Years after their respective deaths Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Judy Garland are still headlines in the newspapers and are still capable of mobilizing crowds. And they are still making millions for businessman who take advantage of the nationwide refusal to admit that the show is over. Why?
Johnny Stuart, organizer of Legends in Concert, believes that the spirit of these artists is still with us. He even thinks it is his assignment to bring back these superstars to their fans. The film legends gives an inside view into the lives of three people who impersonate celebrities and act in Stuart's enormously popular show in Las Vegas.
For years Jonathon Von Brana (Elvis), Susan Griffiths (Marilyn), and Monica Maris (Judy) have spent most of their time on the illusion to keep alive an American icon. It is their only role and they play it six times a week, twice a night, in an overcrowded theatre. Many of the fans come back time after time to see the show, they give their stars presents and treat them as if they are ... you know.
This adoration blurs the borderline between the actor and his impersonation. No matter if you think these celebrity-performers honour the dead or act as bodysnatchers, their lives tell us a lot about our own ambivalence towards death, the tendency to deny death, in particular when our heroes die. Legends is an investigation into a unique American phenomenon.