Elvis Presley's Longtime Friend Lived at Graceland for 10 Years. The Rocker 'Was a Good Landlord' (Exclusive)

Elvis Presley's longtime friend and Memphis Mafia member Jerry Schilling is opening up about what it was like to live at the late rock 'n' roll legend's famed Graceland mansion.

Schilling, 82, moved into Graceland with Presley — who would have been 90 on Wednesday, Jan. 8 — in 1964. He remained there for a decade.

"It was the safest, warmest place I ever lived in my life," Schilling tells PEOPLE. "You would think it was crazy, rock 'n' roll. We had parties downstairs in the poolroom with the record player and all that, because his parents were upstairs, but they weren't crazy parties."

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Schilling does note, though, that Presley's pet chimpanzee Scatter could often be seen "flying into parties."

Schilling only moved out when Presley bought him a house of his own in the hills of West Hollywood in Los Angeles in 1974.

"He was a good landlord," Schilling jokes, before adding, more earnestly: "He was a very generous guy. We hear about his generosity as far as cars and gifts, but I think I'm the only person he ever bought a home for outside of his immediate family. But he was also generous as a friend with his time and with his soul."

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Schilling — who recently appeared in the Netflix documentary Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley — first met Presley in Memphis in 1954, before he had a "hit record."

"He lived in my neighborhood, and because I was only 12, I needed another person to play football," Schilling says. "That's how it all started 70 years ago."

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After Elvis died of a heart attack at age 42 in 1977, Schilling says he remained close with the star's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, up until her death in 2023. To this day he maintains a tight bond with Presley's ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, and Lisa Marie's daughter Riley Keough.

"I miss him dearly, of course, but I've had the good fortune of being with the Presley family all these years, with the kids, the grandkids," Schilling says. "I still feel very close to the Presley family. They are my family and have been."

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