Ann-Margret Olsson was born on April 28, 1941, in Valsjobyn, Sweden. She was born into a tightly knit family in a small fishing village near the Arctic Circle. Her parents, Gustav and Anna, migrated to America after World War II, and settled in the Chicago suburb of Fox Lake. The Olsson’s eventually relocated to Wilmette, Illinois, where they lived in the funeral parlor that employed Anna.
Ann-Margret was an introverted child, who found it difficult adjusting to American culture. In her early years, she used her love for song and dance as a means of expressing herself. She began to sing at weddings, private parties and church socials. By the time she was 14, she had appeared in a number of school revues and drama productions, and was a frequent winner at local talent contests.
After graduating high school in 1959, Ann-Margret enrolled at Northwestern University as a speech major. Within her first few months at college, she teamed up with three male students to form a jazz combo — The Suttletones. After her freshman year, she withdrew from school, and headed for the West Coast with her newly formed band. They spent most of their time performing at various cabaret clubs in Reno, Las Vegas, and Southern California.
While performing in the lounge of the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, Ann-Margret was given the opportunity to audition for Hollywood veteran George Burns. Immediately after, he invited her to perform for a 10-night engagement at the Sahara Hotel, where the 18-year-old earned rave reviews. A succession of offers followed, including a record contract from RCA, and a seven-year film contract from 20th Century Fox.
In the early 1960s, Ann-Margret’s burgeoning career was chronicled in LIFE magazine, who classified her as Hollywood’s next young starlet. She made her film debut as Bette Davis’ daughter in Frank Capra’s Pocketful of Miracles (1961), and released her first album And Here She Is, Ann-Margret.
These stunning photos made by Grey Villet for the 1961 LIFE article that introduced Ann-Margret as a hot Hollywood prospect while she auditioned for a role in the film, State Fair. “Oh, I loved him,” Ann-Margret says of the late LIFE photographer. “When you guys [at LIFE magazine] sent me all these photographs, what a rush. It all came back to me. It’s just … I’m so blessed.”
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| Ann-Margret, 1961 |
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| Ann-Margret with costume designer Don Feld before a screen test, 1961. |
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| Ann-Margret dining with actor Peter Brown at Har-Omar restaurant in Hollywood, 1961. |
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| Ann-Margret with actor Peter Brown at Har-Omar restaurant in Hollywood, 1961. |
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| Ann-Margret looking over a script with the screen test’s director, Robert Parrish, and the actor who would read opposite her, David Hedison. |
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