‘Triple Threat’ Ann-Margret Wows on ‘The Tonight Show’

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Ann-Margret on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Jan. 22, 1975

She was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1962 for Best New Artist, though she’s much better known for her acting and dancing career in such movies as Bye Bye Birdie, Carnal Knowledge and opposite Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas. And rock fans will no doubt recall her performance as Nora Walker in the 1975 film adaptation of The Who’s Tommy. We’re writing, of course, about Ann-Margret, who helped define the entertainment term “triple threat” (singing-acting-dancing).

In 2023, when she released Born To Be Wild, her first studio album of new material in over a decade, Pete Townshend wrote, “Ann-Margret’s work on the Tommy movie back in 1974 (when she was most certainly not old enough to pretend to be Roger Daltrey’s mother) was a joy from beginning to end. Her sonorous voice, her Scandinavian beauty, her sense of humour, her stamina and her strength all shone through.” [Indeed, she was born on April 28, 1941, just three years before Daltrey.]

Watch her in a scene from Tommy

Not long before the film was released, Ann-Margret appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. For the January 22, 1975, guest slot, the 33-year-old was there to promote her TV special, Ann-Margret Olsson, that was airing the next evening. (It was filmed in England in 1974 and featured her Tommy co-star, Tina Turner after they had finished their scenes for the movie.) After a lengthy interview, Carson tees things up. “You’re gonna do a little something for us tonight, right?”

Watch Ann-Margret’s unforgettable performance of “I’ve Got the Music In Me,” a song popularized by Kiki Dee in 1974 [It begins at the 8:30 mark]