Elvis in His Coffin: How ‘National Enquirer’ Pulled Off Its Biggest Scoop of All Time
When Elvis Presley died suddenly at age 42 on Aug. 16, 1977, the world’s press descended on his Graceland mansion. But America’s top tabloid publication, The National Enquirer, had its own “focused, mandated mission”: Get the picture of Elvis in his coffin.
In his 2004 memoir The Untold Story, Iain Calder — the Enquirer’s longest-serving editor-in-chief and the man who set that mandate — explained what enquiring minds wanted to know (and some still do!): how his editorial team pulled it off.
With what Calder described as “an army” of 25 editors, staff reporters and freelancers commanded by an on-the-ground editor in Memphis, Tennessee, the Enquirer had a small window of opportunity to get the coffin photo before the King’s funeral — 47 years ago — on Aug. 18, 1977.
“The whole power of the Enquirer was unleashed — and that was some power,” Calder wrote. There was $100,000 in cash to “buy up” accounts of Elvis’ last hours from relatives, paramedics and Presley’s live-in girlfriend, Ginger Alden, but as Calder recalled, “We needed just one more thing … a picture of Elvis in his open casket.
“Tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects to the King lying in state at Graceland, but photos were forbidden, and guards were on duty at all times,” added Calder, who ran the talked-about tabloid for 20 years.
“One photographer, dressed as a priest, hid his camera in a hollowed-out Bible … [There was also] a plan to have someone faint near the coffin and, in the confusion, snap a shot of Elvis,” Calder disclosed. “But in the end, security was too good.”
Eventually, an Enquirer photographer followed a young man he identified as a Presley family member to a nearby bar and struck a deal with the guy — who it turned out was one of Elvis’ cousins and “definitely interested in huge money.”
Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo
Given a plastic mini-camera with a flash and a range set to 5 feet, the cousin stood loyally by as thousands shuffled past the coffin.
“After the viewing … he stayed on in the house with other relatives, just talking and drinking. In the middle of the night, the cousin sneaked into the darkened viewing area and … flash, flash, flash, flash.” Four times he snapped the King at rest.
Calder described how the Presley relative and an uncle were immediately flown with the film by private jet to tiny Lantana Airport, near the Enquirer’s southern Florida headquarters, and the nail-biting tension as the four frames were developed, hung to dry and then placed under an enlarger.
He writes: “Frame one: the cousin’s blurry face. He had pointed the camera at himself. Frame two: a picture of the chandelier hanging above the coffin. No sign of Elvis. Frame three: Bingo! Elvis, full face, in the coffin. Just like it had been shot by a professional. Frame four: Who cared after frame three, but it was another good picture, taken from the side of the casket, showing Elvis in profile.”
The cousin and uncle were “ecstatic” when offered $18,000 for total copyright.
So the historic Enquirer cover dated Sept. 6, 1977, was created with the main headline “Exclusive … ELVIS: The Untold Story.”
“Beneath the headline was our close-up of Elvis in peaceful repose in his casket, with the underline ‘The Last Picture,’” wrote Calder.
“This was a blockbuster. Workers at our plant were taking copies home, our delivery drivers were grabbing them — and when the issue went on sale, pandemonium erupted in some southern supermarkets.”
He added, “In Tennessee, we were sold out in 48 hours. Readers were ringing our office begging for copies.”
Calder also recalled a reporter from the AP asking in an interview: “The Enquirer is being criticized for running the casket picture of Elvis. What’s your response?”
“That was easy,” he noted. “The mainstream press and TV routinely run casket photos of dead presidents, popes and monarchs. ‘Why not Elvis?’ I asked. He was King to many Americans.”
The result was a sellout for the title, then with a cover price of 35 cents. A staggering 6.7 million copies sold, the biggest in the Enquirer’s history.
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