For a kid who was more into baseball than music at the time, seeing the reaction that Elvis got from women made an impression on the young Kurt Russell. He told Turner Classic Movies (via Turner Classic Movies) back in 2016:
“When I think of Elvis Presley, I go back to when I worked with him in 1962 on my first film, ‘It Happened at the World’s Fair.’ I was 10 years old, and really, I barely knew who Elvis Presley was because I was into baseball — my movie stars — but I got a kick out of working with him. We had a great time working on that picture. But as we filmed, I noticed that crowds of girls were flocking to our set. I mean, we were on location at the Seattle World’s Fair, and it was my first experience seeing an actual mob scene. There must have been 8,000 girls just going crazy, blocking his way, and seriously throwing themselves onto his car, and it just … I mean, it was bizarre. At the time, I couldn’t begin to understand how that must have affected Elvis. I don’t know if he enjoyed that or not, but unquestionably, those crowds and others like them, I think, ultimately limited his life.”
It’s almost unthinkable to consider that someone in 1963 didn’t know who Elvis was, but here we are. Getting to play Elvis later allowed Russell to delve into whether or not the fame did actually limit his life. The 1979 John Carpenter film “Elvis” wasn’t the only time he played the King of Rock and Roll, though. He had an Elvis voice cameo in the 1994 film “Forrest Gump.” He also appeared in the Elvis-adjacent 2001 film “3,000 Miles to Graceland.”