By Mark Rhoads
Swedish-American singer and actress Ann-Margret Olson was born in Stockholm, Sweden on April 28, 1941 and the family moved to the small town of Valsjobyn, Jamtlands Ian, Sweden that same year. Still later in 1941, Ann-Margret's father moved to the U.S. with a plan for the rest of the family to follow shortly but World War II delayed the plan. Ann-Margret and her mother arrived in New York Harbor on November 29, 1946 aboard the SS Gripsholm. She was five years old and spoke no English. The family moved to Fox Lake, Illinois in 1946 and to Wilmette in 1948.
In 1950 she was performing in local Marjorie Young Dance Recitals and by 1954 at age 13 she was a cheerleader at Wilmette Junior High School. In her sophomore year at New Trier High School, Ann-Margret won the Morris B. Sachs Talent Contest on Chicago TV and another talent contest sponsored by the Don McNeil's Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club was produced in Chicago but was carried on ABC network radio nationwide. In her junior year in 1958, she sang on the national TV broadcast of the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour then on ABC-TV.
During her senior year at New Trier High School, she was involved in a small controversy regarding her performance of the song Tropical Heat Wave in a school talent show. Some parents thought the number as she performed it was too mature and too steamy for high school. She graduated from New Trier in June 1959 and performed on a USO tour for American troops in Germany that first summer out of high school.
The next four years of her life were incredibly busy with early professional success in movies. Ann-Margret dropped her last name of Olson from her professional stage name in 1960 and auditioned for George Burns that November to win a spot in his nightclub show. Also in 1960, she was admitted to Northwestern University in Evanston where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
In May 1961 Frank Capra offered her a role as the daughter of Betty Davis in the film Pocketful of Miracles with Glenn Ford and Hope Lange. The next two years were filled with coverage in Life Magazine, TV appearances, and two more films including State Fair and Bye Bye Birdie. One of her co-stars in Bye Bye Birdie was Dick Van Dyke (see earlier post) who is a native of Danville. In March 1966 Ann-Margaret performed on a USO tour in Viet Nam and returned again in 1968 on a USO tour with Bob Hope.
Ann-Margret was married to former TV actor Roger Smith in 1967 and Smith took over as her manager along with a partner. The couple are still married.
For a list of movies and TV shows of Ann-Margret, see her page on the Internet Movie Data Base.
