Hollywood’s Forgotten Romances: Elvis Presley and Ann-Margaret
Before tabloids and TMZ, before Instagram couples and red-carpet PDA, there was Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret. Two of the biggest stars of the 1960s were caught in a whirlwind romance that captivated Hollywood. Though their relationship was brief, it remains one of the most passionate and complicated love stories ever to rock Tinseltown.
While many know Elvis as the King of Rock and Roll and Ann-Margret as the fiery redhead who could dance circles around anyone on screen, their real-life connection was electric, undeniable, and ultimately, doomed.
Love on the set of ‘Viva Las Vegas’
Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret first met in 1963 while filming Viva Las Vegas. From the moment cameras rolled, their chemistry was impossible to ignore. Not just by the crew and co-stars, but by millions of fans who flocked to theaters to see the film.
Behind the scenes, the chemistry was even hotter. According to Ann-Margret herself, their relationship blossomed quickly.
“We both felt a current,” Margret wrote in her memoir My Story. “We both felt it move through us.” Insiders at the time claimed their connection was instantaneous and magnetic, they were two larger-than-life personalities drawn together by talent, ambition, and raw passion.
Their shared love for music, motorcycles, and mischievous fun made Presley and Margret inseparable. Presley even introduced her to his inner circle, “The Memphis Mafia,” a privilege not extended to many.
The other woman: Priscilla Presley
What made Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret’s relationship so complicated wasn’t just the media frenzy or the heat of the moment, it was Priscilla Beaulieu, Presley’s longtime girlfriend and soon-to-be wife. Though not yet married, Presley was romantically involved with Priscilla since she was 14, and by the time he met Margret, the former was living with him at Graceland.
Presley’s relationship with Priscilla was under constant scrutiny. Therefore, breaking it off to pursue a public romance with the fiery redhead could have destroyed Presley’s carefully managed image.
Secret meetings, passionate letters, and late-night phone calls between the king and the actor became the norm. It was only when news of the affair began leaking to the press that Presley made the impossible choice: loyalty to his public persona and Priscilla over his heart.
According to Priscilla’s memoir Elvis and Me, she was very uncomfortable with Presley and Margret’s relationship. She feared their relationship as the movie’s filming continued.
She wrote, “I realized that even had I told him my fears, he could have said nothing to put my mind at ease because one evening he had made the mistake of telling me about the romances he’d had with many of his co-stars.”
In Elvis and Me, Priscilla wrote that Presley assured her that nothing inappropriate was happening. However, when Priscilla found out otherwise, she “picked up a flower vase and threw it across the room.”
In 1967, Presley and Priscilla married, and the door on his relationship with Ann-Margret seemingly closed forever. But their love story didn’t end there.
Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret’s Bond Never Broke
Despite their breakup, Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret never truly severed ties. When Presley died in 1977, Margret was one of the few Hollywood stars invited to his funeral.
Margret arrived quietly with her husband, actor Roger Smith, and was escorted by Vernon Presley. He reportedly still held her in high regard and appreciated the deep emotional bond she and his son shared.
To this day, Margret rarely speaks in depth about her romance with the King of Rock and Roll. But when she does, it’s with a mixture of reverence and heartbreak.
“He was my soul mate,” she once said, via the Elvis History Blog. “We were connected, mind, body, and soul.”
Elvis and Ann-Margret had a romance that burned bright but never lasted. Yet for fans of old Hollywood, this love story lives on as one of its most unforgettable “what-ifs.”
