Some people believe that Elvis is still alive.
Based upon the lifespans of his relatives and ancestors, let's consider that question.
I will say that the lifespan of a person depends on several factors:
1. Genetics,
2. Amount of stress in his or her lifetime,
3. Whether they had a life-threatening or life-destroying event ex: accident, catching a bad disease, being bitten by a poisonous creature, or being killed,
4. The environment in which the person lived or worked in -- food, water, air, soil, and whether any of those environments were substandard,
5. Lifestyle behaviors, and personal health habits,
6. Access to any type of healthcare, no matter what the decade or century.
We don't know always what our ancestors went through from a day to day basis, although, by carefully pondering dates, locations, moves, changes in jobs, wars, etc., these things can lead us to imagine whether an ancestor might've experienced a lot of stress or had other life-shortening conditions.
It is public knowledge that Elvis' parents were poor. It's likely that their parents were poor too, and so on. Chronic poverty can easily shorten a life span.
I didn't spend all day researching family charts of Elvis Presley to make sure every detail was correct. I was looking for trends.
I did see that the birth dates, or deaths sometimes varied by 1-2 years from different family trees of other people. That's not a big deal for my purposes.
I also only looked at the year born and year died (not month and day). This means that give or take one year it was close enough.
Vernon Presley (Elvis' father), died at 63. Vernon's siblings died in their 60s to 80s. Vester (83), Delta (74), Gladys (62), N. Lorene (69).
Vernon's father Jesse Presley died at 77. Vernon's grandfather John Wallace died at 82. John Wallace's father Henry died at 79.
Two men, ancestor's of Vernon: William Hood, died at 83. Dunning Presley died at 73. William Warren died at 77.
Vernon's direct male ancestors (that I had access to on the family chart), died at an average of 76 years old.
As for Vernon's female ancestors, his mother Minnie died at 90. Minnie's mother Mary Warren died at 92. Her mother Minerva Davis died at 39.
Vernon's father, Jessie's maternal lines: Rosella Presley died at 63, and Rosella's mother Martha Wesson died at either 28 or 40 (I picked 40 for the calculation). John Wallace's mother Lydia Gideon died at 27.
Vernon's direct female ancestors (that I had access to on the family chart), died at an average of 58 years old.
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As for Gladys Smith's family lines that I had access to on the chart, her direct ancestors had overall lower lifespans.
Gladys' father Robert Smith died at 52 (1879-1932); his father Milege Smith died at 72. Gladys' mother's (Octavia Mansell) father Albert Mansell died at 76. Albert's father William Mansell died at 47. Octavia's mother's father Abner Tackett died at 86.
Gladys' direct male ancestors (that I had access to on the family chart), died at an average of 66 years old.
Gladys' direct female ancestors (that I had access to on the family chart) were: Ann Mansell, died at 86. Octavia Mansell (Gladys' mother) died at 59. Octavia's mother Martha Tacket died at 45; Martha's mother Nancy Burdine died at 61. Octavia's paternal grandmother Morning Dove White died at 35 (1800-1835) (1830's were the time frame of the Trail of Tears expulsion of many Native Americans to the West).
Gladys' direct female ancestors (that I had access to on the family chart), died at an average of 55 years old.
Another concern with Gladys' genetics is that her parents were *first cousins* through the Smith and Mansell lines.
When first cousins marry, they are more likely to pass down more genetic weaknesses than others who aren't related or are only distantly related, their bodies may be less resilient to life's stressors. Gladys' parents died in their 50s, contrasting with her grandparents (both sets) that died in their 70s or 80s, except one grandmother died at 45 (Martha Tackett md. Mansell).
Vernon's grandparents died at 82/83 (the males) and 63/92 (the females). Most of all the grandparents of Vernon and Gladys died in Mississippi (potential question of whether location could've affected lifespan or expectancy).
Gladys died even younger than her parents. She was 46 years old. Who knows if Gladys would've lived longer had Elvis not become rich and famous. She would've had to continue with a regular job had Elvis not become who he did. Sometimes work wears people down, other times it contributes to some vitality, depending on the type of work done.
Let's take a look at Gladys' siblings:
Effie (female) 1904-1905. Died as an infant.
Lillian (female) 1906-1990. Died, 84th year.
Lavelle (female) 1908-1979. Died, 71st year.
Reatha (female) 1910-1947. Died, 37th year.
Travis (male) 1917-1966. Died, 49th year.
Clettes (female) 1919-1994. Died, 75th year.
Johnny (male) 1922-1968. Died, 46th year.
As I said earlier, Vernon Presley's siblings all died in their 60s to 80s, including Vernon.
As we can see, something in Gladys' family was bringing down the life expectancy.
For comparison, Gladys' sister Clettes married Vernon Presley's brother, Vester. Clettes and Vester both had only one child, a female, Patsy Presley. That means that Patsy was a double first cousin to Elvis Presley because Elvis was genetically related to both his uncle and aunt. I believe that Patsy is still alive. Being born in 1941, she would be 81 years old later on in this year (2022).
It's not a stretch to believe that the Smith genetics possibly played a part in both Gladys and Elvis dying in their 40s. Gladys had three other siblings that died in their 30s and 40s.
The other factors were likely stress, overwork and diet, and intake of harmful substances (Gladys drank alcohol and Elvis popped uppers and downers, sleep aid pills). Some of the reports online say that Elvis didn't always have that great of a diet, that he tended to eat what we would call, (Southern) comfort food. High fat and probably low fiber. In a video clip of a TV show interview I saw X number of years ago, Lisa Marie said that constipation ran in the family line (she didn't say if it was the Presley line or the Smith line). They may have also had an irregular colon or bowel shape, but we aren't privy to that information. Both Gladys and Elvis had liver issues and in finality, a heart crisis which led to their demises.
I have seen a video clip of part of Elvis' last public concert from June 1977. He was sweating a lot, and just did not look or sound like he felt well.
So, come to your own conclusions. To me it seems like everything played a part in Elvis having a shorter life, a life of some of the highest highs, but some regretful and sorrowful lows too.
Both of these are between 30 and 60 minutes long.
p.s. There is an video for those interested in the medical issues of Elvis' end of life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRqzwJJyJkg
Another video is about some of his closest associates, how things went at the end, and what happened after Elvis passed away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDQZLyUU2D4