(They have no children together.) Around the time Ann-Margret was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1971's Carnal Knowledge, she was dependent on pills and alcohol, unable to distinguish fantasy from reality, she told the New York Times.
Roger Smith, who starred in the series “77 Sunset Strip” and was married to actress Ann-Margret, died Sunday in Sherman Oaks. He was 84. The handsome leading man retired from acting after being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis in 1980. After that, he managed his wife's career and produced several of her TV specials.
How old was Ann-Margret when she had her accident?
"The operation took about three hours. Hospital officials said a statement on the condition of the 31‐year‐old actress‐dancer would not be made until later.
She still loved Elvis as a dear friend, and wanted to honor his memory. Even decades later, Ann-Margret would become emotional over Elvis' memory. She generally avoided saying much to the public about Elvis. She even kept mentions of him in her autobiography rather vague.
Elvis started to give Ann-Margret childish nick-names, a typical sign of his warm feelings: Rusty (her name in the film), Thumper, Scoobie, Bunny. They lived only for the moment and for each other.
Ann-Margret Couldn’t Have Kids No Matter How Hard She Tried
Was Ann-Margret at Elvis funeral?
In 1977, Priscilla Presley came face to face with Ann-Margret Olsson at Elvis Presley's funeral. Olsson had long been a problem in Elvis and Priscilla's relationship.
That betrayal would be the beginning of the end for the couple, who would each go on to have their own extramarital affairs. Elvis and Ann-Margret would stay friends until his death in 1977, but Priscilla wouldn't meet her until his funeral. “Ann expressed her sympathy so sincerely,” she writes.
During a lull in her film career in July 1967, Ann-Margret gave her first live performance in Las Vegas, with her husband Roger Smith (whom she had married that May) taking over as her manager after that engagement. Elvis Presley and his entourage came to see her during the show's five-week run and celebrate backstage.
Swedish-born, Midwestern-bred actress Ann-Margret first met actor Roger Smith around the time she appeared in her first feature film, 1961's Pocketful of Miracles with Bette Davis.
Ann-Margaret made four movies with Elvis Presley in a career spanning 70 films. These were Viva Las Vegas, Kissin' Cousins, Girl Happy, and Harum Scarum. Ann-Margret and Elvis first met on the Viva Las Vegas set, the first film they worked on together.
They certainly had a romance, but her biography, Ann-Margret: My Story, is full of tasteful fades leaving us no closer to knowing how far she and the King went. A similarly discreet veil is pulled over her relationships with other early Sixties heavy hitters, including John F Kennedy and Frank Sinatra.
Ann-Margret explained that her loving relationship with Elvis ultimately ended because of forces out of her control. She wrote: "There were other factors in Elvis's life that forced him apart from me, and I understood them. Elvis had always been honest with me, but still, it was a confusing situation."
The actress Ann-Margret, a friend from the Tommy set, took her in. Other friends, such as Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger, helped in staging her comeback. And what a comeback it was, a success that eclipsed even her glory days as half of the Ike and Tina Turner Review.
Priscilla was there for Elvis' funeral on August 18, 1977 at Graceland. There were about 80,000 in attendance, according to People. "I was in shock," Priscilla said of the funeral on TODAY in 2018. "You'd see glimpses, you'd see people crying, hysterical, fainting, and that's how impactful it was and still to this day.
Ann-Margret then received a phone call from Elvis' friend and road manager, Joe Esposito. He broke the awful news that Elvis had died. She responded with two simple words: "We're coming." Elvis' funeral was held two days later, on August 18, 1977.
The Blackwood Brothers performed two beloved hymns: “How Great Thou Art,” a song Elvis did regularly in concert and that was requested by the family for the funeral, and “Sweet, Sweet Spirit.”
About 200 family members, friends and close associates attended the private service at Graceland, a star-studded event that brought John Wayne, Burt Reynolds, George Hamilton, Ann-Margret and Caroline Kennedy.
Barbara Marx Sinatra died on July 25, 2017, in Rancho Mirage, California, of natural causes at the age of 90. She died a year before Frank's first wife, Nancy Barbato, who died on July 13, 2018, at the age of 101.
