There’s an undeniable zest for life, an appreciation for all she has been given that can be heard in Margret’s voice…
Interviewed by denise marie
The world knows a lot about Ann-Margret Olsson. They know, for example, that she was born in Stockholm, Sweden and immigrated to the United States shortly after World War II ended. On the day she arrived in America, her father took her to a performance at Radio City Music Hall.
This experience may well have been pivotal in Ann-Margret’s career: just three years later, she began taking dance lessons. There’s also a lot the world doesn’t know about this multitalented star. In this exclusive interview Ann-Margret shares with publisher Denise Marie, her views on life and love; music, marriage and motherhood; passions and pets.
When Marie speaks about being married, Margret responds immediately, with considerable excitement. “I knew on the third date, that Roger Smith was the man for me.” She confides that Roger made her feel protected, a feeling that has remained throughout their 50 years of marriage. Roger, a former actor, worked for many years as Margret’s manager.
“I love him,” she gushes to Marie in the interview. “He’s coming up on his 80th birthday and doing great.” There’s an undeniable zest for life, an appreciation for all she has been given that can be heard in Margret’s voice as she tells Marie, “Every day that you wake up is an important day.”
She alludes to the Man Above frequently in the interview and acknowledges that someone was working from above to make certain things happen in her life, including her Gospel music recordings.
When asked about a favorite song on her new album, Ann-Margret confesses to a preference for “Fairest Lord Jesus”—perhaps because a fellow Swede wrote it centuries ago. She then speaks passionately about the album and about the direction in which God has sent her.
It is no doubt her abiding faith led Grammy Award-Winning producer-arranger-musician, Art Greenhaw who believed Margret would be interested in recording Gospel songs. Ironically, it was when she was doing a national tour of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas when Greenhaw approached her after a performance and laid out his vision for her Gospel career.
“He surprised the heck out of me,” Margret says. When she asked him how he knew she wanted to do Gospel music, Greenhaw replied, “I know.”
She was surprised that Greenhaw had an intuition of her religious convictions and had spoken with conviction about the need for the two of them to collaborate.
On that first album, the critically acclaimed God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions, the two of them worked in the recording studio until 2 or 3 in the morning, after Margret completed her shows each night.
Ann-Margret was extremely close to her mother and shared with us that in 2001 when she was working on her first Gospel recording, her mother became terribly ill. When Margret’s mother, her “best friend” passed away from lung cancer, she was simply unable to work for three weeks. “I couldn’t do anything with the songs.”
Her voice breaks as she recounts the process that led her back to the recording studio. “I know that both my mother and my father would have wanted me to complete that album. They were in my heart.”
Ann-Margret’s recently released album God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions 2 has ten contemporary and traditional gospel songs; the Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church choir of Dallas provides background vocals for the legendary entertainer. Of the many beautiful songs recorded, “The Battle Hymn of the republic” is one of Margret’s favorites.” She readily admits the “Amen’s” at the end really resonated with her—not a surprising choice, given Margret’s admission that; “my faith is deep, deep inside of me.” But, she acknowledges— a hint of amusement infusing her words—“apart from my family and closest friends, no one knew just how strong my Lutheran faith is.”
In the shared intimacy that springs up when the two women speak openly about their lives, Ann-Margret laughs about being an emotional woman, one who “melts like ice cream,” when things touch her heart. “I’m such an emotional woman,” she shares.
Passion is also evident when she tells Marie about her accident in Las Vegas. In 1977, she fell 22 feet from a stage, breaking many bones. “I know the reason why I survived that,” she reveals. “God was giving me the chance to help others. And when people speak passionately about their God,” she confirms, “you can see it and you can feel it!” Marie concurs: “It’s the positive energy, the fire that makes life worth living, the love of self and others that people radiate when they talk about their passion. You can hear it in their voice and see it in their eyes, these are the stories we like to share.”
Ann-Margret regards such story-telling as a “gift.” She continues: “It’s the passion that keeps me in this industry,” she asserts. “No amount of money could make me do what I do if I didn’t have passion.”
When Marie praises Margret’s ability to touch resonant chords in others, Margret expresses regret for people who “don’t know why they are here, who don’t have a direction, who feel desolation.”
The passionate conversation soon finds a new focus–animals. Ann-Margret and Roger Smith have lived in their Los Angeles home since 1968. It has also been the home of three of her stepchildren—one of whom is named ‘Dallas’ after Roger’s father, plus 17 cats, numerous dogs, hamsters and bunnies. “I’m an animal lover,” says Margret, who confesses a guilty pleasure is watching Animal Planet “all the time.”
She now has “three cats and a dog who thinks she’s a cat.” She laughs when talking about her rescued Maltese. “The Maltese bites me all the time and I’m the one who shampoos and cleans up after her!”
Additionally, she and Roger joke that they have a “Kat-Halla Hilton,” for all their rescued felines. “It has hammocks and ramps made especially for them.”
Both women agree that when one has not given birth, animals make a fantastic substitute for children. “I don’t really trust people who don’t like animals,” Margret jokes. “Animals give you so much love.”
Ann-Margret’s fan base goes well beyond the animals she cares for: she has won five Golden Globe Awards and has been nominated for two Oscars, two Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and six Emmy Awards.
And, let’s not forget the military. On one of her USO tours during the Vietnam War, Margret was in a plane over the South China Sea. She looked out the window and noticed that the crew members from the Aircraft Carrier Yorktown had spelled out “HI ANNIE” on the flight deck.
For all she has given the world, the rest of us can only say, “THANK YOU ANN-MARGRET.”
You can purchase Ann-Margret’s music at www.theconnextion.com/artgreenhaw visit Ann-Margret’s website for updates: www.ann-margret.com
Roger Smith sadly passed on Sunday, June 4, 2017, at age 84.
