Ann-Margret is an American actress, singer, and dancer who became one of Hollywood’s leading sex symbols in the 1960s and developed a successful career that spanned decades in film, television, and theater. Her best-known movies include Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Viva Las Vegas (1964), Carnal Knowledge (1971), Tommy (1975), Magic (1978), 52 Pick-up (1986), and Grumpy Old Men (1993).
Born Ann-Margret Olsson on April 28, 1941, in Valsjöbyn, Sweden, she immigrated at age six to the United States, where her family settled in Wilmette, Illinois. She briefly attended Northwestern University as a speech major but left school to work in Las Vegas as an entertainer. There she was discovered by comedian George Burns, who cast her in his Vegas Christmas show. She then signed with RCA and with Twentieth-Century Fox. Her first film role was Pocketful of Miracles (1961), opposite Bette Davis.
Ann-Margret quickly became known for her spunky “sex kitten” roles, sweeping red hair, and captivating performances in Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas, in which she starred with Elvis Presley. The two were briefly romantically involved and remained good friends until Presley’s death in 1977. In 1967 Ann-Margret married her manager, Roger Smith, who died in 2017.
Ann-Margret was twice nominated for an Academy Award: for best supporting actress in Carnal Knowledge and best actress in Tommy. She received two Grammy Award nominations, including best new artist in 1962 after the release of her first album and the hit single “I Just Don’t Understand.” She won five Golden Globe Awards, including best actress for her role as Blanche DuBois in a 1984 TV movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire. In 2010 Ann-Margret won an Emmy Award for a guest appearance in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.