Her presence is singular. At the moment the celluloid begins a roll, an inner tiger is released. Looking at her is to be magical by her-the violent eyes, hair and fire, an almost permanent smirk. Decades after decades, the audience has remained enchanted by the intensity of her performances, whether controlled and sinking or wild and unlawful. You get the feeling that she really is the holder of true fleshly knowledge, borrowing a title from her filmography. Still, 84 years young, there is no one else who Ann-Margret. This Labor Day weekend has the fans the opportunity to look back at her career and admire all she is at Cinecon Film Festivalwho will honor her with their Legacy Award in Los Angeles.
Think of those who open and close moments of her breakout “Bye Bye Birdie”, added as Bookends in the post -production by director George Sidney, where the exuberant actress sings directly to the camera, a single figure against a blue background, begging filmTitular character no to go “Away-aa.” It is one of the few moments in the cinematic cannon where a staff jumps from the screen and an icon is born.
Before “Birdie” she was already on her way to star. Born in Sweeden but mostly raised in America, her first film, “Pocketful of Miracle” in 1960, set her the opposite Bette Daviswhose daughter she portrayed.
In an exclusive interview with IndieWire Ann-Margret recalled that Davis said to her: “I want you to see your very best. This is your first time close up. I want you to see the best you can.”
“State Fair” with Pat Boone followed and established his musical cutlets in the last GISP of Hollywood singing spectacle. She still sees Boone, now 91, by the way – “The fact is last week,” she said.
Throw opposite Elvis Presley – and called the female Elvis – she became electricity. A series of hits followed, each of whom seemed as an adjective that was supposed to describe their star: “The Pleasure Seeker”, “Tiger and Pussycat”, “RPM” and – most important – “Kitten with a whip.” She released a hit record, and she started going on USO Tours as well, which she counts as her most significant contribution.
“I went to Vietnam twice. I went in 1966 with Johnny Rivers and his bassist and drummer, only four of us. And then, of course, in ’68 I joined Bob Hope, when there was much more of us (including) Les Brown & his band of known. And I just have such a feeling for everyone. It is difficult for me to translate what I do.
But even with her film success and her spirit, Ann-Margret was largely treated as something beyond the Box Office by the larger stringent film community in the 1960s. A teenage idol, to be safe, but one real actress?
There were signs of what was to come, to be sure. Her talent is perhaps most clear in “The Cincinnati Kid”, when she was part of an all-star ensemble who also had Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Tuesday Weld, Karl Malden, Rip Torn and Joan Blondell.
“A scene I did with McQueen, and I stood on a certain side. He was deaf in one ear, because of all the action movies he did. So I came on the other side. I’m so happy that he told me. I would never have known anything else,” she remembered.
She worked in a guest appearance to “Here’s Lucy” in 1970, which allowed her to flex her comic chops. However, Lucille Ball did not really get its name right. “She always called me Margret. Not Ann-Margret,” she told me, and Ann-Margret never corrected Sitcom legend. “She was incredible.”
But it was 1971’s “Carnal Knowledge”, Mike Nichols who come from the age that bursts the sexual shades of its male joints, Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel, which would forever expand her image (the movie was just added to last month to Criterion collection). As a kind of “sex cat” equivalent to Candice Bergen’s character, Ann-Margret is laid through the ring in a turmoil relationship with Nicholson-which leads to intense, vocal-chord-rippling fights. Her raw, unbroken performance caught her a nomination for best actress on Oscars, as well as a Golden Globe victory. Suddenly Hollywood took her seriously.
“I knew when I read the script where I had to go, and it was scary, really scary,” she said. “(Nicholson) gave everything he had. I mean, to be at the end of his performance just wiped me out.”
Ann-Margret does not like to talk a lot about the next groundbreaking event in her life, a traumatic case during a 1972 stage performance in Lake Tahoe that required a long recovery and several operations-but her life was filmed, it would almost certainly play a key role. And the opportunity for a movie is really a very discussed idea. On Lindsay LohanCurrent “Freakier Friday” Press Tour, it comes up frequently and advocated by her co-star Jamie Lee Curtis.
“I’m going out to the world now-I want her to do the Ann-Margret story,” Curtis said at “Good morning America.” “So every day on Instagram … I find videos back on the day, and I send (Lohan) every day videos (by Ann-Margret).” And Lohan added that she used to watch Ann-Margret’s movies with her grandmother.
Lohan also told us Hurry“She’s a triple threat, and she’s an amazing woman on top of it. So I just want to do her justice and help tell her a fantastic story to her.”
“I know that (Lohan) wants to do it,” Ann-Margret told IndieWire. “It just depends on how dialogue is. How can I say? I love her. I think she is full of talent and I would just like to see what they can come up with.”
In 1975, Ann-Margret made another indelible mark on film history with her unlimited turn in WHO’s Rock Opera “Tommy”, which demanded-no over-hen to twist in a mixture of baked beans and soap pillows, all while performing a number after her character’s TV set explodes. Don’t believe me? Take a look:
“I couldn’t really do (repetition) until I actually did,” she said. “Because everyone-whole crew-hade on waist-huge boots, and here I was in my cat suit and nylons, but I survived.”
“Tommy” brought her another Oscar -nom, this time for best actress. A variety of films, each unique in and by themselves, followed, from the horror “Magic” to the forgery “The Cheap Detective.” She was an ordinary star in big budget films-in-week on Network TV in the 1980s and landed a series of Emmy nominations-fuck if she would not win until her acclaimed guest place on “Law & Order: SVU” in 2010.
1983 was her role in “Who will love my children?” Barbara Stanwyckused his speech to praise Ann-Margret.
“I would pay a personal tribute right now to a lady who was a wonderful entertainer, but she gave us a movie last year – last season – where I think she gave one of the finest, most beautiful performances I have ever seen,” Stanwyck said. Ann-Margret, you were excellent. “
“I had seen her that day on a pass with (designer) Nolan Miller. We had the same amazing guy, and she said,” You will get it. “And I said,” No, no, no. “And I was right!” I remember looking at (my husband Roger Smith) and went “What happened just?! I mean, what?” I’ve never come across it.
She became known for new generations in the 1990s, first with Disney’s “Newsies”, and then with Double-Whammy of Buddy comedies “Grumpy Old Men” and “Grumpier Old Men”, who played Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Ann-Margret has never stopped working and shows up in everything from “The Break-Up” with Jennifer Aniston to “Going in Style” with Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin.
“I find it so rewarding to be able to get into someone else’s head,” she said about her various roles.
Even when she is preparing to accept her award from Cinecon Film FestivalShe is ready to take on what the next character will be. Recently she saw Brad Pitt Blockbuster ”F1” – And as an avid fan of fast vehicles, she sees the potential for herself in the genre. But she wants to compete instead of motorcycles, with a steady director at the helm.” It’s a very good idea. “I asked: Christopher Nolan or Paul Thomas Anderson? They are fantastic.” Let’s make it happen, Hollywood.
When it comes to the Cinecon Award – yes, she is almost speechless. Her reaction, she said, was simply just to say: “How wonderful.”
Tickets are available now for Cinecon, which will be held August 29.
