”We were truly soul mates, shy on the outside but unbridled within,” Ann-Margret wrote in her autobiography.
Today, actress Ann-Margret Olsson is considered one of the true greats.
As one of the most outstanding live performers classic Hollywood has ever produced, her legacy will live on for a very long time.
But today, we’ll dig a little deeper into her electric relationship with Elvis Presley.
Though Ann-Margret has been quite restrictive in revealing what happened between the two stars, she has detailed some very exciting details in her autobiography, My Story.
Exactly when Ann-Margret and Elvis first met is unclear, but we know that the blonde Swede captured Elvis Presley’s heart while filming Viva Las Vegas in 1964.
Ultimately, Presley chose to marry Priscilla – but Ann-Margret claims she and the King of Rock’n’Roll were soul mates. Their chemistry and love affair would also take a big toll on Elvis’ future wife.
The passion between Ann-Margret and Elvis was obvious to everyone during the shooting of Viva Las Vegas.
”She had so much energy and pep that she had blown her previous three male co-stars off-screen, but Elvis could match her. He was the best on-screen partner she ever had, and she was his,” Filmink wrote.
But the gorgeous couple didn’t just fall in love on the silver screen – their affections for each other were real and continued off-camera.
Their attraction was instantaneous and powerful.
“We both felt a current, an electricity that went straight through us,” Ann-Margret said. “It would become a force we couldn’t control.”
According to Ann-Margret, Elvis wanted them to get married. Their dates often consisted of driving up a hill, looking down at the city, and talking.
Sometimes, Elvis asked to be completely alone with Ann-Margret, further proof for her that she was a special girl for him. It was a sign that Elvis trusted her, only strengthening their bond.
“We were truly soul mates, shy on the outside but unbridled within. We both lived on the edge and were self-destructive in our ways… In many ways, if you put aside the celebrity and what we achieved so quickly, we both remained very childish and were emotionally insecure,” Ann-Margret writes in her book.
There was one problem, though – Elvis was in a relationship with Priscilla Presley. One year before the Viva Las Vegas premiere, Elvis had asked the 17-year-old Priscilla to move in with him in Memphis.
But she wasn’t there when Ann-Margret and Elvis were shooting in Hollywood.
Priscilla knew that Elvis was cheating on her, but unlike the other women he had crushed on, she felt that his affair with Ann-Margret was a real threat. Elvis denied everything – but Priscilla knew what he was up to.
Priscilla feared the stunning blonde in the lead-up to her wedding, but in the end, the energetic and charismatic Swede was too similar to Elvis. They were ”mirror images,” and that wasn’t a good thing, considering Elvis’ values. He was traditional and conservative in his view of marriage. Priscilla Presley fitted the profile – Ann-Margret did not.
They continued to send each other love letters after Viva Las Vegas, but soon after that, Elvis knew he had to break it off with Ann-Margret.
”We knew that our relationship had to end, that Elvis needed to fulfill his commitment,” Ann-Margret wrote in My Story.
According to the actress, it was a “confusing situation” as their romance flamed out.
“There were other factors in Elvis’s life that forced him apart from me, and I understood them,” she said.
Elvis and Ann Margret, 1964Posted by Old Hollywood & Beauty on Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Although their romantic relationship ended, the couple stayed in contact after Elvis’ marriage to Priscilla. ”The King” used to send her guitar-shaped floral bouquets every time she performed in Las Vegas.
Ann-Margret and Elvis remained lifelong friends, and when she didn’t receive any flowers after a show in 1977, she knew that The King was dead. Ann-Margret was the only female co-star of Elvis’s to attend his funeral.
Husband’s illness
Looking back on Ann-Margret’s career, the 81-year-old actress and artist has delivered some unforgettable moments on the big screen, and some iconic songs that are still played today.
Born in Sweden in 1941, the bona fide Hollywood legend rose to stardom in the 1960s. Ann-Margret comes from a very tiny village in northern Sweden – few could have guessed that she would become one of the world’s most famous faces.
In 1946, she and her family left her Swedish hometown, consisting of ”lumberjacks and farmers high up near the Arctic Circle,” and migrated to the United States.
”When Mother and I left, there were 160 residents,” she said.