Long before Graceland, bodyguards and hotel suites, Elvis Presley sometimes shared a bed with one of his closest childhood friends after they stayed out late.
That friend was George Klein, who had known Elvis since their school days at Humes High in Memphis and remained close to him for decades. Graceland later described Klein as a lifelong friend and confidant who eventually had Elvis serve as best man at his wedding.
And according to Klein, Elvis had one unusual nighttime habit.
He talked and walked in his sleep.
Before Elvis became famous enough to live at Graceland, Klein occasionally stayed overnight at the Presley family home. He remembered sleeping in the same bed with Elvis after late nights out.
That was when Elvis’s mother, Gladys Presley, gave George a warning.
She told him Elvis sometimes talked and walked while still asleep.
At first, it probably sounded like just another thing a worried mother might mention.
Then George saw it himself.
George Klein Remembers His Friendship With Elvis
Klein later recalled that during another overnight stay, Elvis actually got out of bed and began walking while apparently still asleep.
Remembering Gladys’s warning, George did not shout or shake him awake.
Instead, he spoke softly and told Elvis it was time to return to bed because they needed to be in Hollywood the following morning.
According to Klein, Elvis responded and went back to sleep.
It is a tiny story compared with the giant events usually attached to Elvis Presley’s name.
No screaming crowd.
No million-selling record.
No Cadillac or Las Vegas stage.
Just a young Elvis, asleep in his family home, and one of his closest friends quietly guiding him back to bed.
That is also why Klein’s version carries some weight.
He was not someone who briefly crossed paths with Elvis after he became famous. The two met at school, remained friends throughout Elvis’s life and shared experiences reaching back to the years before Sun Records. NAMM’s oral-history archive describes Klein as present for many major moments in Elvis’s life, while Klein later collected his memories in the book Elvis: My Best Man.
Klein spent his later years telling stories that showed a side of Elvis far removed from the public image of the King of Rock and Roll.
This may be one of the strangest.
Before Elvis Presley became one of the most watched men in the world, his mother was warning his friends about something almost nobody knew: Elvis sometimes got up and walked around without ever waking up.