Elvis’ final day hour by hour – dentist ‘on call’ all day to grisly toilet seat death

Elvis Presley died on Tuesday, August 16th, 1977; his unresponsive body was found on the toilet by his devastated fiancée Ginger Alden.

In devastating events, The King wasn’t found for hours, despite his death taking place in a fully staffed Graceland in the middle of the day. And his death took place on a totally normal summer day, with Elvis heading to see his dentist just hours before.

He spent time with his daughter Lisa Marie Presley, who sadly passed away in January 2023 after suffering complications of weight loss surgery she had undergone several years back. Emergency services rushed to her home and found her in cardiac arrest, before she was taken to hospital.

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Daily Star takes a look into the tragic final hours of the Jailhouse Rock hitmaker, from his final appointments to a broken promise made to a devastated Ginger.

Monday, August 15th, 1977

4pm: The day before Elvis’ death, he spent the day with his daughter Lisa Marie, and fiancée Ginger – but only woke up in the late afternoon. Grace confessed she never wanted to move into Graceland but sometimes 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: Late into the evening, Elvis headed to see his dentist after suffering persistent pain in his tooth. His private dentist Lester Hoffman was on call day and night, along with his own personal doctor and nurse practitioner – who would prescribe him painkillers, sleeping tablets and other medications. Ginger accompanied him to his appointment.

Tuesday, August 16th, 1977

12:30am: Just after midnight, Elvis and Ginger returned home to Graceland after the appointment. Elvis was spotted waving jovially at fans, who captured the last ever photo of him, wearing black sunglasses as he drove the car back through the gates – despite it being nighttime.

2:15am: In the early hours of the morning, Elvis phoned his personal doctor, George C. Nichopoulos, to beg for painkillers. A prescription was written for six Dilaudid tablets – an opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain.

Elvis’ step-brother, Ricky Stanley, headed out to the 24 hour pharmacy at Baptist Memorial Hospital to get the pills and Elvis took them upon his return.

4am: By four in the morning, Elvis was ringing up his cousin Billy and wife Jo to come and play racquetball on his private court. Despite the late hour and the fact that it was raining, they headed out, and Elvis promised to stop the turbulent weather, telling Billy: “Ain’t no problem, I’ll take care of it.”

The King held out his hands and the rain stopped, with him telling his entranced crowd: “If you have a little faith, you can stop anything.” The clumsy game continued, with Elvis and Billy attempting to hit each other with their shots – but eventually, Elvis lurched and whacked himself in the shin, and the game ended.

Shortly after, the group headed to a piano set up close to the court, where Elvis serenaded them with three songs – including ballad Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.

5am: After Billy and Jo left, Elvis and his fiancée headed back upstairs, where Elvis swallowed a cocktail of prescription drugs to help him sleep. But by 7am, he still couldn’t sleep – and took another package, handed to him by Ricky. At 7pm, the star was scheduled to fly to Portland, Maine, for a concert as part of his ongoing US tour.

8am: Elvis was still chasing sleep. He called Ricky to bring him more pills, but he was missing. A furious Elvis then called his aunt, Delta Mae Biggs, asking her to call his doctor for him. Eventually, Nurse Henley gave Elvis one smaller package of drugs with two Valmids for insomnia – though she was reluctant to do so.

Throughout the sleepless night, Elvis’ nine-year-old daughter Lisa Marie slept in her own bedroom next door to her father’s. She had no clue what was going on.

9:30am: As the morning stretched on, Elvis finally told Ginger he was heading to the bathroom. He was wearing a set of gold pyjamas and carrying Frank Adams’ book The Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus, which he took into the toilet with him.

Known for suffering chronic constipation, Elvis would spend long periods in the bathroom. Ginger warned him not to fall asleep in there, and Elvis vowed: “I won’t.” They turned out to be his last words.

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2pm: It wasn’t until later that afternoon that Ginger woke up and went looking for her partner – meaning hours stretched between when he was last seen and when she found him in the bathroom. She found him lying unresponsive on the floor, having collapsed and fallen off the toilet.

An ambulance was quickly called, arriving at 2:33pm. Emergency services at first thought it was just another over-excited fan succumbing to the excitement of seeing Graceland and passing out – but this time it was the King himself who was in danger.

2:56pm: Elvis was rushed to the emergency room at Baptist Hospital, seven miles from his home. At 3:30pm, he was pronounced dead, and half an hour later, the media first heard the news.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk