Celebrity Thread: News, gossip, and anything else that strikes a fancy
- Thread starter Deus Irae
- Start date
Happy 85th birthday to Ann-Margret .....
Elvis Presley called her his “female counterpart.” Hollywood called her “the female Elvis,” because when Ann-Margret Olsson arrived in Hollywood in 1961, she didn’t just walk in, and she exploded, and at 20 years old, she had the voice, the body, the dance moves, and a raw, untamed energy that made every studio executive nervous and every audience member unable to look away.
George Burns discovered her in Las Vegas, and called her “the most talented young performer I’ve ever seen,” and by 1963 she was starring opposite Dick Van Dyke in Bye Bye Birdie, and stealing every scene with a shimmy that made censors sweat, and critics called her the most exciting thing to happen to musicals since Marilyn Monroe, and they weren’t wrong.
Then came 1964. Viva Las Vegas.
Elvis Presley. On screen, the chemistry was so electric MGM had to reshoot scenes to add more of them together, and off screen, it was real, and they dated for over a year, and rode motorcycles through the Hollywood Hills at 2AM, and sang gospel songs in his hotel room until sunrise, and Elvis told friends, “She’s me in a woman’s body,” and she called him “my soulmate,” and Colonel Tom Parker panicked, and Priscilla was furious, and the studio issued denials, and but everyone on set knew, and when the film wrapped, Elvis sent her a guitar shaped flower arrangement every time she opened on stage, and for years after.
She could have stayed there. The bombshell. The Elvis girl.
But Ann-Margret refused the cage.
In 1971 she played Bobbie in Carnal Knowledge with Jack Nicholson, and critics were stunned, and the girl from Viva Las Vegas was gone, and in her place: a woman, broken, desperate, devastating, and she earned her first Oscar nomination, and Hollywood finally saw the actress, not the poster.
A year later, 1972, Lake Tahoe.
Rehearsing for a show. 22-foot platform. She falls.
Facial fractures. Broken jaw. Broken arm. Shattered cheekbone.
Doctors wired her mouth shut for 8 weeks.
She couldn’t sing. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t eat.
Most careers end there.
She was back on stage in 10 months.
1975: Tommy. The Who’s rock opera.
She plays the acid queen mother. Covered in beans, champagne, chocolate. Goes completely unhinged. Earns second Oscar nomination.Same year: marries Roger Smith. Actor turned manager.
He had myasthenia gravis. Later couldn’t walk.
She became his full-time caregiver for 50 years.
Turned down roles. Tour dates. Money.
“He needed me more,” she said.
He died in 2017. They were married 50 years.
Two Oscars nominations. Five Golden Globes. Emmy winner.
Grammy nomination. Vegas headliner for 20 years.
She did USO tours in Vietnam. Came under fire.
Refused to leave. “If the boys stay, I stay.”
Sang for troops while mortars hit the base.
Today, at 85, she still rides motorcycles.
Still dances. Still sings.
In 2023 she released Born to Be Wild, an album at 82.
Critics said her voice hadn’t aged a day.
Ann-Margret taught Hollywood three things:
1. You can be sex and substance.
2. You can love Elvis and leave him.
3. You can fall 22 feet and get back up.
Elvis Presley called her his “female counterpart.” Hollywood called her “the female Elvis,” because when Ann-Margret Olsson arrived in Hollywood in 1961, she didn’t just walk in, and she exploded, and at 20 years old, she had the voice, the body, the dance moves, and a raw, untamed energy that made every studio executive nervous and every audience member unable to look away.
George Burns discovered her in Las Vegas, and called her “the most talented young performer I’ve ever seen,” and by 1963 she was starring opposite Dick Van Dyke in Bye Bye Birdie, and stealing every scene with a shimmy that made censors sweat, and critics called her the most exciting thing to happen to musicals since Marilyn Monroe, and they weren’t wrong.
Then came 1964. Viva Las Vegas.
Elvis Presley. On screen, the chemistry was so electric MGM had to reshoot scenes to add more of them together, and off screen, it was real, and they dated for over a year, and rode motorcycles through the Hollywood Hills at 2AM, and sang gospel songs in his hotel room until sunrise, and Elvis told friends, “She’s me in a woman’s body,” and she called him “my soulmate,” and Colonel Tom Parker panicked, and Priscilla was furious, and the studio issued denials, and but everyone on set knew, and when the film wrapped, Elvis sent her a guitar shaped flower arrangement every time she opened on stage, and for years after.
She could have stayed there. The bombshell. The Elvis girl.
But Ann-Margret refused the cage.
In 1971 she played Bobbie in Carnal Knowledge with Jack Nicholson, and critics were stunned, and the girl from Viva Las Vegas was gone, and in her place: a woman, broken, desperate, devastating, and she earned her first Oscar nomination, and Hollywood finally saw the actress, not the poster.
A year later, 1972, Lake Tahoe.
Rehearsing for a show. 22-foot platform. She falls.
Facial fractures. Broken jaw. Broken arm. Shattered cheekbone.
Doctors wired her mouth shut for 8 weeks.
She couldn’t sing. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t eat.
Most careers end there.
She was back on stage in 10 months.
1975: Tommy. The Who’s rock opera.
She plays the acid queen mother. Covered in beans, champagne, chocolate. Goes completely unhinged. Earns second Oscar nomination.Same year: marries Roger Smith. Actor turned manager.
He had myasthenia gravis. Later couldn’t walk.
She became his full-time caregiver for 50 years.
Turned down roles. Tour dates. Money.
“He needed me more,” she said.
He died in 2017. They were married 50 years.
Two Oscars nominations. Five Golden Globes. Emmy winner.
Grammy nomination. Vegas headliner for 20 years.
She did USO tours in Vietnam. Came under fire.
Refused to leave. “If the boys stay, I stay.”
Sang for troops while mortars hit the base.
Today, at 85, she still rides motorcycles.
Still dances. Still sings.
In 2023 she released Born to Be Wild, an album at 82.
Critics said her voice hadn’t aged a day.
Ann-Margret taught Hollywood three things:
1. You can be sex and substance.
2. You can love Elvis and leave him.
3. You can fall 22 feet and get back up.
