She is one of the best paid stars in the world

But deep down inside, she's till that little girl from Jamtland with the big heart.

When the people from Jamtland (a county in Sweden) call me, I feel it's my duty to come home. Sure, I'm an American citizen these days, but my roots are here in Jamtland.

So said the beautiful Ann-Margret, one of Hollywood's top paid artists. Even though she makes big money, and even though she has several times been awarded American journalists Lemon Prize for being hard to handle, there were no problems for this magazine to get her to pose and to do an interview.

"Ever since me and my parents emigrated to the U.S. 20 odd years ago, Sweden, Valsjobyn and Jamtland have been in my thoughts constantly. And I hope to one day get a second home here", she says.

Ann-Margret certainly is no diva, and that some people call her hard to handle is probably up to the shyness that comes with being from the north of Sweden. But when she meets her relatives from Valsjobyn (every single one turn up) when she returns, she's happy, alert and talks to everyone - in Swedish!

Ann-Margret was called Olsson as a little girl. She was born in Stockholm where she lived for a year, then the family moved back to Jamtland, where Ann-Margret lived for 5 years. And that's where she learned her first song - "Violer Till Mor" - which she still performs, to this day. She sang it now, while entertaining the Jamtlanders, and she sang it a year ago in Las Vegas where guests had to pay several dollars to see her show.

Ann-Margret was discovered in Las Vegas 7 years ago. Since then everything has happened very fast. For example, she loses $30,000 by going to Sweden for 3 days. She doesn't care, money isn't everything, especially not to this wonderful girl, who believes the best with this trip was visiting old people in retirement centers.

Her visit was short and intense, but she had time to shoot some scenes for a future TV show, that will be shown in the U.S. in December, and will make very good PR for Jamtland and Sweden. She also told us a little about her husband Roger Smith, who sadly couldn't make it here this time. "But maybe next time", she promised all her relatives.

Ann-Margret with 2 of her cousins, Håkan, 13, and Kaj, 18.

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by Kjell Gradin

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