Ann-Margret Confesses What We All Suspected About Elvis Presley
Plenty of women entered Elvis Presley’s life, but only one seemed to affect him in a completely different way. From the moment Ann-Margret arrived on the set of Viva Las Vegas, people noticed a connection that felt far too real to be acting. The whispers started almost immediately, and decades later, Ann-Margret’s own words would only add more fuel to them.
Because behind the music, the fame, and the Hollywood glamour, was a side of Elvis very few people ever got to see. The struggles that shaped Ann-Margret. The story begins on April 28th, 1941, in a tiny town tucked deep in northern Sweden, so close to the Arctic Circle that winters felt endless.
That was where Ann-Margret Olson entered the world. Long before Hollywood lights, sold-out shows, and screaming fans, she was just a little girl growing up in a quiet place far removed from the spotlight waiting for her. Her father, Gustaf, already had a taste for adventure. He had spent time living in America before eventually returning to Sweden to settle down and start a family.
But after Ann-Margret was born, that pull toward the United States came rushing back. There was just one problem. His wife had no interest in leaving Sweden behind. So, Gustaf made the difficult decision to go alone, chasing the promise of a better future across the ocean while his family stayed behind.
For years, they lived separated by distance and uncertainty. Then, when Ann-Margret was 6 years old, her mother finally packed up their lives and brought her to America to reunite with him in Chicago. It was the kind of move that could overwhelm any child. Suddenly, she was in a completely unfamiliar country surrounded by people speaking a language she didn’t understand.
But instead of shrinking into the background, Ann-Margret pushed herself harder. She studied relentlessly because she refused to feel different from everyone around her. That determination paid off in surprising ways. Before long, the young Swedish girl who barely spoke English was winning spelling bees, proving early on that she had the kind of drive that couldn’t be taught.
Even after becoming one of America’s most recognizable stars, she never lost touch with where she came from. Sweden remained part of her identity, no matter how famous she became. Once the family settled into life in Chicago, Ann-Margret threw herself into dance lessons. It quickly became obvious that she had something special.
Even as a child, she could watch a routine once and repeat it almost perfectly. Like her body naturally understood movement. Behind the scenes, her mother worked tirelessly, sewing every costume by hand so her daughter could keep performing and chasing her dreams. Then life suddenly took a harsh turn. Her father, who worked for a local electric company to support the family, suffered a devastating workplace accident that left him unable to return to work.
Overnight, the family’s stability disappeared. Her mother, Anna, stepped up and became the one keeping the household afloat, taking a job as a receptionist at a funeral parlor. While Anna spent her days surrounded by grief and mourning, Ann-Margret escaped into music, dance, and performance. Ironically, despite growing into one of Hollywood’s great beauties, her first real opportunities came through radio, where nobody could even see her face.
While still a teenager, she began appearing on programs like Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club and Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour. Between radio appearances and school musicals, she spent years quietly sharpening her craft. At the time, those performances probably seemed small, but they were laying the groundwork for something much bigger.
Eventually, Ann-Margret joined a singing group called The Satin Tones, and together they headed to Las Vegas. They landed a spot performing at the famous Dunes Hotel, sharing the same stage lineup as established stars like Tony Bennett and Al Hirt. For a young performer still trying to make a name for herself, it was a huge opportunity.
The buzz around the group spread quickly. Audiences couldn’t stop talking about the fiery young performer with the magnetic energy. Eventually, word reached legendary comedian George Burns, who decided to see the act for himself. The moment Burns watched Ann-Margret perform, he immediately understood what everyone else was talking about.
It wasn’t only her voice that stood out, it was the way she commanded attention before she even sang a single note. The audience was already locked in the second she walked on stage. Burns later realized he was witnessing the beginning of a superstar, and he was right. By 1961, Ann-Margret’s career exploded almost overnight.
RCA Victor signed her to record her debut album, and here she is, Ann-Margret, and audiences immediately connected with her energy and charm. The album’s success even earned her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, putting her firmly on the map in the music world. But just as her singing career was gaining momentum, Hollywood came calling.
