Actress, singer, and former love of Elvis Presley, Ann Margret, revealed the heartbreaking way she found out the King died. The two met in on the set of 1964’s Viva Las Vegas, where they quickly hit it off.
Their affair was one of passion. According to Margret, their connection was instant and strong. She said their connection started because they felt “music in the same visceral way.”
“Music ignited a fiery pent-up passion inside Elvis and inside me,” Margret stated. “It was an odd, embarrassing, funny, inspiring, and wonderful sensation. We looked at each other move and saw virtual mirror images. When Elvis thrust his pelvis, mine slammed forward, too. Then when his shoulder dropped, I was down there with him. When he whirled, I was already on my heel.”
Though circumstances drew them apart, Margret and Elvis remained close over the years. So close, in fact, that the King sent her flowers without fail every time she had a major opening night. That is, he did up until Aug. 15, 1977.
When the opening night of her new Las Vegas show passed with no flowers, Margret knew something was wrong. Following her instincts, the actress called Elvis’s home at Graceland. Then, Margret heard the tragic news: Elvis Presley was dead.
Ann Margret and Elvis Presley Wanted to Get Married
When they first met, Elvis wasn’t exactly in the place to get married. He had been dating his eventual wife Priscilla for many years, and the public wanted nothing more than to see him settle down. Even so, Margret said their connection was inevitable.
“We both felt a current, an electricity that went straight through us,” Margret revealed. “It would become a force we couldn’t control… Little did we know we shared a devil within. We were quiet, polite, careful. But I knew what was going to happen once we got to know each other. Elvis did, too.”
As a result of their undeniable chemistry, their affair turned serious. The couple even discussed getting married. However, the idea of their marriage leaked to the press. Elvis then broke it off with Margret, and they went their separate ways. He married Priscilla in 1967. Margret married Roger Smith the very same year. Margret and Smith were married for 50 years.
Even so, Margret held Elvis in high regard. Years after his death, she maintained that the media perception of him as a womanizer was false.
“It was extremely difficult for me to write and it’s even harder for me to talk about,” said Margret in her autobiography. “There’s been so much, for some reason, negative situations surrounding his name that I wanted to show the man that I knew – generous, loving, funny, talented, gifted – and only show complete respect.”
