Elvis Presley: Ann-Margret’s ‘weird’ fact about working with ‘shy’ King on Viva Las Vegas

It was 61 years ago today when Bye Bye Birdie star Ann-Margret started shooting Viva Las Vegas with Elvis Presley himself. A couple of years ago she was inducted into the UNLV College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame at the university where a musical number from the movie was shot. Beforehand, the 83-year-old shared her memories of first meeting The King, who she went on to date for a time.

Speaking previously with Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ann-Margret said that Elvis was a great man and revealed a “weird” fact about their collaboration. Ann-Margret shared: “This sounds weird, but I had never seen him perform before I did the movie. I know that’s hard to believe. We just found out we were very much alike. We were both very shy, but then you become this other person when you are performing. I loved my parents so much, and he loved his mother so much.” Elvis fans will know The King tragically lost his mother Gladys in 1958 at the age of 46 and had been very close to her.

During Ann-Margret’s acceptance speech at the University of Nevada, she spoke warmly of shooting Viva Las Vegas there.

The 83-year-old said: “The song and dance number called C’mon Everybody was filmed right here in the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, which in 1963 was UNLV’s gym. I’m really proud of that film. It was one of the happiest times of my life. “It was released in May 1964 and was one of the top-grossing films of that year. And it made me so very happy that that film was entertaining globally. So many people got a chance to…[have it] make them happy. It makes me so happy.”