That same year, 20th Century Fox invited her for a screen test. What happened next moved fast. Studio executives loved what they saw so much that they offered her a 7-year contract almost immediately. It was the kind of dream opportunity every young performer hoped for. Oddly enough, after signing her, Fox immediately loaned her out to another studio for her first feature film role.
What seemed like a glamorous debut quickly became intimidating. She was cast in Pocketful of Miracles alongside Bette Davis, one of the most feared and commanding figures in Hollywood at the time. The atmosphere on set was brutal. Davis and co-star Glenn Ford reportedly could barely stand each other, and the tension hung over the entire production.
Crew members later described the set as filled with stress, bitterness, and constant hostility. For a young newcomer stepping into her very first movie, it could have easily been overwhelming, but Ann-Margret stayed focused. Rather than getting caught up in the chaos, she concentrated on proving herself.
She avoided the drama, kept working, and quietly earned the respect of the people around her. When the film was finally released, all that hard work paid off. Ann-Margret walked away with a Golden Globe for New Actress of the Year, officially announcing to Hollywood that she was far more than a promising singer.
She was now a full-fledged movie star. Before Elvis entered her life, back in 1962, Ann-Margret found herself caught in a relationship that suddenly became far more serious than she expected. At the time, she was dating a young television producer named Burt Sugarman. And from the outside, everything seemed to be moving along smoothly.
Then, without warning, Sugarman completely caught her off guard by proposing with a diamond ring. The moment left her stunned. She hadn’t been expecting anything close to marriage, and the pressure of making such a life-changing decision weighed heavily on her. After sitting down with her parents and talking everything through, they strongly advised her that she was still far too young to rush into marriage.
In the end, Ann-Margret made the painful decision to return the ring and walk away from the relationship entirely. Around that same period, her career continued gaining momentum at lightning speed. Even though the Academy Awards had not yet nominated her for an Oscar, the industry clearly recognized her star power.
During the 1962 ceremony, she took the stage and delivered a performance of the theme from Bachelor in Paradise that completely energized the room. Among the people watching that night was Eddie Fisher, a man whose personal life had already become one of Hollywood’s biggest scandals. Just a few years earlier, Fisher had shocked the public by leaving his wife, Debbie Reynolds, for her close friend Elizabeth Taylor.
The fallout from that relationship had dominated headlines and badly damaged his reputation. Not long after his split from Taylor, Fisher turned his attention toward Ann-Margret and asked her out. Her parents immediately had concerns. Beyond Fisher’s reputation as Hollywood’s most infamous heartbreaker, there was also a significant age difference between them.
Ann-Margret was still very young and her family was deeply protective. Determined not to leave their daughter alone with him too quickly, her parents came up with an unusual solution. During their first few dates, they accompanied the couple themselves, essentially turning every outing into a supervised group event.
It may have been awkward, but for her parents, protecting their daughter mattered more than appearances. Soon afterward, Ann-Margret returned to work at 20th Century Fox for another major production, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical State Fair. The project offered her two very different roles to audition for, Margie, the sweet and wholesome good girl, and Emily, the far more daring and complicated bad girl.
At first, the studio believed she was perfect for Margie. Everything about her audition seemed to fit the role exactly as they imagined it. Then the producers decided to test her range by asking her to perform the jazz classic Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey, which belonged to Emily’s character. The performance changed everything.
Ann-Margret didn’t just sing the song well, she lit up the room with an energy the producers hadn’t fully seen before. In that moment, they realized she possessed something more layered than simple innocence. She ultimately landed the role of Emily, proving she could balance sweetness and sensuality at the same time.
In many ways, the two roles mirrored the dual sides of her real personality. Off stage, she was naturally shy, quiet, and reserved. But once she stepped in front of an audience, another side completely emerged. Suddenly, she became explosive, playful, and impossible to ignore. The filmmakers wanted her appearance to reflect that fiery energy, too.
Although she would later become famous for her red hair, Ann-Margret was originally a brunette. The studio believed a bold red hairstyle better matched Ann-Margret’s personality, so she dyed her hair for the role. The look became iconic almost instantly and remained part of her image for the rest of her career.
