East Texas actress Kay Epperson died Sunday night in Rusk.
Her husband, Gary Epperson, said she died from kidney failure.
She was known as 'Kay Baby' to everyone in her hometown of Rusk.
Growing up in the town she would go to work with her grandparents. Her Grandma, Minnie would put her on the counters and make her talk to everyone who came in.
Epperson said everyone that came in would go, "Hey baby!" and that's how she earned her nickname.
It was that cafe that began her long familial relationship with Elvis Presley.
Before he became known as the King, Elvis made a stop at the cafe on his way to the Louisiana Hayride to perform. He had a slice of Minnie's chocolate pie and the rest was history.
Anytime he wanted chocolate pie, Kay would deliver one. Sometimes, she had to drive all the way to Tennessee.
Her husband mentioned this brought her close to Elvis' parents and eventually they became a part of her family.
Later on, when Elvis went on tour, she went with him as the hair stylist, and that's what led to her meeting her best friend of over 40 years, Wally Walker.
Wally came from Dallas years ago and she needed a job. Kay's grandma, Minnie hired her to work in Kay's salon while Kay was away on tour, but then Kay came back...
The first time Walker met Kay is one of her favorite memories she said.
When she realized it was Kay that walked through the door she said, " Oh, we need to go talk to your Grandma."
Kay had some attitude when talking with her Grandma but she laid down the law.
Walker said Minnie was firm, saying Kay had to either quit going on tour or Walker was the new shop manager.
From then on they were best friends until the end.
Less than 10 years ago Kay Baby had nothing to do on a Saturday, all of her friends were busy.
Her husband said the newspaper had a notice about a movie audition happening in Carthage, so off Kay went, and that's how she got her start in the movie industry.
Kay worked in several films, but is best known for her role as the "town gossip" in 'Bernie,' the film based on Bernie Tiede that came out in 2011.
Kay talked about what it was like to be part of the filming in This 2012 YouTube video by Kelly Gooch,
According to her IDMb page, Epperson had roles in other films as well, including 'Joe' with Nicolas Cage, and 'Lost in the Sun' with Josh Duhamel.
She was 75 years old.