These faces of Elvis over the years are pretty much devoid of emotion. However, Elvis did have eyes and mouth that could effectively express a variety of interesting moods. Let’s take a look at the many faces Elvis could make.
Like this. Good smirk face, Elvis. Here’s my idea of what could have been going on here.
Elvis has just told his cousin Gene Smith about a wild time he had one night in Las Vegas. Gene’s looking at him saying, “No way, man… Really?” And Elvis is giving Gene this silly smirk and laughing inside.
This is Elvis’ grunting face, and he sure does it well. Squinty eyes, curled lips, and bulging veins in his neck. You know if Elvis put that much emotion into every song he sang that night, the fans saw a powerful concert. I wish Elvis’ lip had curled up this much when he did his classic snarl.
Contemplative? That seems like a good tag for Elvis’ facial expression in this picture. His hair style would indicate this is toward the end of the movie years. Yet the shading on his face makes Elvis look older.
What do we call this look? Bemused? Amazed? If we were to put words to this picture, it might be, “Wow, can you believe all this mail I got.”
This is from Elvis’ performance of “Don’t Be Cruel” on the Ed Sullivan Show. I have written several times about the hypnotic effect of Elvis’ eyes at the end of the song. In fact, the pictures in those other posts show it better than this, but I wanted to use this colorized one. So what’s the tag? Intense? Entrancing? Piercing?
This is obviously Elvis’ happy look. Enjoying the moment with him is Jan Shepard, who played Elvis’ sister in King Creole. Sure makes you wish you could have have been at that table with them, doesn’t it?
Elvis is having fun with a fan here. This is definitely his amused look.
Does anyone know anything about this photo? We could call it Elvis’ despondent look. Or, maybe he is just thinking, or resting.
This clip from Change of Habit tickled me for several reasons. First, Elvis looks like he is ready to audition for Jim Carey’s part in Dumb and Dumber. Second, that horse over Elvis’ shoulder looks pretty ominous. But not as ominous as that serial killer behind them that’s looking toward Mary Tyler Moore. Anyway, I’ll call this a dumber face, but maybe you can come up something better.
This is Elvis giving us his bad-ass teenage rebel look. Like I wrote about years ago, Elvis wore eye makeup on stage. Looks like he has some on here.
And we’d have to label this as Elvis’ super-cool look. Sitting in his hotrod looking out the open window at a couple of girls, and thinking, “OK, are you gonna get in the car or stand out there giggling all night.”
Somber? Suspicious? Elvis is keeping a serious eye on something. And he sure looks different in Charro than in the other movies. That black leather bracelet got a reprisal on the ’68 Comeback Special.
This could be called Elvis’ intense or intimidating face. If a sword had been swapped for the mic, and John Wilkinson was removed, Elvis would look like some sort of Bavarian warrior.
This is a photo you all have seen before, but what a great illustration of Elvis’ pained-looking face.
I think this face is hilarious. It is a screen grab from G.I.Joe when he and his Army buddies are on a troop train through Germany. If anyone would like to describe what expression this is on Elvis’ face, please give it a go.
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