Yet, despite starring in major studio productions, her paycheck hardly reflected her growing fame. Because she had signed her contract with Fox before becoming a star, the terms heavily favored the studio. Even while headlining a large-scale movie musical, she was reportedly earning only $500 a week. Fortunately for Ann-Margret, acting wasn’t her only path to success.
Over at RCA Victor, executives were determined to transform her into a recording sensation. Their strategy was bold: market her as the female version of Elvis Presley. As part of that push, they even had her record a cover of his classic hit Heartbreak Hotel. The gamble paid off. Audiences responded enthusiastically to her music career, and her second album became a major success.
Before long, the Grammy Awards recognized her as Best New Artist, officially confirming that she had become one of entertainment’s fastest-rising stars. But with that level of fame came increasing tension and pressure behind the scenes. On New Year’s Eve in 1961, director George Sidney found himself sitting inside the Sands Hotel and Casino on a date that barely held his attention.
Instead of focusing on the woman sitting across from him, he was completely mesmerized by the performer on stage. That performer was Ann-Margret. Sidney was so impressed by her presence and energy that he immediately offered her a role in the upcoming film adaptation of the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie. At the time, most of the Broadway cast was already expected to transition into the movie version, while Ann-Margret remained a relatively new face in Hollywood.
Nobody involved in the production fully understood what was about to happen once filming started. Technically, Ann-Margret was not supposed to be the movie’s main attraction, but as production moved forward, it became increasingly obvious that the camera loved her. Every scene seemed to come alive the moment she appeared on screen.
Even Janet Leigh, already famous for her role in Psycho, reportedly noticed the shift. According to stories from the set, Leigh became frustrated by how much attention the filmmakers appeared to give Ann-Margret, especially during close-up shots. She wasn’t the only person feeling uneasy. Dick Van Dyke had been the breakout star of the Broadway version of Bye Bye Birdie, and naturally, he expected the film adaptation to showcase him in the same way.
But the moment he arrived on set, he reportedly sensed the balance of attention changing. One story from production claimed Van Dyke walked in and saw Ann-Margret sitting comfortably in George Sidney’s lap. Whether exaggerated or not, the image stuck with him. From that point on, he allegedly believed her role was about to become much bigger than originally planned.
As filming continued, his frustrations reportedly grew. When the movie finally hit theaters, Van Dyke openly joked to friends that the film should have been called The Ann-Margret Show because of how heavily it revolved around her. Still, despite whatever resentment may have existed behind the scenes, most of the cast genuinely adored her.
Her warmth, humor, and natural charisma made her incredibly easy to work with, and many people on set found themselves completely won over by the same magnetic energy audiences were now beginning to fall in love with, too. After filming wrapped on Bye Bye Birdie, director George Sidney couldn’t stop thinking about what he had just witnessed from Ann-Margret.
He believed her performance carried a kind of energy that audiences rarely saw on screen, and he became determined to showcase it even more. Sidney went back to the executives at Columbia Pictures and pushed hard for permission to film a special opening and closing musical number centered entirely around Ann-Margret.
The studio shut the idea down immediately, unwilling to spend additional money on scenes they felt weren’t necessary. But, Sydney refused to let the idea die. So convinced that Ann-Margret was becoming a once-in-a-generation star, he reportedly reached into his own pocket and spent $60,000 of his personal money to make the sequence happen himself.
He even persuaded the movie’s original songwriters to create a brand new number specifically tailored to her style and personality. By that point, it wasn’t just directors and producers falling under her spell. Practically everyone around her seemed captivated by the same magnetic energy. At the film’s wrap party, actress Maureen Stapleton reportedly asked Ann-Margret to sit beside her throughout the evening.
Her reasoning was both humorous and revealing. Stapleton joked that she wanted to protect her because she felt like nearly every other person in the room was attracted to her. That kind of attention followed Ann-Margret everywhere she went during that period. When Bye Bye Birdie opened at Radio City Music Hall, even Life Magazine couldn’t resist commenting on the effect she had on audiences.
