Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

moonlight in June and long-stemmed roses and stuff. Once Ann said to me, ‘I don’t care how many millions of people have fallen in love since time began, there has never been a love like mine and Burt’s.’ “When Burt proposed, Ann-Margret was on top of that topmost" cloud up there. “When Burt gave her the ring, same thing — only the cloud was even higher. “But then things began to happen, and the engagement and the happiness were all very short-lived. “The reason? Pressures. From all over. Too many problems “First of all, Annie’s parents didn’t approve of the marriage. And they told her so. They felt she was too young. Burt Sugarman was a divorced man. “Then the studio had its say. Studios have a funny way of not liking it when young girl stars run off and get married. They invest a lot of money creating an image and in Annie’s case it was the image of a young and radiant girl who should — for a couple of years, at least — be everybody’s girl friend and nobody’s wife. “There were other pressures, too from friends, some real and some would-be. “They pointed out to Ann that she was Lutheran, that Burt was Jewish, and that this could make a difference later on. They pointed out that Annie was in show business— that kooky, ever-travelin’ business — while Burt was in finance — solid, conservative finance — and that never the twain of basic temperamental differences would meet. “They pointed out this and that. “The pressures continued coming, from all sides. “And one night Annie told Burt that she was sorry, that she couldn’t marry him. She gave him back his ring. And that was that. . . .” “I know it sounds cold, what happened between Burt and myself, in some of the accounts you hear,” Ann-Margret says. “But the truth is that the decision was a very difficult and heartbreaking one to make — and it was made by me and me alone. It is true that my parents objected, but only because I was too young and they wanted me to wait for a year or so. The true reasons for our breakup are too personal for me to go into. I consider love a personal and sacred thing and I don’t think I shall ever talk much about it. “I have just one fear now. And that is that I hope that if there are some people who like certain things about me, that I will never change. Or disappoint them. Or let them down. . . . Never. Ever.” She never forgets “Ann-Margret change?” asks Dr. Peterman, of New Trier High. “I don’t think so. She’s extremely loyal, to her family, to me, to just about anyone who ever knew her. Last time she was in Chicago, for instance, she gave me a call. ‘I’m only in town a few hours and I can’t get up to school this time,’ she said, ‘but why don’t you come on downtown, Doc, and we can have dinner together?’ Here’s a girl who never forgets, a girl who never lets go of a good friendship or what she considers a valid obligation. My only worry is that she’s going to build up so many of these things that she won’t be able to handle them all in time.” Says Joannie Stremmel: “Ann-Margret is a true friend and she’ll always be the same. She’d go out of her way, to any extreme, to make you happy. I remember last year I went out to see her in California. I was there for a week and it couldn’t have been nicer. Ann-Margret, it happened, was on the go from A.M. to P.M. But this didn’t mean that she ignored me. Where somebody else would have said, ‘Gee, Joannie, I’m so busy, would you mind going off to a movie this afternoon?’ Ann-Margret made sure that I went with her, wherever she had to go. She took me to the studio and introduced me to all the important people there. She had an appointment with her agent — and there was I, right there along with her. Lots of these places, I’m sure she could have done without me. But never once did she give me the feeling that she was leaving me out in the cold. No, Ann-Margret never forgets you. And I’m very flattered to be her friend. Not because she’s a movie star, but because she’s the person she is.” Says Holly Salvano: “She’s the most loyal person I’ve ever known. I, too, went out to visit her in Hollywood recently and she made sure that I was always included in everything. There has never been a Christmas or a birthday that she’s forgotten. She has a heart of gold. She’s the best friend I ve ever had — and ever will have.” Maid of honor Says Sharon Lauver: “I’m sure that if I’d ever become a movie star it would have done all sorts of awful things to me. I know I would have changed. I just know it . . . But not Ann-Margret. To give you an example — and this is something I shall never forget, not for as long as I live— when we were kids together, we always used to talk about our dreams, you know? And mine was to grow up and meet a fellow I loved and to get married. And Ann always used to say to me, ‘When you do get married, Sharon, I’d like more than anything else to be your maid of honor.’ Well, a few months ago I became engaged. I phoned Ann in California to tell her the good news. And before I got more than two sentences out she interrupted and asked, ‘Sharon, unless you have another girl in mind, may I be your maid of honor, just the way we used to talk about it when we were kids?’ My wedding took place in Summit, New Jersey, where my family now lives. That’s quite a long way from California. I knew how busy Ann-Margret was, how it meant quite a bit for her to fly East for that one day. But she did it. For me. For our friendship. And, well, what more can I possibly say about her?” Says Uncle Roy Weselius: “She’s still the sweet, good girl she always was, and will always be. She came to Chicago not long ago and she invited me and her Aunt Gerda to her hotel one night. She was working and she said she was sorry we couldn’t spend more time together — but at least, she said, we would all have dinner together. So my wife and I went. 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