But at least he died at Graceland in a carpeted bathroom.
He had two escape hatches during those last 15 years.
He could have cleaned up and married Ann-Margaret -- she wasn't going to play nursemaid, but that marriage would have worked, and if not forever, for a long damn while.
Or he could have cleaned up as late as '75 and played John Norman Howard in A Star is Born, which Elvis would have crushed.
That fat f^ck "Col. Tom" squashed both chances.
It seems that (fake) Colonel Parker was good for Elvis’ career early on. He had connections with RCA and got him national exposure, allowing Elvis to go from a rising but regional star in the Southeast to a worldwide success. The early movies also helped in that, and were pretty good for the most part. Even when he first got back from the Army Elvis’ career was handled well with some of the best recording session of his life.
But yeah, once the early 60s had passed Parker was mostly garbage, a parasite weighing Elvis down.
Elvis’ biggest fault career-wise was not getting rid of Parker in the early or mid 70s at the latest. Apparently Elvis did fire Parker at one point, but the termination was brief; Parker presented Elvis with a ludicrous demand for payment of millions that he claimed Elvis owed him. Instead of hiring a good lawyer to shred the illegal alien Parker, Elvis and his father caved. Instead of calling the bluff they buckled and let things go back to the status quo.
As an Elvis fan it’s disappointing that he was not strong enough to get rid of Parker.