The publication famously joked that her dancing generated more heat inside the theater than the building’s actual heating system. As award season arrived, the movie itself received a mixed reaction from critics, but one thing stood out clearly. The film earned only a single acting nomination, and it belonged to Ann-Margret.
The Golden Globe Awards recognized her with a nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, further cementing her status as Hollywood’s newest breakout star. Her influence soon stretched beyond movies and music and into pop culture itself. Years later, artists working for Marvel Comics reportedly looked to Ann-Margret’s appearance in Bye Bye Birdie while developing the iconic look of Mary Jane Watson.
Her glamorous red hair and playful confidence became part of the inspiration behind one of comic book history’s most famous characters. But while Hollywood was already struggling to keep up with her rise, Ann-Margret’s career was only accelerating. Soon, she found herself invited to perform at a birthday celebration for one of the most powerful men in the world, John F. Kennedy.
The event came only a year after Marilyn Monroe had delivered her unforgettable and controversial performance of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.” A moment that instantly became part of American pop culture history. Stepping into that spotlight was no small challenge. Yet, Ann-Margret didn’t shrink under the pressure.
Instead, she leaned fully into the playful and flirtatious energy of the performance, delivering a bold rendition of “Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home?” that turned heads throughout the room and proved she could command attention just as effortlessly as Monroe had. Around that same time, George Sidney realized he wanted Ann- Margret beside him again for his next major project.
He had already signed on to direct Elvis Presley in MGM’s upcoming musical Viva Las Vegas, and he believed Ann-Margret was one of the few performers in Hollywood capable of matching Elvis’s explosive on-screen charisma. The producers were specifically searching for a leading lady who wouldn’t disappear next to Elvis.
They needed someone who could challenge his energy rather than simply react to it. Ann-Margret understood exactly what was at stake. To prepare for the role, she made a deliberate effort to reshape her image. Up until then, many audiences still viewed her as the bubbly teenage performer from films like Bye Bye Birdie.
But with Viva Las Vegas, she wanted to present herself as fully grown, glamorous, and undeniably sensual. Part of that transformation involved changing her wardrobe into something far more revealing and mature than audiences were were to seeing from her. Every costume, every performance, and every scene was designed to project confidence and adult sophistication.
And once filming began, she delivered exactly what the producers hoped for. In fact, some people around Elvis quickly began worrying she might be delivering a little too much. Elvis and Ann-Margret recorded three songs together for the movie, but only two ultimately made it into circulation. According to stories from behind the scenes, Elvis’s management became concerned that Ann-Margret’s presence was beginning to rival, even overshadow, the King himself.
The tension didn’t stop with the music. As Ann-Margret’s popularity exploded during production, certain movie theaters reportedly began placing her name above Elvis’s on promotional marquees. For Elvis’s camp, that crossed a line they had no intention of accepting. The growing battle over billing and attention eventually spilled into another major conflict involving the film’s soundtrack album.
Surprisingly, despite the movie’s massive popularity, there was never an official soundtrack release for Viva Las Vegas. According to long-time stories surrounding the production, George Sidney refused to approve a soundtrack unless Ann-Margret received equal billing alongside Elvis. Meanwhile, Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, refused to allow anyone to share equal status with his star.
Rather than compromise, the project was quietly abandoned altogether. From the outside, all the behind-the-scenes tension made it seem like the set should have been filled with hostility and rivalry. With managers arguing over top billing, screen time, and musical performances, many would have expected Elvis and Ann-Margret themselves to clash constantly.
Instead, the exact opposite happened. While executives and managers battled over contracts and ego, Elvis and Ann-Margret grew closer almost every day. Away from the politics of Hollywood, they connected naturally through music, humor, and a shared understanding of fame. Before long, the chemistry audiences would later see on screen had become very real off camera, too.
Ann-Margret confesses what we all suspected about Elvis Presley. Aside from his own family, there was one woman who stood in a category all by herself in Elvis Presley’s life, Ann-Margret. Out of every actress he worked with during his Hollywood run, she wasn’t just another co-star standing next to him on a movie poster.
