This Swedish-born actress and singer was one of the most famous sex symbols and actresses of the 1960s and beyond. She continued her career through the following decades, into the 21st Century. Born in Sweden in 1941, she came to America at age 6. She studied at Northwestern University and left for Las Vegas to pursue a career as a singer. She was discovered by George Burns and soon afterward got both a record deal at RCA and a film contract at 20th Century Fox. In 1961, her single "I Just Don't Understand" charted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 Charts. Her acting debut followed the same year as Bette Davis' daughter in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles. She appeared in the musical State Fair a year later before her breakthrough in 1963. With Bye Bye Birdie and Love in Las Vegas opposite Elvis Presley, she became a Top 10 Box Office star, teen idol and even Golden Globe nominated actress. She was marketed as Hollywood's hottest young star and in the years to come got awarded the infamous nickname "sex kitten." Her following pictures were sometimes ripped apart by critics (Bus Riley's Back in Town and The Swinger, sometimes praised (The Cincinnati Kid). She couldn't escape being typecast because of her great looks. By the late 1960s, her career stalled, and she turned to Italy for new projects. She returned and, by 1970, she was back in the public image with Hollywood films (R.P.M. opposite Anthony Quinn), Las Vegas sing-and-dance shows and her own television specials. She finally overcame her image with her Oscar-nominated turn in Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge and succeeded in changing her image from sex kitten to respected actress. A near-fatal accident at a Lake Tahoe show in 1972 only momentarily stopped her career. She was again Oscar-nominated in 1975 for Tommy, the rock opera film of the British rock band The Who. Her career continued with successful films throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s. She starred next to Anthony Hopkins in Magic and appeared in pictures co-starring Walter Matthau, Gene Hackman, Glenda Jackson and Roy Scheider. She even appeared in a television remake of Tennessee Williams's masterpiece play "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1983. Another late career highlight for her was Grumpy Old Men as the object of desire for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. She continues to act in movies today.



State Fair (1962): $500 per week

1995: Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#10). Was a cheerleader at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. Other New Trier graduates include Ralph Bellamy, Charlton Heston, Rock Hudson, Hugh O'Brien, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Virginia Madsen and Liz Phair. She formed a lifelong bond of friendship with Elvis Presley in their first pairing in Viva Las Vegas (1964). It was kept alive by Elvis' habit of sending a bouquet of flowers to all of her stage-show appearances, until he died in 1977. She reveals her romance with Elvis in her autobiography. November 1960: Discovered by actor/comedian George Burns when he heard her sing in a campus musical at Northwestern University and hired her to be a part of his Las Vegas act. Appeared on the cartoon show "The Flintstones" (1960) as "Ann-Margrock". Speaks Swedish fluently. Is portrayed by Rose McGowan in Elvis (2005) (TV). Toured Vietnam with the USO during the Vietnam war. Was first choice to play Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy (1962). Both films for which she was Oscar nominated, Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Tommy (1975)), also co-starred Jack Nicholson. Wrote her autobiography when she heard that an unauthorized biography was in the works and wanted to beat the unauthorized biography to press. Ann-Margret and George Burns (who discovered her) were both Oscar nominees in 1975 (respectively for Tommy (1975) and The Sunshine Boys (1975). Mr. Burns won but not Ann-Margret.