ANN-MARGRET...  She dances!  She sings!  She acts up a storm! She is Ann-Margret!  She doesn't compete with anyone.  She thrives on challenges and competes and challenges herself to do it better.  Better and whom?  Noone in particular, merely better than anyone expected of Ann-Margret.      Born in Sweden to Anna and Gustav Olsson, Ann-Margret and her mom followed her father to the States in 1946.  Growing up in Illinois had normal highs and lows.  Cheerleading in high school and first runner-up on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour.  After a year at Northwestern performing opportunities presented themselves, view.  She sang with a band in Kansas City for a month, formed a jazz group with some classmates and did weekend gigs in Chicago, Los Angeles and wound up singing in the lounge of the Dunes in Las Vegas.  George Burns was there, saw and was conquered.      Every challenge was met head-on.  In '63 her singing of "Bachelor in Paradise" for the Academy Awards ceremony p0rompted SHOW MAGAZINE to say, "In the space of three minutes, Ann-Margret became the hottest name int own."  She sailed through the "{sex-kitten" sobriquet, wowed us in BYE BYE BIRDIE, and was soon on the top ten list of box office stars.  Headlining in Las Vegas, her next challenge, soon earned her the title of "Queen of Vegas" or "The Swedish Meatball".  Humor aside, her film work deservedly eaerned her two Academy Award nominations.  The first was in '71 for CARNAL KNOWLEDGE and in '74 for TOMMY , playing Roger Daltry's mother. (Really!)