"He had been invited by , brother of slain civil rights activist to perform with Mahalia at an event in Mississippi but had to decline due to previous scheduled engagements. But being a fan of Mahalia's since he was a child, he found out she was visiting in town not far from where he was filming his movie at the time and he sent for a car to bring Mahalia to visit him on his movie set. Witnesses said it was one of the few times he appeared legitimately starstruck, to the point of emotional. When Mahalia arrived on the set and he first saw her he ran across the room pulling a chair over next to his chair to have her sit and relax where he could spend time visiting with her between filming scenes. Elvis spent a lot of time just looking at her adoringly and started to say something to her about growing up hearing her music but also telling her she reminded him of someone. Then she said Elvis's voice trailed off as he seemed lost in thought, but they presumed he was about to tell her she reminded him of his own mother. At one point he did in fact look at her and said softly "Mahalia, you're just like my Momma...". Mahalia was moved by his comment and found out later that when Elvis was young and lived in Tupelo he used to listen to gospel singing and went to Pentecostal Church. Mahalia said that explained why he could sing Gospel as good as he could."