--- title: Ann-Margret: Early Photos of a Hollywood Legend description: Ann-Margret and her long-time friend, the great magazine editor Richard Stolley, recall her career as a young actress in the early 1960s. canonical: https://time.com/3880347/ann-margret-early-photos-of-a-hollywood-legend/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-08T19:00:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:39.539Z og:title: Ann-Margret: Early Photos of a Hollywood Legend og:description: Ann-Margret and her long-time friend, the great magazine editor Richard Stolley, recall her career as a young actress in the early 1960s. og:url: https://time.com/3880347/ann-margret-early-photos-of-a-hollywood-legend/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926b472f7d8ccecb/6988453f8e0601820445f517/ugc1204891.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ann-Margret, 1961 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ann-Margret: Early Photos of a Hollywood Legend twitter:description: Ann-Margret and her long-time friend, the great magazine editor Richard Stolley, recall her career as a young actress in the early 1960s. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926b472f7d8ccecb/6988453f8e0601820445f517/ugc1204891.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # I Was in LIFE: Ann-Margret Remembers by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jul 8, 2014 7:00 PM UTC  Not published in LIFE. With help from friend Scott Smith on piano, Ann-Margret auditions for Dick Pierce (far left) and others at RCA Victor Records, 1961. Not published in LIFE. With help from friend Scott Smith on piano, Ann-Margret auditions for Dick Pierce (far left) and others at RCA Victor Records, 1961.Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jul 8, 2014 7:00 PM UTC Fifty-odd years ago, a young singer/dancer on the verge of breaking into the movies visited LIFE magazine’s Los Angeles bureau—and for once, the news hounds who worked there were speechless. “Everybody was working on typewriters back then, so it was very noisy,” remembers the legendary editor Richard Stolley, who was L.A. bureau chief at the time. “I’m sitting in my office and suddenly it got quiet. All the typewriters stopped. I thought, ‘What the hell is going on?’ So I got up and I walked to the door. And what was happening? Ann-Margret was walking through the newsroom.” Here, Stolley and Ann-Margret herself reminisce about those long-ago days_—_days that remain distinct in both of their memories. “That,” Stolley says of the picture at left, “is what you were wearing when you came in to the bureau.” “It was a light blue, lambswool sweater,” Ann-Margret recalls, laughing. “That’s the only outfit I had at the time. The only one! Oh, dear.” In the decades since that first encounter, Stolley served as the top editor of both LIFE and PEOPLE magazines, and that fresh-faced 19-year-old starlet did pretty well for herself, too: Ann-Margret, born Ann-Margret Olsson in Stockholm, became one of Hollywood’s sexiest, most vivacious stars, her energy and talent lighting up movies as varied as _Bye Bye Birdie_, _Viva Las Vegas_ and _Tommy_. Through the years, the great journalist, now 84, and the marvelous actress, now 72, have remained dear friends. For this LIFE.com feature, the two of them reminisced over photos made by Grey Villet (“Oh, I _loved_ him,” she says of the late LIFE photographer) for the 1961 LIFE article that introduced Ann-Margret as a hot Hollywood prospect while she auditioned for a role in the film, _State Fair_. Many of the photos in this gallery were not originally published in LIFE. Below are some excerpts from their chat: --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” ---  Ann-Margret, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Ann-Margret consults with costume designer Don Feld about what she'll wear during a screen test, 1961. Grey Villet/TIME & LIFE Pictures  Ann-Margret takes a break from screen-test rehearsals and dines with actor Peter Brown (of the TV Western Lawman) at Har-Omar restaurant in Hollywood, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret takes a break from screen-test rehearsals and dines with actor Peter Brown (of the TV Western Lawman) at Har-Omar restaurant in Hollywood, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Ann-Margret looks over a script with the screen test's director, Robert Parrish, and the actor who would read opposite her, David Hedison. The movie Fox was casting, State Fair, had been made twice previously, including a 1945 version starring Jeanne Crain as a sweet girl in love. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret face-to-face with actor David Hedison, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Ann-Margret and David Hedison rehearse a scene outside on Fox's back lot, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret with actor David Hedison, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret, Hollywood, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Studio hairdresser Helen Turpin takes care of Ann-Margret for her State Fair audition in 1961 — with orders from the film's director to give her a "kind of wild, Alice in Wonderland look." Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Outfitted for a screen test, Ann-Margret sits with costume designer Don Feld, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret studies costume designer Don Feld's quick sketch of what she'd wear during the second half of her screen test — a slightly sexier version of the outfit she wore just about every day. "These tights are good for you," Feld told her, according to LIFE's story. "At no time do we ever see less than a complete leg." Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret launches into the song-and-dance half of her screen test, during which she performed the old jazz standard "Bill Bailey" wearing that memorable combo of lambswool sweater and black leotard. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Ann-Margret performs during a screen test, 1961. Grey Villet—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. At some point during the shoot for LIFE, Ann-Margret visited with her mentor, the legendary George Burns, in a prop room of a studio where he kept an office, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. With help from friend Scott Smith on piano, Ann-Margret auditions for Dick Pierce (far left) and others at RCA Victor Records, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. To fully illustrate the Ann-Margret story for LIFE, Villet traveled to Fox Lake, Illinois, where he photographed the starlet with her loving family. She, her parents, and her aunts and uncles had all immigrated to the United States from Sweden. Her father stands above her at far left, above, and her mother is in the middle of the photo. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret with family and friends, Fox Lake, Illinois, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Ann-Margret dances with her father, 1961. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Ann-Margret's Uncle Roy gives her you a playful spanking after she tried to tickle him, 1961\. "It's wonderful," she says, "that Grey \[Villet, the photographer\] was there to capture that moment." Grey Villet/TIME & LIFE Pictures  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret with her uncle, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret, Fox Lake, Illinois, 1961. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. In Los Angeles, Ann-Margret practices her golf stroke in the office of her manager, Pierre Cossette, as her friend Scott Smith (far left) and another acquaintance look on, 1961. Grey Villet/TIME & LIFE Pictures  Not published in LIFE. At her manager Pierre Cossette's house, Ann-Margret and friends gather, 1961\. From the reporter's notes: "Whenever these kids get together they perform for one another; that is, they did not stage this hoedown strictly for \[photographer Grey\] Villet's benefit." Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  According to the reporter's notes, in this photo Ann-Margret was "exploring the back lot alone and doing a few exuberant leaps around the deserted western street." But the image was so joyful that LIFE used it to illustrate Ann-Margret's good news, which came after Grey Villet had finished shooting: She'd nailed the screen test and scored a movie contract with Fox. Grey Villet—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ann-Margret on a studio back lot, Hollywood, 1961. 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