Dismissed early in her career as a mere "sex kitten," Ann-Margret would prove a tremendous talent, not only as a singer and dancer, but also as a fine dramatic actress, first in films and later on TV. The red-headed siren and native of Sweden made her national TV debut on "Ted Mack's Amateur Hour" in 1957, and though she did not win, it was just a matter of time before the world sat up and took notice. George Burns discovered the still-teenaged cabaret performer singing and playing the maracas in the lounge of the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, hiring her for $100 per night for ten nights to perform in his Christmas show at the Sahara Hotel's Congo Room. After landing a recording contract with RCA and capturing the eye of Hollywood, she made her feature debut as Bette Davis' daughter in Frank Capra's wet-blanket remake "A Pocketful of Miracles" (1961). Though her second film, the remake of "State Fair" (1962), was a bomb, Ann-Margret became the "Hottest Name in Town" when she sang the Oscar-nominated "Bachelor in Paradise" at the 34th annual Academy Award presentations.A sizzling live stage performer, with a breathy, girlish singing voice and a hip-swinging, high-energy dancing style, Ann-Margret helped resuscitate the nearly comatose Hollywood musical as the small-town girl chosen to kiss a rock star in "Bye Bye Birdie" (1963). She also played a key role in making "Viva Las Vegas" (1964) Elvis Presley's best musical, matching the King step-for-step in the talent and charisma departments. Unfortunately, these were high points amidst the flurry of films cranked out to capitalize on her box office (sex) appeal. She tackled her first "serious" role in the uninspired "Kitten with a Whip" (also 1964), playing a tough, conniving escapee from a reformatory, and though some noticed the beginnings of a dramatic actress, most refused to take her seriously. A steady diet of fluff ensued until her 1967 marriage to Roger Smith, the former star of ABC's "77 Sunset Strip", who took over her management in partnership with Allan Carr. Groomed as a variety artist, she inaugurated a series of highly enjoyable musical-comedy specials appearing almost annually for over a decade with "The Ann-Margret Show" (CBS, 1968). She also became a staple of Las Vegas, selling out her shows weeks in advance.
The cultural icon who had inspired and voiced the character of Ann-Margrock on an episode of "The Flintstones" (ABC) finally won respect as a dramatic actress with her powerful, Oscar-nominated supporting performance as Jack Nicholson's neglected wife in "Carnal Knowledge" (1971), bringing in the words of one critic "the only sign of humanity" to the picture. A life-threatening fall from a stage in 1972 temporarily disrupted her career, but she rebounded nicely, making a triumphant comeback in Las Vegas an astonishing ten weeks later and then realizing her dream of playing opposite John Wayne in the relaxed Western "The Train Robbers" (1973). She also delivered an intense performance as, rather surprisingly, Roger Daltrey's mother in the glitzy rock musical "Tommy" (1975), earning an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. Though Ann-Margret remained busy during the late 70s, few good roles and films presented themselves, with the lame comedies "The Cheap Detective (1978), "The Villain" (1979), and "Middle Age Crazy" (1980) pretty representative.
As a leaner, more ascetic look gradually replaced her full baby-faced cuttings, Ann-Margret's whispery voice and slightly hard but intriguing beauty remained unchanged. Since meaty feature fare presented itself only occasionally (i.e., "Twice in a Lifetime" 1985), she turned to TV during the 80s as an outlet for her dramatic talents. Her TV-movie debut, "Who Will Love My Children?" (ABC, 1983), was a stunner. Encouraged by director John Erman to shed her "glamour" image to play the part of a cancer-stricken single mother who tries to place her ten children with new families before she succumbs, Ann-Margret garnered the first of her Emmy nominations. She followed with a fine interpretation of Blanche DuBois in a TV remake of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (ABC, 1984) and brought some class to the enjoyably trashy miniseries "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles" (NBC, 1987) and held her own opposite Julie Andrews the touching AIDS drama "Our Sons" (ABC, 1991), all helmed by Erman, who would also direct her in two CBS miniseries, "Queen" (1993) and "Scarlett" (1994). All told, her collaborations with Erman have yielded four of her five Emmy nominations to date.
Feature films including "A New Life" (1988) and "Newsies" (1992) went largely unseen, but Ann-Margret kept strutting her formidable stuff onstage, making her critically-acclaimed NYC debut in 1991 as star of the biggest production show ever staged by a single performer at Radio City Music Hall. She also enjoyed her most popular feature in years as the attractive bone of contention between Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in "Grumpy Old Men" (1993) and its equally popular sequel "Grumpier Old Men" (1995). The 90s saw her begin producing (through Ann-Margret Productions) star vehicles for herself like "Following Her Heart" (NBC, 1994) and "Seduced By Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story" (NBC, 1996), but her first foray into series TV as the matriarch of a large New Mexican ranching family in "Four Corners" (CBS, 1998) fizzled after three episodes. An Emmy-nominated role in the Lifetime biographical movie "Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story" (1998) about the storied socialite, an almost unrecognizable turn as a wily grandmother in "Happy Face Murders" (Showtime, 1999) and a featured role as a 200-year-old Cinderella in the NBC fantasy miniseries "The 10th Kingdom" (2000) continued her run as queen of dramatic TV.
She returned to features, essaying the estranged mother of a football team owner (Cameron Diaz) in Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday" (also 1999), and played the wife of nearly-washed-up movie mogul Burt Reynolds in "The Last Producer" (2000), also directed by Reynolds. On the small screen she excelled in the "ripped from the headlines" television movie "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder" (2000) playing the mother of Patsy Ramsey in the tale of a mysteriously murdered child beauty pageant queen, and she appeared in the CBS miniseries "Blonde" (2001), based on the Joyce Carol Oates book, as one of the influential women in the life of Marilyn Monroe. In "A Woman is a Hell of a Thing" (2001) she was not used to best effect as the New Age-y stepmother of a men's magazine publisher who pushed him to battle his deceased mother's longtime lesbian lover over the dead woman's estate, but she was dazzling in the telepic "A Place Called Home" (2004) as an aging, reclusive Southern Belle who finds her feistiness pitted against a pair of con artists who've made her their next mark.
She made a welcome return to the big screen as the mother of Jimmy Fallon's rookie cop in the action-buddy-comedy "Taxi" (2004). After that comedic debacle came and thankfully went, Ann-Margret costarred in “The Break-Up” (2006), playing the mother of an art dealer (Jennifer Aniston) going through a messy and painful break-up with her louse boyfriend (Vince Vaughn). She was next set to play Santa’s mother-in-law in “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006), the continuing misadventures of Tim Allen as a bumbling Kris Kringle.