Ann-Margret shows no signs of slowing down

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004 | 8:20 a.m.

"I have all these wonderfully talented friends," Ann-Margret cooed during a recent telephone interview from Detroit, where she was preparing for a concert.

Marvin Hamlisch, who wrote scores for such films as "The Sting" and "The Way We Were," performed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Sunday.

"Marvin was my rehearsal pianist in 1970 at the Las Vegas Hilton," she noted. "Back then it was the International.

"Two years later, I handed him an Academy Award for 'The Way We Were.' "

Bobby Rydell frequently has engagements at The Orleans, where Ann-Margret will perform tonight through Sunday.

She and Rydell were co-stars in the 1963 movie "Bye Bye Birdie."

"I spoke with Bobby recently when I was a guest on a radio show in West Palm Beach (Fla.)," said Ann-Margret, her low, purring voice as sexy at 62 as it was at 22. Sexier. "A woman called in and said, 'Guess what, I have an old friend on the line who wants to talk to you.' "

Rydell greeted her.

"It was such fun," she said.

The director of "Bye Bye Birdie" was the legendary George Sidney, who died of cancer at his Las Vegas residence almost two years ago at age 85.

Ann-Margret said Sidney was a close friend of hers and described him and George Burns as her mentors.

Sidney also directed "Viva Las Vegas" (1964), in which Ann-Margret and Elvis Presley co-starred and were rumored to have become romantically linked.

She doesn't deny the rumors.

During her upcoming performance at The Orleans, Ann-Margret said she will do some songs from both "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Viva Las Vegas."

"I have never done anything onstage from either one of those movies," she said. "I don't know why. I just didn't."

She describes "Ann-Margret & Company" as an "intimate" production.

"I only have three dancers, who sing great," Ann-Margret said. "I will be wearing six or seven Bob Mackie outfits. I'll do an Italian song -- I did three films there and I took Italian lessons."

She says she will do two songs she recorded in 1963, "I Should Care" and "More Than You Know."

There will be lots of rock 'n' roll.

"And I do some special material," Ann-Margret said. "There is everything -- 'Look, she walks, she talks, she dances ...' "

She said the production includes comedy, as well as music and dancing.

"I'll go into the audience," Ann-Margret said. "There will be film clips. I will sing a Swedish lullaby mom taught me when I was 4 years old and we were still in Sweden."

Ann-Margret was born Ann-Margret Olsson in Valsjobyn, Sweden, in 1941. The family moved to the United States when she was 5.

In 1955 she enrolled in New Trier High School near Chicago, where she starred in school musicals. She attended Northwestern University and performed with the Subtle Tones, a quartet that landed gigs in Vegas and Los Angeles.

Ann-Margret has appeared in more than 50 films, among them "Pocketful of Miracles," "State Fair," "The Cincinnati Kid," "Carnal Knowledge" and "Grumpy Old Men."

She is married to Roger Smith, former star of ABC's popular 1960s series "77 Sunset Strip." They exchanged vows at the Riviera on May 8, 1967.

Smith gave up acting to manage his wife's career. Around 1970 he contracted myasthenia gravis, a sometimes-fatal degenerative nerve disease, which is in remission.

Ann-Margret starred in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" for 18 months, from February 2001 to August 2002. Her co-star was Gary Sandy, best known for his role in the television series "WKRP in Cincinnati."

"I just spoke with Gary," she said. "We had the best time (in the musical)."

She said she was in 482 performances.

"It wasn't a grind at all," Ann-Margret said. "I'm like a Gypsy, wandering around the world. It was the first time I had ever done a booked show. It was quite interesting, to do the same lines every night but to make them sound new."

She will perform in Branson in April with Andy Williams at his Moon River Theater.

"I went up there last month to do some commercials," Ann-Margret said. "I had not seen him in 42 years. He looked great."

She recently completed a TV movie, "A Place Called Home," which was filmed at Lake Tahoe. Her co-star is Sandy. It is scheduled to premiere at 9 p.m. March 7 on the Hallmark Channel (Cox cable channel 46).

She had a cameo in "Taxi," a film due to be released this year featuring Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon.

Ann-Margret says she can't slow down.

"I tried in '71 to relax," she said. "I thought I gave my farewell tour. I came home, but after two weeks I said to Roger, 'Honey, I don't think I want to retire.'

"I think I've still got something to contribute. I'm a very happy person. Performing is my passion."