Ann-Margret

Ann-Margret Olsson is a daughter of Anna Regina (nee Aronsson), and Carl Gustav Olsson. She is a native of Ornskoldsvik. The family relocated to Valsjobyn in Jamtland. Later, she described Valsjobyn as a small town with "lumberjacks and farmers high above the Arctic Circle". Ann-Margret and her mother joined her father in the United States in November 1946, and her father took her to Radio City Music Hall on the day they arrived. They settled in Wilmette (Illinois), just outside of Chicago. In 1949, she became an naturalized American citizen. Ann-Margret began her first dance classes at the Marjorie Young School of Dance She showed her natural talent from the start, easily replicating all of the dance steps. Her parents were supportive, and she designed all her costumes herself. Ann-Margret's mom was an attendant at the funeral parlor[4] after her husband sustained serious injuries during work. When she was a teenager Ann-Margret starred on Morris B. Sachs Amateur Hour and Don McNeill's Breakfast Club, and Ted Mack's Amateur Hour. She attended New Trier High School located in Winnetka, Illinois and continued her acting career. In 1959, she was accepted into Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She was a part of the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. She did not graduate. As part of the group called the Suttletones She was a regular in the Mist nightclub in Chicago and then travelled to Las Vegas for a promised club date which fell through when the group arrived. They traveled to Los Angeles, California. Georgia Lund, their agent who helped them get clubs in Newport Beach (California) and Reno (Nevada). The group also visited the Dunes in Las Vegas where they were also joined by Tony Bennett and Al Hirt. George Burns heard of her performance and asked her to audition for his holiday show, where she and Burns did a soft shoe routine. Variety said that George Burns is "a gold mine in Ann Margret... She has a distinctive style that can easily guide her towards star status."