Cheryl Ladd Reveals Her Surprising Personal Connection to Elvis Presley Ahead of DWTS Elvis Night
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Our favorite Charlie's Angel shows her devilish side on Dancing with the Stars!
Cheryl Ladd and her professional partner Louis van Amstel finished in a tie for 10th place with 21 points out of a possible 40 on the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars and will return to dance again tonight for Elvis week.
The couple performed a cha cha cha to Marvin Gaye’s "Got to Give It Up,” and judge Bruno Tonioli told the Charlie’s Angels star that he wants to see a little more devil from her.
“You still are a raging Angel, my darling” Bruno said. “You look absolutely gorgeous and that was a wonderful routine. What you have to do now, you have to release the little devil that lays inside you and push it a little further. On ballroom, you can use all this lyricism. You cannot be hesitant with the Latin dances. In Latin, you’ve got to give it guts.”
In a press junket following last week’s performances, Cheryl responded, “Watch next week!”
And Louis reassured reporters that he’s already seen the devil in Cheryl, saying, “It's fierce. Also, that's going to be a question for the moment we go live. When you hear click, click, click, click and the music starts, it’s a surprise to all of us as to how are we going to actually perform. Because the audience, the music, the lighting, the costume, it all affects all of us, even pros. But I have something planned for next week. It's going to be very staccato.”
Cheryl is looking forward to Elvis night because she does have a connection to Elvis, but not the one that people seem to think. Apparently, there’s a rumor going around that Cheryl was in the audience in Las Vegas when Elvis filmed his comeback special in December 1968.
“There must have been a girl in that audience when he did his comeback special that looked very much like me,” she explained. “I was at that time a sophomore in high school in South Dakota. So, no, that wasn't me there. It would have been thrilling to do, although I did get to see one of his last performances in Vegas and it was great to just watch him being Elvis.”
For Elvis week, Cheryl and Louis will be dancing the tango to “A Little Less Conversation.”
“That song was the theme to the television show that I did when I played Jimmy Caan's wife in Vegas,” she added. “So, it is a really wonderful connection.”
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At 71, Cheryl said her opportunity to join Dancing with the Stars was now or never, and she was glad that Louis came back to the ballroom to do it with her. In fact, the two had met 12 years ago at a birthday party.
“So now you know how long I've been waiting for this moment that this young lady would say yes,” Louis said.
There’s also the possibility that Cheryl’s Charlie’s Angels co-star Jacqueline Smith may show up in the ballroom to cheer Cheryl on.
“We had a few conversations about it,” Cheryl said. “I said, ‘Jacqueline, you should do Dancing with the Stars. You have all that ballet and all that dance in your life.’ And she said, ‘Honey? My body said no,’ which only she can say. I think she's very excited that I'm doing it.”
Dancing with the Stars streams Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT live on Disney+.
