THE DANCER WHO DIDN’T WANT TO WORK WITH ELVIS — UNTIL THE KING CHANGED HIS MIND

When Christopher Riordan first heard the name Elvis Presley, his reaction was not excitement.

It was almost the opposite.

In a 2026 interview, the now-88-year-old performer looked back on the moment he was offered a small dancing job in Viva Las Vegas and admitted something that might surprise Elvis fans: he didn’t want the job at all.

At the time, Riordan was working on My Fair Lady, surrounded by stars including Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. He had also worked with some of Hollywood’s biggest names, including Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Fred Astaire, and Paul Newman.

So when someone called and told him Metro needed a strong dancer for a short production, Riordan asked who was involved.

Then came the answer.

“Elvis Presley.”

According to Riordan, his younger self immediately thought the job was beneath him.

He later described that attitude by simply calling himself a “snob.”

But there was a baby on the way, and the job meant money. It was only expected to last about two weeks. There were no major lines to memorize, and Riordan assumed it would be easy.

So he accepted.

And when the choreographer placed him all the way in the back, Riordan actually felt relieved.

Perfect.

He could collect his paycheck, finish the job, and disappear without anyone noticing that he had been in an Elvis Presley movie.

But something happened behind the scenes that Riordan didn’t know about.

After watching the dancers for several days, Elvis reportedly asked a friend of Riordan’s, “Who’s that kid in the back?”

When he learned it was Christopher Riordan, Elvis reportedly questioned why such a talented dancer had been placed so far away.

Riordan only learned about that conversation later.

At the time, he remained unaware that Elvis had noticed him.

Then came the final day.

Riordan was almost out of the studio when he heard someone call him back.

It was Elvis.

According to Riordan, Elvis thanked him for his hard work and told him his efforts were appreciated. Then came the line that Riordan remembered for decades:

“I’ll see you on the next one.”

Riordan’s private reaction?

He didn’t believe it.

In fact, he remembers thinking, essentially, “The hell you will.”

He was convinced there would never be another Elvis movie.

He was wrong.

A few months later, another opportunity came through Paramount. Riordan was interested because Barbara Stanwyck was involved. Only afterward did he discover that Elvis Presley was also in the film.

When Riordan arrived, he said Elvis gave him that unmistakable grin — the kind of expression Riordan later interpreted as Elvis silently saying:

“I told you so.”

But the second film became a turning point.

It was Roustabout.

Riordan watched Elvis work with Barbara Stanwyck and began seeing something he hadn’t expected. He remembered Stanwyck genuinely liking Elvis and recalled Elvis being especially good with her.

Slowly, his opinion changed.

Then Elvis began asking about Riordan’s young son.

That meant something to him.

Riordan was raising his infant son himself, something he remembered as unusual for a man in that era. He eventually came to believe Elvis was genuinely interested in the child and respected what Riordan was doing as a father.

The man he had once dismissed as merely another movie star was becoming, in Riordan’s memory, something very different.

A friend.

A colleague.

And eventually someone Elvis apparently wanted around.

Riordan would go on to appear in multiple Elvis productions, including Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, Tickle Me, Spinout, Double Trouble, Clambake, and the legendary 1968 television special.

And according to Riordan, the relationship wasn’t built around serious conversations or Hollywood glamour.

It was built around laughter.

Elvis liked that Riordan could joke with him.

Riordan said Elvis wanted to laugh and enjoyed having someone around who wasn’t overwhelmed by his fame.

When Elvis’s entourage gathered around him, Riordan recalled Elvis sometimes signaling them to stay back so the two men could talk privately.

Their conversations could be completely ordinary.

And Elvis repeatedly invited Riordan to play football after filming.

Riordan’s answer became one of their running jokes:

“Elvis, you forget I’m a single mother.”

Elvis apparently found it hilarious.

Behind the joke was a very real situation: Riordan was raising his son alone.

Over time, Riordan also remembered another side of Elvis — the professional.

He said Elvis knew his lines, was professional, arrived on time, and made an effort to remember crew members personally. Riordan recalled Elvis knowing the names of workers, their wives, and even their children.

Those details gradually destroyed the assumptions Riordan had carried into Viva Las Vegas.

But perhaps the most remarkable change came in the way Elvis wanted him positioned on screen.

The dancer who had once been happy to hide in the back was eventually appearing much closer to Elvis.

Riordan recalled that in scenes involving Elvis and only one other male performer, he was frequently the man standing beside him.

During the 1968 special, this became even more obvious.

While filming the “Jailhouse Rock” number, Riordan recalled being positioned beside Elvis. When a choreographer tried to move him, Riordan remembered Elvis quietly telling him:

“Stay right where you are.”

And, according to Riordan, that’s exactly where he ended up.

Think about how strange that full circle was.

At the beginning, Riordan wanted nobody to know he was in an Elvis Presley movie.

Years later, he remembered Elvis insisting that he remain directly beside him.

Even their smallest moments became stories Riordan remembered decades later.

During Spinout, when the cameraman repeatedly asked the two men to move closer together, Elvis reportedly joked that if he got any closer to Christopher, he would have to marry him.

It was the kind of humor that Riordan said defined their relationship.

But there was one story that reveals just how dramatically Riordan’s opinion had changed.

He eventually told Elvis exactly what he had thought when he first received the call.

He admitted that he hadn’t thought highly of the idea of working with Elvis Presley.

Elvis reportedly laughed.

Not angrily.

Not defensively.

He found the story funny.

That may have been the ultimate irony.

The young dancer who once believed working with Elvis was a step backward eventually became one of the performers repeatedly brought into Elvis’s orbit.

And years later, when Riordan finally visited Graceland, the experience was no longer funny.

Walking through the house and seeing the places where Elvis had lived, sat, and slept affected him deeply. Visiting Elvis’s plane was even harder.

The man who once wanted to disappear into the background of an Elvis movie had eventually developed enough affection for Elvis that returning to his world decades later became an emotional experience.

Riordan’s story is compelling precisely because it didn’t begin with admiration.

It began with rejection.

He didn’t expect Elvis to impress him.

He didn’t expect Elvis to remember him.

And he certainly didn’t expect to become part of Elvis’s working circle for years.

But according to Riordan’s recollections, Elvis slowly changed his mind — not through one spectacular gesture, but through countless small moments: remembering his son, making him laugh, talking privately, treating him like an equal, knowing crew members by name, and repeatedly wanting him nearby.

Sometimes the most revealing stories about Elvis Presley don’t come from the people who adored him from the beginning.

Sometimes they come from the people who didn’t expect to like him at all.

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