St. Louis Globe-Democrat, January 28, 1973
Subject: Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret & the Duke
Two of the most exciting film
stars - one a luscious young blonde and the other a leather-skinned,
weather-beaten oldtimer meet in a western about a stolen
half-million in gold.
The golden gal is Ann-Margret, whose star has been soaring brighter
than ever though she took a tumble during a night club performance
which nearly ended her career. The rugged veteran is John Wayne,
known to his friends as Duke, who just goes on and on making motion
pictures that break box office records. His some 200 films through
the years have grossed close to $700 million. He has a magic which
has made him the all-time top box office champion. A sometimes
tender, sometimes electric relationship arises between the two in
the film, "The Train Robbers", a Batjac production for
Warner Bros., which will soon be seen in St. Louis.
As for the story, Ann-Margret,
portrays a sex-kittenish Mrs. Matt Loewe, induces John Wayne to help
her recover a half-million in gold stolen by her late husband in a
train robbery and cached in the boiler of a wrecked locomotive of
1870 vintage. She wants to return the gold to clear her husband's
name she says. Wayne and a party set out to help the widow find the
money. But there are complications. Others, including some of the
original train robbers are looking for the money too, so there's a
lot of shooting. It turns out that Mrs. Loewe is a beautiful
imposter who learned about the hidden gold in a brothel where she
worked.
Ann-Margret, whose career
soared and the sank and the soared again to greater heights with her
smash success in "Carnal Knowledge" a couple of years ago,
has a last name. It's Olsson. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden to
Mr. and Mrs. Gustav Olsson, who came to the United States when Ann-Margret
was 5 years old, settled in Fox Lake, Ill. Later they moved to
Wilmette, Ill., where she attended high school. She spent a year at
Northwestern University.
She took music and dancing lessons during childhood and teen years
and her performances in various high school and musical productions
led to her first professional job as a singer with a new young band.
She was "discovered"
by comedian george Burns, appeared at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas,
and a new showbusiness star was born. She made her national
television debut with Jack Benny and next was given a starring role
in the movie "State Fair". She followed this with such
pictures as "A Pocketful of Miracles", "Bye, Bye
Birdie", "Viva Las Vegas", "The Cincinnati
Kid", "Stagecoach" and a dozen others. She was a big
hit on television specials and became one of the superstar
attractions in night clubs across the country.
In 1967 Ann-Margret married
her producer-writer husband, Roger Smith. They live today on a
seven-acre estate in Beverly Hills once owned by Humphrey Bogart and
Lauren Bacall.
There was a time when her
career sagged, but it was brought to life again by her touching and
dramatic portrayal of Bobbi Templeton in Mike Nichol's "Carnal
Knowledge", for which she recieved an Academy Award nomination
for best supporting actress.
Shortly after completing her
starring role in "The Train Robbers", Ann-Margret went
back to her night club work and met with an accident last September
that almost ended her career. She was injured in a 22-foot fall from
a stage scaffold at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino, suffered five
fractures of facial bones, a broken left arm, a concussion and a
broken jaw. She recovered, underwent successful facial surgery, came
back to undiminished stardom.