Profile of Ann-Margret on Famous Like Me

Ann-Margret (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish-born actress and singer. Born Ann-Margret Olsson in Valsjöbyn, Jämtland, Sweden, she moved to the United States when young, and grew up in Winnetka, Illinois. She attended Northwestern University, and was discovered singing in a nightclub by George Burns. She's known as a sex symbol and was named the sex-kitten. Ann-Margret was also compared to Elvis Presley for her energetic performances and aptly named the female Elvis.

Ann-Margret started recording for RCA in 1961. Her recording career was not as successful as her movie career. She had a sexy singing voice which can be compared to that of Eartha Kitt or Nancy Sinatra. She scored one minor hit, "I Just Don't Understand" (it entered the Billboard Top 40 the week of August 21, 1961 and stayed 6 weeks, peaking at #17.) Her only charting album is The Beauty and the Beard (1964) which she did with trumpeter Al Hirt. The contract with RCA ended in 1966.

She got her start in Pocketful of Miracles in 1961, and followed that up with the successful film State Fair the following year. It was her starring role as the all-American teenager in Bye Bye Birdie which made her a star. When she filmed Viva Las Vegas with Elvis Presley the two began an affair that received considerable attention from the gossip columnists in the various media. The reports led to a showdown with a very worried Priscilla Beaulieu. In her 1985 book, "Elvis and Me" (Elvis and Me#The Ann-Margret affair), Priscilla Beaulieu Presley recounts this situation and the difficulty when Ann-Marget tried to "cut her off at the pass" with a press announcement that she and Elvis were engaged to be married. Although he ended the affair, Presley remained a friend and continued to send her flowers at the opening of each of her stage show appearances until he died. Of all the Hollywood starlets he had worked with or had a relationship with, Ann-Marget was the only one to attend his funeral.

In 1963, Ann-Margret guest-starred, in animated form, in an episode of Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones as "Ann-Margrock". By this time, she had arrived as an American cultural phenomenon.

In 1971, she starred in Mike Nichols's Carnal Knowledge, marking a change from her sex-kitten musical roles. She garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The following year, while performing at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, she fell 22 feet from the stage and suffered injuries which put her out of commission for several months.

In 1975 she starred as the title character's mother in Tommy, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In addition, she was nominated for ten Golden Globe Awards, winng five times including for Best Actress for "Tommy." As well, Ann-Margret's recordings earned her five Emmy Award nominations.

She also did a string of successful TV specials, starting with The Ann-Margret Show for NBC in 1968.

She has been married to actor Roger Smith since 1967. Smith suffers from myasthenia gravis, and Ann-Margret has devoted much of her life to tending him.

In 1994, she published her autobiography titled Ann Margret: My Story (ISBN 0399138919).

Ann-Margret has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6501 Hollywood Blvd.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#10).

Filmography

• Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
• State Fair (1962)
• Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
• Viva Las Vegas (1964)
• Kitten with a Whip (1964)
• The Pleasure Seekers (1964)
• Ann-Margret: Made in Paris (1965) (short subject)
• Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965)
• Once a Thief (1965)
• The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
• Made in Paris (1966)
• Stagecoach (1966)
• The Swinger (1966)
• Murderers' Row (1966)
• The Tiger and the Pussycat (1967)
• The Prophet (1968)
• Seven Men and One Brain (1968)
• Rebus (1969)
• R.P.M. (1970)
• C.C. and Company (1970)
• Carnal Knowledge (1971)
• The Outside Man (1972)
• The Train Robbers (1973)
• Tommy (1975)
• The Twist (1976)
• Joseph Andrews (1977)
• The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
• The Cheap Detective (1978)
• Magic (1978)
• The Villain (1979)
• Middle Age Crazy (1980)
• The Return of the Soldier (1982)
• Lookin' to Get Out (1982)
• I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982)
• Twice in a Lifetime (1985)
• 52 Pick-Up (1986)
• A Tiger's Tale (1988)
• A New Life (1988)
• Our Sons (1991)
• Newsies (1992)
• Grumpy Old Men (1993)
• Grumpier Old Men (1995)
• The Limey (1999) (scenes deleted)
• Any Given Sunday (1999)
• The Last Producer (2000)
• Interstate 60 (2002)
• Taxi (2004)
• Mem-o-re (2005) (currently filming)

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