Elvis Presley's final day hour by hour - cheeseburgers to grisly death on toilet
Elvis Presley was found unresponsive face-down on the floor of his bathroom, aged just 42.
The King lived a legendary life, but in the lead-up to his death, he was overweight, constipated, paranoid and miserable. Once adored by fans for his swaggering hips, chart-topping hits and charm - by the end, he struggled to even get out of bed.
Elvis had ballooned to 25 stone after barricading himself in his bedroom and gorging on platters of cheeseburgers and had been prescribed almost 9,000 pills, vials and injections in the seven months before his death.
His nurse, Letitia Henley, wrote in her book: "He was miserable. He was depressed about ageing and not having a woman he loved. He missed Priscilla. His friends kept pimping him with pretty 17 and 18-year-old girls but he had nothing in common with them."
It was his devastated fiancée, Ginger Alden, who tragically found him dead on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 16, 1977. Here, we take a look at the Jailhouse Rock hitmaker's very last day, hour by hour - from his final appointments to his parting words.
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Elvis had advanced heart disease among several other debilitating health problems (Getty)Monday: The day before his death
4pm: On Monday, August 15, 1977, Elvis spent the day with his daughter Lisa Marie, and fiancée Ginger - but only woke up in the late afternoon. Ginger had refused his offer to move in with him but often stayed the night. She confessed: "He had asked me to move into Graceland but I never did and he said, 'I respect you for that'. I just didn't at the time. It wasn't my way."
10.30pm: Elvis and Ginger headed to see his private dentist, Lester Hoffman, late into the evening, about a persistent pain in his tooth. The King was prescribed painkillers, sleeping tablets and other medications.
Tuesday: The day of his death
12.30am: Elvis and Ginger return home to Graceland just after midnight and the star was spotted waving at fans, who captured the last ever photo of him, wearing black sunglasses as he drove the car through the gates.
2.15am: In the early hours of the morning, Elvis phones his doctor, Dr George Nichopoulos, and begs for more painkillers. He was prescribed six Dilaudid tablets, and his step-brother Ricky Stanley headed to the 24-hour pharmacy to retrieve them. When Ricky returned, Elvis takes them.
4am: Elvis rings his cousin Billy and wife Jo to come and play racquetball on his private court. Despite the early hour and rain, they headed out. In a smooth move, the singer promises to stop the turbulent weather, telling Billy: "Ain't no problem, I'll take care of it." He held out his hands and the rain stopped. He quipped: "If you have a little faith, you can do anything." But the game ends after Elvis whacked himself in the shin.
4.30am: Shortly after, the group heads to a piano set up close to the court and Elvis serenades them with three songs, including Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. Billy and Jo then left and Elvis and Ginger head back upstairs. Elvis' nine-year-old daughter Lisa Marie was asleep the whole time in her bedroom next door to her father's.
Elvis died in 1977, with conflicting theories as to what killed him (Getty Images)
Elvis was known for eating a diet of up to 12,000 calories a day (Getty Images)5am: In his bedroom, Elvis swallos a cocktail of prescription drugs to help him sleep. By 7am, he still can't sleep and takes another package, handed to him by Ricky. He was desperate for rest as he is scheduled to fly to Portland, Maine, for a concert as part of his ongoing US tour that evening.
8am: Elvis is still chasing sleep and calls Ricky to bring him more pills, but he cannot be found. He then called his aunt, Delta Mae Biggs, to ask her to call his doctor for him. Eventually, Nurse Henley gave him one smaller pack of drugs with two Valmids for insomnia, though she was reluctant to.
9.30am: After taking his drugs, Elvis tells Ginger he was going to the bathroom. He was wearing a set of gold pyjamas and carrying Frank Adams' book, The Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus. Known for suffering from chronic constipation, Elvis would spend long periods in the bathroom. Ginger warns him not to fall asleep in there, and - as his final words - he vowed: "I won't."
2pm: Ginger wakes up later that afternoon and goes looking for Elvis. She fins him lying unresponsive on the floor, having collapsed and fallen off the toilet, but thinks he has just passed out. An ambulance was called and arrived at 2.33pm. A statement at the time said: "A Memphis Fire Department ambulance from Engine House 29 at 2147 Elvis Presley Boulevard responded to the call at 2.33pm and by 2.56pm had taken Presley to the emergency room at Baptist Hospital, seven miles away from his Whitehaven home."
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3.30pm: Elvis is pronounced dead, and half an hour later, the media first heard the news. An autopsy was carried out that same day but the report was immediately sealed for 50 years by the family, sparking a slew of speculation as to what killed him. Dan Warlick, chief investigator for the Tennessee Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner, attens the autopsy and fuels the popular theory that Elvis died while straining to go to the toilet.
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