Russ Tamblyn Says Elvis Presley Once Trashed His Home: ‘Half-Eaten Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches Everywhere’

Russ Tamblyn is sharing a story about how Elvis Presley once left behind much more than expected at his home.

After discussing in his new memoir Dancing on the Edge how he and Presley met while the latter was prepping to shoot his 1957 movie Jailhouse Rock, the West Side Story star said he allowed Presley to stay at his house “as a quiet getaway” while Tamblyn was out of town filming a project.

And while Tamblyn, now 89, knew that Presley “traveled with a large entourage,” he writes that he was “definitely was not prepared for the chaos they unleashed” on his Malibu, California, property.

“My house was a total shambles,” Tamblyn recalls of the scene he returned to. “Half-eaten peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches had been left just about everywhere, even down inside the bedsheets and in the drawers of the bedside tables.”

“Of the more than two dozen glasses I had owned, which had been stored in a kitchen cupboard, only two remained. Many of the broken shards were strewn all over the floor, along with piles of trash. It was such a mess I had to use a rake to clean up the big stuff before I could even bring in a broom,” he adds. “So much for what Elvis had originally asked of me (a quiet getaway, my ass!).”

But when he confronted his friend, Presley was quick to take responsibility.

“He apologized profusely and admitted things had gotten a little out of hand,” writes the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers actor. “He had his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, send me a check to cover the damages. Of course, most of the money went to the owner so I could avoid being evicted.”

According to Tamblyn, before the home-trashing incident, Presley has asked him for “some pointers” on his dancing in Jailhouse Rock, as the man who would go on to become the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll “liked the way I could quickly pop my knees in more dramatically than he could.”

“This would become one of his signature moves,” Tamblyn wrote. “Elvis was a hard worker, and it certainly paid off for him in that film. I thought it was one of his best.”