The King, McQueen and the Love Machine

From 1970 to 1972, Barbara Leigh and Elvis Presley embarked on a torrid love affair from the moment they locked eyes. At the time, Leigh was a world-class model and actress whose looks and beauty embodied the naturalistic seventies and captured the King’s heart at the same time.

Add to this mix an affair with the world’s number one box-office attraction, Steve McQueen, and president of MGM studios and the inspiration for Jacqueline Susan’s “The Love Machine,” Jim “The Smiling Cobra” Aubrey, and you have the decade’s steamiest love triangle.

Leigh herself has a legion of fans in Hollywood and abroad. She is legendary among Presley fans and, over the years, has developed a cult following as she was the original Vampirella, a comic book character created by Forrest J. Ackerman.

One of six children, Leigh was born Barbara Ann Kish on November 16, 1946, in Ringgold, Georgia. She was raised in a Miami orphanage since her mother could not afford to raise all six children alone. Married at 14 to her sister’s ex-boyfriend, and a mother at 17, she moved to Los Angeles and found work as a doctor’s assistant. Divorced soon after, Leigh was encouraged by a boyfriend to pose for photos, which led to a successful and glamorous modeling career. That soon led to more than 50 national TV commercials and a burgeoning movie career that boasted 10 films, including the cult classic The Student Nurses, Sam Peckinpah’s gentle Junior Bonner and Roger Vadim’s Pretty Maids All In a Row. By the time she turned 21, Barbara Leigh had already lived several lifetimes’ worth of experiences.