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Dinner with Shady Tree's Acorn – Las Vegas Showgirl Pat Gill
By: Mark Cerulli
Published:
2025-03-25
2025-03-25
Thanks to a mutual friend, my wife and I were able to invite Pat Gill to dinner at a rowdy Vegas steakhouse. Nearing 80, Pat could have easily passed on an invite from two complete strangers but being a good-humored trouper, she accepted, and we wound up having a great night. Even six decades in the states hasn’t lessened her strong South African accent, which just adds to her exotic charm. Pat is full of stories – from befriending Sean Connery to dating Elvis Presley and knowing anyone who was anyone in the Vegas/Hollywood 1960s scene. She brought photos and mementos from her long showbiz career – photos from Diamonds Are Forever, a gorgeous one of her younger self with The King, Elvis, and more. Sadly, they’re all that remained after a fire in her building and her apartment’s water damage.
Pat Gill with Elvis Presley in Las Vegas on August 1, 1969.
When asked how she was cast in Diamonds Are Forever, Pat talks about doing a show at the Sahara, then being told “Cubby Broccoli wants to meet you.” When she emerged from her dressing room, Broccoli AND Connery were waiting. They had caught her show and Connery thought she resembled his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Diane Cilento. They asked if she was interested in being in the film and she said, “As long as I can shoot between 2AM and 6AM, I’m in.” They could and she was!
Another memorable tale was when she and the other dancers were meeting Connery backstage at the Riviera and she said, “Oh Sean, I wrap myself in you every night!” The filmmakers looked confused – even Connery was taken aback... Pat went to her dressing room and returned with a 007 beach towel and Connery said, “Oh, we have to have a photo!” The resulting snap by legendary photographer Terry O’Neill has since become iconic – and one of the few photos of Connery with any Bond memorabilia at all.
Sean Connery and Pat Gill in Las Vegas 1971. Photo by Terry O’Neill. Copyright © Iconic Licensing. All rights reserved.
Pat was the film crew’s tourist guide to hidden Vegas. Once the shooting day was over, Pat would take them to places only locals knew about. On one occasion she took them to a club favored by the hardcore mobsters who ran Vegas in those days. Needless to say, the Capos were stunned when James Bond dropped in for a drink! Connery enjoyed her company immensely and when the production was moving on to Palm Springs, he invited her to join them. She was on hand for the scene at Kirk Douglas’ Palm Springs home and the Bambi & Thumper fight at the famous Elrod House. “I got sun during the day while they were filming, then joined them at night,” she said.
Since she was an Acorn, I had to ask about “Shady Tree”, comedian Leonard Barr. “Oh, he was like my uncle,” Pat enthused, “he was always making jokes.”
Pat Gill, Leonard Barr and Jennifer Castle in a scene from Diamonds Are Forever. Copyright © 1971 Danjaq S.A. & United Artists Corporation. All rights reserved.
Yet Bond is only part of her remarkable story – Pat left home (Durban, South Africa) at age 15, obsessed with becoming a dancer. Blithely unaware of showbiz protocol, she knocked at the door of the famous Moulin Rouge Club in Paris and told them (in English) she wanted to audition. Their creative director auditioned her for an hour but upon seeing her age, had to write to her parents for their permission. Fortunately, it was granted, and Pat was on her way! She worked her way up to head dancer and was offered a prime spot to tour with legendary dancer Josephine Baker. Pat had already set her sights on Las Vegas, still, Baker was such a dance icon, she flipped a coin in front of the bemused star. “Heads I’ll stay, tails I’ll go to Vegas.” It came up tails and off she went. By now a seasoned dancer, Pat easily transitioned to headlining Vegas showgirl and soon was hanging with the major celebrities of the day – from Frank Sinatra and Rat Packers to Elvis, who was smitten with the statuesque blonde. Pat recalled how nice he was yet how they couldn’t go anywhere due to his enormous fame. She remarked that Connery was in the same position – he couldn’t walk down a street without being mobbed.
The restaurant we chose, Papi Steak, wasn’t a place for quiet conversation. Papi’s turned out to be more of a nightclub than dining establishment with patrons ordering $1000 Tomahawk steaks that were marched out in a gold briefcase as a siren blared and waitstaff chanted waving flashlights. It happened over and over but Pat seemed to enjoy the spectacle. When our waiter saw a photo of her with Elvis, his jaw dropped, and he treated her to a massive slice of birthday cake. (Her birthday was the night before.) At one point, a row of club dancers got up on the bar and did the same thing that Pat had done before they were even born. The more Vegas changes, the more some things stay the same. Viva Pat Gill!
Text by Mark Cerulli. Copyright © 2025 From Sweden with Love. All rights reserved.
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