The Country Music Star Who Gave Kurt Russell His Singing Voice For Elvis

Is there anything Kurt Russell can't do? There are obviously things he has yet to do. He hasn't won the Nobel Prize for economics, nor has he landed on the Moon. He hasn't cured cancer, and, last I checked, he hasn't set the land speed record for driving a Chevy Nova in reverse. But because he is Kurt Russell, we assume he'll get around to these things in between rounds of golf.

What has Kurt Russell done to merit such confidence in his abilities? Need I say list the titles? "Used Cars," "Escape from New York," "The Thing" "Big Trouble in Little China," "Tango & Cash," "Backdraft," "Tombstone"... the man is the patron saint of afternoon dad cinema. He's a self-deprecating John Wayne — a big, blustery, bluffing tough guy who, despite his occasional oafishness, always comes through in the clutch. He's not afraid to make himself look silly; in fact, he relishes the opportunity. In his prime, he was aware Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were blockbuster draws, so he figured that moviegoers would be into an irreverent change of pace. Russell was a willing clown, but he still managed to cut a formidable figure as an action hero.

Kurt Russell is sui generis. He's been so inexplicably wonderful in so many ineffably wonderful movies that it's hard to accept he might be human. But he is. Because once upon a time John Carpenter cast him as Elvis Presley in the ABC TV movie "Elvis", and while Russell nailed the part, he needed help with the singing. Who pitched in to bolster Russell's performance?

Elvis Presley was a transcendent pop cultural sensation. When he arrived on the scene in the 1950s, he gave the burgeoning rock-and-roll movement a shot of pure adrenaline. Because he was a white man, he was welcome on the network variety shows of the day, but his thrusting pelvis was still a nervous thing for parents determined to get their kids to the wedding altar with their virginity intact.

Elvis wasn't inimitable. There were Elvis Presley impersonators performing all over the country before the King passed away in 1977. But when Carpenter set out to make his TV movie biopic about the singer for ABC on the heels of the artist's death, he couldn't rely on any old nightclub crooner. And, sadly, he couldn't turn to Kurt Russell to reasonably replicate Presley's singing voice. He needed someone with some serious pipes, and he found it in a relative nobody named Ronnie McDowell.

When Presley died in 1977, McDowell, a huge fan of the artist, recorded a single titled "The King Is Gone." It cracked the Billboard Hot 100's top 20 and became a certified gold record. This meant McDowell was suddenly the most prominent Elvis Presley impersonator on the planet, which made him an ideal voice double for Russell in Carpenter's "Elvis." McDowell's singing performance almost certainly helped Russell earn a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special. He also provided vocals for the short-lived ABC television series "Elvis" and the Allan Arkush mockumentary "Elvis Meets Nixon." And he hit number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart twice with "You're Gonna Ruin My Bad Reputation" and "Older Women."

Kurt Russell has yet to record a number one hit, but, again, because he is Kurt Russell, we expect he'll get around to it.