She became the most unforgettable leading lady of his entire film career. Their story officially began in early July of 1963 on a quiet soundstage at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. That was where Elvis and Ann-Margret were introduced to each other for the very first time, and at the same moment introduced to the press as the stars of MGM’s upcoming film Viva Las Vegas.
By then, Elvis Presley was already a veteran in Hollywood. At 28 years old, he was working on his 14th movie and had long gotten used to the cameras, the screaming fans, and the non-stop attention that followed him everywhere. Ann-Margret was only 22, but her rise had been explosive. Just months earlier, she had starred in Bye Bye Birdie, and the movie had turned the young Swedish immigrant into one of Hollywood’s hottest new stars almost overnight.
Years later, Ann-Margret would look back on that first meeting in her autobiography and describe the atmosphere like a scene straight out of a movie itself. The MGM soundstage sat nearly empty, silent except for a single piano sitting off to the side. Nearby, Elvis’s inner circle lingered in the background, watching him closely the same way they always did.
Director George Sidney stood nearby while photographers snapped picture after picture, knowing the studio was witnessing a major publicity moment before filming had even started. George Sidney stepped forward and made the introduction. Elvis reached out and gently shook Ann-Margret’s hand. Then came one of those moments that sounded almost too perfect to be real.
At the exact same time, both of them smiled and said they had heard a lot about each other. The awkwardness disappeared instantly and the two burst into laughter together. What looked like a simple handshake ended up becoming the beginning of something far bigger than a successful on-screen partnership.
Ann-Margret later admitted she was surprised by how calm she felt around him. After all, this was Elvis Presley, the biggest music star in America, the man who seemed to have every woman in the country under his spell. Yet, standing there in front of him, she didn’t feel nervous or intimidated. She had no idea that before long, he would completely win her over, too.
Before filming could begin, the pair first had to tackle the soundtrack. On July 9th and 10th, both stars headed into Radio Recorders to lay down their solo material. But, the real electricity showed up on July 11th when they finally entered the studio together. That was the day they recorded the now classic duets.
Just 3 days later, the entire production packed up and headed to Las Vegas where the cast and crew settled into the Sahara Las Vegas. From July 15th through the 26th, they filmed scenes all across the city, soaking the movie in the flashy lights and non-stop energy Vegas was already becoming famous for.
After wrapping the location shoot, production moved back to Los Angeles. Filming resumed at MGM Studios where the cast continued working through August before finally completing the movie during the first week of September. It didn’t take long for people on set to realize Elvis and Ann-Margret had something different. The producers already understood that the movie depended on the chemistry between their characters, Lucky and Rusty.
Without that spark, the entire fast-moving romance at the center of the story would fall flat. At first, Elvis and Ann-Margret might have brushed it off and joked that the only heat around them came from the brutal Nevada desert, but everyone else could see what was happening almost immediately. The connection between them became impossible to hide.
One Associated Press reporter visiting the set noticed the pair constantly holding hands between takes. Crew members saw them slipping away together during breaks, disappearing into Elvis’s dressing room, or sneaking off for quiet lunches away from the rest of the cast. According to Ann-Margret, music became the force that pulled them together more than anything else.
She described the connection as something powerful and almost overwhelming, like both of them were tapping into the exact same energy every time they performed together. It created a passion between them that felt exciting, confusing, and impossible to ignore all at once. What made it even more striking was how naturally they mirrored one another.
Their movements matched almost perfectly, like they were operating off the same rhythm without even trying. When Elvis moved, Ann-Margret moved with him instinctively. Every spin, every shoulder drop, every burst of energy seemed to sync together effortlessly. They weren’t simply acting beside each other on camera.
They moved like two performers completely locked into the same pulse, feeding off one another every second they shared the screen. As filming continued on Viva Las Vegas, Ann-Margret quickly realized that she and Elvis Presley were far more alike than either of them expected. Their chemistry on camera was obvious to everybody watching, but behind the scenes, the connection ran even deeper.
