Getting fired from Flaming Star
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Barbara Steele
mercury4 — 11 years ago(January 10, 2015 06:33 AM)
I read about the whole thing from Don Siegel's point of view. One of the reasons they replaced Barbara Steele with Barbara Eden was because Siegel said Miss Steele towered over Elvis. She was 5 foot 8 and Elvis was 5 foot 11. I don't see how she could've towered over him. Even with heals on. Even if that was the case, she could've wore flat shoes. Siegel also mentioned Miss Steele having dark hair. That seems like another lame excuse. Anyway, I think there's more to the story. There usually is. Too bad they didn't save the scenes she filmed. I would've been curious to see them. I do feel she was miscast though. But those were lame reasons.
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mechajutaro — 10 years ago(May 08, 2015 11:40 PM)
read about the whole thing from Don Siegel's point of view. One of the reasons they replaced Barbara Steele with Barbara Eden was because Siegel said Miss Steele towered over Elvis. She was 5 foot 8 and Elvis was 5 foot 11. I don't see how she could've towered over him. Even with heals on. Even if that was the case, she could've wore flat shoes. Siegel also mentioned Miss Steele having dark hair. That seems like another lame excuse. Anyway, I think there's more to the story. There usually is. Too bad they didn't save the scenes she filmed. I would've been curious to see them. I do feel she was miscast though. But those were lame reasons.
Hmmmm was unfamiliar with this version of events prior to reading your post,Merc; where'd you come by the story? Not being much of an Elvis fan personally and thus unfamiliar with many biographical details of dude's life, I can only speculate that he was perhaps one of the many in the entertainment racket who either chose or was coaxed into adding a few inches-if not feet-onto his height, thus making Miss Steele's towering over The King himself entirely possible. Personally recall reading somewhere that her falling off a horse during filming led to her dismissal, though I've no idea whether this is any more or less true than either of the other two explanations offered.