Ann-Margret

From Freepedia

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 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 often referred to as a sex-kitten. Ann-Margret was also compared to Elvis Presley for her energetic performances and aptly nicknamed 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, 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 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 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" (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. 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 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.

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.

In 1995, she was chosen by Empire Magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history; she ranked 10th.

Ann-Margret, who is now in her mid-60s, continues to act in movies and also makes the occasional recording. In 2000, she paid tribute to her Ann-Margrock character from The Flintstones, as well as her film with Elvis, when she performed "Viva Rock Vegas" - a slightly rewritten version of "Viva Las Vegas" - for the soundtrack of The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.