They bonded over the little things that made up their everyday lives. Both loved motorcycles, both were deeply attached to their families, both desperately valued privacy in worlds where privacy barely existed. They also shared a strong faith in God, and many nights stretched into early mornings with the two simply sitting together and talking for hours.
Not long after filming began, Elvis finally asked Ann-Margret out to see a show, but nothing in Elvis’s life ever worked like a normal date. Instead of a quiet evening alone, he arrived with his entire entourage beside him. Surprisingly, Ann-Margret didn’t find it strange at all. Later, she would describe it as innocent and friendly, almost comfortable from the start.
Growing up, she had been used to her own parents accompanying her on dates, so the constant presence of Elvis’s inner circle didn’t bother her. If anything, it made her feel welcomed. The men around Elvis treated her with warmth and respect from the very beginning. That acceptance mattered because Elvis’s famous inner circle, later known as the Memphis Mafia, rarely warmed up to outsiders so easily.
Yet, around Ann-Margret, the group relaxed almost immediately. Elvis’s cousin, Billy Smith, later explained that she understood Elvis in ways very few people ever did. She never tried to pressure him or pull him away from the people he depended on most. More importantly, she accepted his need to constantly keep his friends around him, something others in his life often struggled to understand.
One of Elvis’s closest friends, Marty Lacker, remembered her as someone who genuinely enjoyed being around people. She treated everyone in the group kindly and never acted intimidated by their tight bond with Elvis. Before long, they all genuinely liked having her around. She fit into their world naturally.
Her sense of humor made her especially popular with the guys, who eventually started calling her Rusty, a playful nod to her character in the movie, as well as her unforgettable red hair. As Elvis and Ann-Margret grew closer, the relationship slowly shifted into something more personal. They started creating moments where they could escape everyone else and simply be alone together.
For Ann-Margret, those moments carried a different kind of meaning. The more Elvis sought privacy with her, the more she realized he truly trusted her. Behind closed doors, Elvis showed her a side of himself the public almost never saw. Away from the screaming fans and flashing cameras, he wasn’t the untouchable king of rock and roll.
He was vulnerable, thoughtful, insecure at times, and weighed down by pressures most people could never fully understand. That softer side usually appeared late at night, long after the crowds disappeared. They would drive high into the hills overlooking Los Angeles, park beneath the stars, and sit quietly together while the city lights glowed below them.
In those moments, Elvis finally let his guard down completely. Ironically, the biggest threat to their growing relationship during the filming of Viva Las Vegas wasn’t a lack of chemistry at all. It was ego. Ann-Margret openly admitted she had ambition and confidence, and Elvis was already one of the biggest stars on the planet.
Before long, tensions began building behind the scenes over how the movie was being filmed. Rumors spread around the set that director George Sidney was favoring Ann-Margret with more flattering camera angles and stronger visual focus, while Elvis was being pushed slightly into the background. Members of Elvis’s circle, including Red West and Joe Esposito, later claimed Elvis became increasingly frustrated after watching daily footage from the set.
According to them, he felt like the director was slowly turning the spotlight away from him in his own movie. Once those complaints reached Colonel Tom Parker, the situation escalated quickly. Parker reportedly confronted the producers and reminded them exactly whose name was selling tickets.
MGM executives argued that giving Ann-Margret more attention would help the film attract a wider audience, but Parker refused to let anyone overshadow Elvis. To make his point, he allegedly used his influence to cut two of the three duets Elvis and Ann-Margret had recorded together. He would rather remove potential hit songs entirely than risk another star stealing too much attention from Elvis Presley.
Even so, when the final version of the film reached theaters, it was still clearly built around Elvis. He dominated the musical performances with six solo numbers compared to only two for Ann-Margret. The movie definitely showcased her incredible dancing ability and undeniable screen presence, but it remained first and foremost an Elvis Presley picture.
What stood out most was that despite all the tension surrounding the camera angle controversy, almost nobody blamed Ann-Margret personally. She never even addressed the issue in detail later on, and although Elvis occasionally let professional jealousy slip through, it never destroyed the bond they shared away from the cameras.
