis’ engagement to Debra in the late 1950s was not his sole desire to marry a co-star. He intended to marry Joan Blackman after filming Blue Hawaii with her in 1961, even though he was dating Priscilla.

Joan Blackman, who resembled Priscilla, revealed what actually transpired during the filming of Blue Hawaii.

“When we first met (in 1957), there was a spark, a magic in the air. “There was something special between us, something so warm and wonderful you could almost reach out and touch it,” she told the Midnight Globe newspaper in 1977.

Joan Blackman said in the explosive interview that Elvis “really wanted” her as his wife and that he constantly requested her to star in his films, but she refused each time.

“I wanted parts because of my ability, not because I was dating Elvis,” she said.