Elvis Presley was employed by the movie industry.
Elvis Aaron Presley ( January 8 , 1935 -- August 16 , 1977 ) was an American singer-songwriter and actor . In November 1956 , Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender . He resumed his recording career two years later , producing some of his most commercially successful work before devoting much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and their accompanying soundtrack albums , most of which were critically derided . Love Me Tender is a 1956 American black-and-white CinemaScope motion picture directed by Robert D. Webb , and released by 20th Century Fox on November 15 , 1956 .