Viva Las Vegas: Ann-Margaret Receives Honorary Degree from UNLV

Legendary Las Vegas headliner Ann-Margaret was presumption an honorary doctoral stage by UNLV this weekend. It is single of many Las Vegas-linked honors she has received over decades as an actress, singer, and dancer.

UNLV President Keith E. Whitfield presented her with the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters point inward a well-attended ceremony held at the campus’ Dylan Marlais Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday.

She recalled to the many graduates and their families how she was inward her first-class honours degree year inward college when the enticement of Las Vegas led her to bundle her bags, and depart dorms and classrooms behind.

I did i year at Northwestern,” she said. “But i worked really severely that ace year.”

For many years, Las Vegas and the Strip make played a tonality role inward her life.

Started at the Dunes

Back inward 1960, she performed with some buster Northwestern students at the lounge at the Dunes Hotel. The aggroup was called the Suttletones.

She soon was indorse in Vegas, when she appeared in Saint George Burns’ Xmas present inward the French Congo Room at the Sahara Hotel and Casino.

She rapidly got signed by Hollywood studios to come out inward such movies as “Pocketful of Miracles,” “State Fair,” and “Bye Bye Birdie.”

In 1964, she brought the civilisation and vibe of Las Vegas to the land and the world when she starred in the at present classic film “Viva Las Vegas” with the King: Elvis Presley.

One vocal and dance number, “C’mon Everybody,” was filmed on location at the then-gymnasium on the UNLV campus. type A “University of Las Vegas” signalise appeared in the background. The gym is now UNLV’s Barrick Museum of Art.

The moving picture became unity of her favorites.

She shortly emerged as a Las Vegas headliner with a five-week show at the Riviera casino. “Everybody did ii shows a dark then,” so, she did, too, Ann-Margaret recalled last yr when inducted into the UNLV College of Fine Arts Marguerite Radclyffe Hall of Fame.

Las Vegas was important inward her personal life, too. It was on May 8, 1967 she married Roger Joseph Smith in Las Vegas. He was an role player who became her manager. They were married for 50 years until he passed out inward 2017.

Ann-Margaret was born inward Sverige inwards 1941. She immigrated to the US in 1946. She was raised inward Illinois. As a youngster, she performed on Teddy boy Mack’s “Amateur Hour.”

When inducted into the UNLV Hall of Fame inwards 2021 a tearful Ann-Margaret summed upward her feelings on the metropolis that continues to swordplay a cay role in her life. “I sexual love Las Vegas.”

Love for Vegas

That intuitive feeling was repeated on Saturday. She recalled the kindness of the community, too.

Las Vegas has been my home off from place for so long, since the 1970s and 1980s,” Ann-Margaret told reporters on Saturday. “Everyone has been so kind. i erotic love it here, and I’m loving today.”