Ann-Margret

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Image:Viva Las Vegas.jpg 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 she was young, and grew up in Wilmette, Illinois. She attended Northwestern University and was discovered singing in a nightclub by George Burns. She was often referred to as a "sex-kitten" and the "female Elvis".

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Career

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, and RCA attempted to capitalize on her "Female Elvis" comparison by having her record a version of Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" and other songs similar in style to Presley's hits. She scored one minor hit, "I Just Don't Understand" (it entered the Billboard Top 40 in the third week of August 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 acting 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", Priscilla Beaulieu Presley recounts this situation and the difficulty when Ann-Margret 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-Margret 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", further proof that she had arrived as an American cultural icon. Image:AnnMargrock.jpg In March 1966, Ann-Margret and entertainers Chuck Day and Mickey Jones teamed up for a USO tour to entertain U.S. servicemen in remote parts of Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia. She still has great affection for the veterans and refers to them as "my gentlemen". [1] Ann-Margret, Day and Jones reunited for an encore of this tour for veterans and troops at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in November 2005. [2]

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. Throughout the 1970s, Ann-Margret balanced her live performances with a string of critically acclaimed dramatic film performances that played against her glamorous image.

In 1975 she starred in Tommy, and was nominated 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. She also did a string of successful TV specials, starting with The Ann-Margret Show for NBC in 1968. Now in her mid-60s, she continues to act in movies.

In 1994, she published an autobiography titled Ann Margret: My Story (ISBN 0399138919). 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 caring for him.

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Trivia

  • In 1995, she was chosen by Empire Magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history; she ranked 10th.
  • Actress Lindsay Lohan has declared Ann-Margret to be her idol, and thus, Lindsay portrayed Ann-Margret in a sketch when Lindsay hosted Saturday Night Live in April 15th, 2006.
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Filmography

Upcoming:

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Television work

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External links

{{Persondata |NAME=Olsson, Ann-Margret |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Ann-Margret |SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actress, singer |DATE OF BIRTH=April 28, 1941 |PLACE OF BIRTH=Valsjöbyn, Jämtland, Sweden |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= }}

de:Ann-Margret fr:Ann-Margret pt:Ann-Margret sv:Ann-Margret

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