The Final Years

On August 14th, he started a fast, something he often did to lose weight quickly before going on tour. Oddly he didn't take any Ionamin, the appetite suppressant he'd favored for so long. Perhaps he believed that racquetball and fasting were enough. Besides, what difference did it really make? At 250 pounds, he was grossly overweight, and how much could he lose in two days?

On August 15th, he awoke at four p.m., and after breakfast played with his daughter, Lisa, on the grounds, laughing as she ran around and around in her electric cart.

In the early evening, Elvis called his dentist at home and asked if he and Ginger could see him. Dr. Lester Hofman had been the recipient of Elvis' generosity many times; he drove a Cadillac that Elvis had given him. He told Elvis that 10:30 p.m. at his office would be fine.

Elvis arrived in his customized Stutz Bearcat with Ginger. Dr. Hofman had never met Ginger. Elvis introduced her, using his pet nickname "Gingerbread." After the dentist X-rayed her teeth, he filled two of Elvis' teeth. As was the custom, the fillings were porcelain. Elvis had many fittings and he didn't want a flash of gold when he opened his mouth to sing.

Three hours passed. Back at Graceland, Elvis called Dick Grob, one of his security men, and handed him a list of songs he had decided to add to his concert repertoire. He told Grob to locate the words and music and chord changes for the new material so that he could brief the band before they went on (and so he'd have the lyrics onstage in case he needed them). Grob said that as he left the room, Elvis said, "We'll make this tour the best ever."

By two or 2:30 a.m., Elvis had changed into a striped workout suit and was on his racquetball court. Ginger hoped that playing would help Elvis relax enough to fall asleep easily. Elvis called it quits about four a.m., and after leisurely working out for a few minutes on an exercise cycle, he and Ginger retreated to his bedroom.

Ginger soon fell asleep, leaving Elvis alone, reading a book on the bed beside her. At nine, Ginger awoke to find Elvis still reading. He told her he couldn't sleep and was going into the bathroom to read. Ginger knew that meant he was going to take some of his medication. Elvis' syringes were in the bathroom, and so was some of his personal pharmacy.

"Okay," Ginger said, "just don't fall asleep." With that, she rolled over on the big bed and went back to sleep herself.

Elvis carried the book with him, his finger stuck into it as a marker. He might have glanced at himself in the bathroom mirror. Blue pajamas. Puffy eyes and face. Bad color. No one knows, but it's likely he helped himself to something from his pharmacy, because as the autopsy would later show, he had as many as ten different drugs coursing through his body taking control of his brain, his heart. Four of the drugs were in what the medical examiner would describe as "significant amounts." These were codeine, ethinamate, methaqualone and unidentifiable barbiturates. He had also taken a number of Placidyl and Valium capsules, both tranquilizers, and unknown quantities of Demerol and Meperidine, both painkillers. Bringing the amazing total to ten were morphine and chloropheniramine, an antihistamine that by itself would make its user sleepy.

Elvis sat staring at the open book in his lap, his eyes glassy, his body motionless. His chin dropped to his chest, the big body slumped imperceptibly, then shifted and toppled out of the big cushiony chair, the noise of the fall muffled by the brown shag carpeting.

The room was silent except for the sound of his final breath.

[From Issue 327 — October 2, 1980]