By that point, their relationship had already evolved far beyond co-stars spending time together on a movie set. According to many people close to Elvis, the two had fallen deeply in love. Lamar Fike later claimed the relationship became intense very quickly and insisted Elvis’s feelings for Ann-Margret were completely genuine.
Marty Lacker echoed the same idea saying the romance grew serious because neither of them was married at the time, even though Priscilla Presley was still waiting back at Graceland. Ann-Margret, however, always spoke about the relationship with a certain level of grace and restraint.
Instead of focusing on scandal or drama, she remembered the excitement of that period, the motorcycle rides, the laughter, and the friendship that developed alongside the romance. And once filming ended, the relationship didn’t suddenly disappear. According to Jerry Schilling, Ann-Margret was still quietly visiting Elvis at his California home well into late 1964, often arriving late at night and heading upstairs using her own key.
Marty Lacker also recalled that the two used nicknames like Bunny and Thumper in letters and phone calls adding another layer of secrecy to the relationship. Ann-Margret later shared another deeply personal memory from that period. Knowing pink was her favorite color, Elvis reportedly had a custom round pink bed made for her as a gesture of affection and tenderness.
Still, even during the happiest moments, she sensed the relationship could never fully survive. Elvis’s life had become too complicated, filled with obligations and expectations pulling him in different directions. Though painful and confusing at times, she later said he remained honest with her throughout it all.
For about another year, the relationship continued on and off before eventually reaching its unavoidable ending. Deep down, both of them understood why. Elvis had a commitment waiting for him that he could no longer avoid. On May 1st, 1967, Elvis married Priscilla Presley in Las Vegas.
In an almost unbelievable twist of timing, Ann-Margret married actor Roger Smith in the very same city just one week later. Even though the romance ended, the connection between them never truly disappeared. They remained close for the rest of Elvis’s life. When Elvis opened at the International Hotel in 1969, Ann-Margret sat proudly in the audience.
Throughout the 1970s, they regularly attended each other’s Las Vegas performances and spent time together afterward. What began as a passionate love affair slowly transformed into a lasting friendship built on years of shared history. But as the glamour of Hollywood faded during the ’70s, darker struggles began taking over both of their lives.
While Elvis was slipping deeper into prescription drug dependency, Ann-Margret found herself battling alcoholism. She later described those years as a haze where days and nights blended together into one long fog. Drinking became routine, and entire stretches of time vanished from her memory altogether.
Thankfully, Ann-Margret eventually found a way out of that darkness. Tragically, Elvis never did. By early 1977, rumors about Elvis’s declining health had become impossible to ignore. When Joe Esposito attended one of Ann Margret’s shows in Las Vegas, she immediately pressed him for answers about how Elvis was really doing.
Joe tried to reassure her, insisting things were under control despite a few problems here and there. But Ann Margret sensed the truth was far worse. Then came August 15th, 1977. That night, she opened a show at the Hilton in Las Vegas. For 10 straight years, Elvis had always sent flowers or telegrams before her performances.
This time, nothing arrived. The silence unsettled her immediately. The following morning, the phone rang with the news everyone had feared. Elvis Presley was dead. Joe Esposito called from Graceland and warned her not to come to the funeral because Memphis was descending into chaos. But Ann Margret refused to stay away.
When she finally arrived at Graceland, she shared an emotional moment with Elvis’s father, Vernon Presley. There were countless things both of them wanted to say, memories they wanted to revisit, but neither could fully find the words. Instead, they simply held each other and cried together. In the middle of that heartbreak, Vernon quietly told her how proud Elvis had always been of her.
Only a few months later, Vernon Presley and Colonel Parker asked Ann Margret to host NBC’s television special, Memories of Elvis. Despite spending her entire life in front of audiences, she later admitted the tribute became one of the most emotionally painful experiences she had ever endured. For her, it wasn’t simply another television appearance.
It was the final goodbye to a man she had once loved deeply, a man she understood in ways very few people ever truly did.
