When fans think of Elvis Presley on the big screen, classics like Jailhouse Rock, Blue Hawaii and Viva Las Vegas usually come to mind.
But one of the King’s most unusual film roles came in 1968’s Live a Little, Love a Little. And some digging into Getty Images’ archives resurfaced a production photo that proves just how different this movie was from the formula that defined so many of his Hollywood hits.
The rare image shows Presley in one of the film’s more unexpected moments: standing in a shower as his character, photographer Greg Nolan, finds himself caught in another chaotic predicament. Opposite Presley is Michele Carey, who played free-spirited model Bernice, the woman who turns Greg’s carefully ordered life upside down.
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According to the original caption, “When photographer Greg (Elvis Presley) falls in love with model Bernice (Michele Carey), his life becomes truly complicated.”
Released in October 1968, Live a Little, Love a Little arrived during a transitional period in Presley’s career.
While he had spent much of the 1960s starring in lighthearted musical comedies, audiences’ tastes were beginning to change.
That same year, Presley reignited his music career with his now-legendary NBC television special, often referred to as the “’68 Comeback Special,” which reminded the world of the electrifying performer who had transformed popular music a decade earlier.
As a result, Live a Little, Love a Little is often overshadowed by the comeback that followed just weeks later.
Still, the film stands apart from many of Presley’s other movies. Rather than centering on beaches, race cars or exotic vacations, it leaned into screwball comedy with a slightly more mature tone.
The movie also features one of Presley’s best-loved late-’60s recordings, “A Little Less Conversation.”
Although the song was only a modest hit upon its original release, it found a massive new audience decades later after a 2002 remix by Dutch DJ Junkie XL topped charts around the world and introduced the track to an entirely new generation.
While Live a Little, Love a Little never achieved the lasting popularity of Blue Hawaii or Viva Las Vegas, many Elvis fans have come to appreciate it as one of his more distinctive screen performances.
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