Elvis pal Red West discovers ‘Solo’ stardom at age 72: As reported by EIN last month (see review below), Red West is getting some marvellous media coverage from his new movie 'Solo'. The Boston Herald also carried this recent story....
... Some actors hit stardom overnight. Others, like Red West, take a longer route to fame. At 72, West has his first leading role since he began acting 40 years ago, in the critically acclaimed "Goodbye Solo."
"I wanted to be in movies since I saw Roy Rogers as a kid. I never thought this would happen," said the Memphis native. West grew up with Elvis Presley, joined his entourage, then became a stuntman.
"I’ve had close calls, ‘Black Sheep Squadron,’ ‘Road House,’ ‘Glory Road’ - but I thought starring roles had passed by."
West hadn’t counted on Ramin Bahrani, the 34-year-old writer-director of "Solo." The son of Iranian immigrants grew up in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"Ramin was friends with another director from Memphis and when he saw me in his ‘40 Shades of Blue’ from what I understand he said, ‘That’s him.’ "
In "Goodbye Solo" West plays William, a man ready to end it all. He hires Sengalese taxi driver Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) to drive him to a local mountain spot in two weeks. Solo can’t accept what William intends and moves in with him to change his mind.
"I had to get myself into that character," West said. "I’ve had knee replacement, I’m getting older. So I thought about these things and tried to put myself in William’s place."
Bahrani knew West could keep the cast and crew entertained for months with stories about Elvis. So he isolated West from everyone during filming.
"I tried to stay separated, but now and then Solo and I were goofing around," West said. "Ramin was always there to remind me, ‘You two don’t like each other.’ "
Aug. 16 marks the 32nd anniversary of Elvis’ death.
"I was in the Marine Corps when he did his first four movies and then I was in every one after that," West recalled from his son’s home in Redondo Beach, Calif. "To grow up with somebody like that, it’s hard to, I don’t know, to understand it. He had something nobody has or ever has had. It’s generation after generation."
As for the star’s drug-addicted, self-destructive decline and death, "I really don’t want to get into a conversation about that. I knew it was not going to turn out well," West said. "I wasn’t there at the end, I’d given up. I was working on ‘Black Sheep Squadron’ when we got the news."
Click here to the movie trailer. (News, Source;SanjaM/BostonHerald)