{"id":25405,"date":"2026-06-20T23:18:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/20\/ann-margret-still-chasing-speed-at-85-says-shes-never-once-been-scared-on-a-bike-page-six\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T23:18:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:18:45","slug":"ann-margret-still-chasing-speed-at-85-says-shes-never-once-been-scared-on-a-bike-page-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/20\/ann-margret-still-chasing-speed-at-85-says-shes-never-once-been-scared-on-a-bike-page-six\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann-Margret still chasing speed at 85, says she\u2019s never once been scared on a bike – Page Six"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tSee more of our coverage in your search results.\t\t\t
At 85, Ann-Margret<\/a> still has a need for speed.
The “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Viva Las Vegas” legend is opening her personal archives to fans, partnering with Julien\u2019s Auctions<\/a> to sell cherished keepsakes, household items and glamorous Bob Mackie-designed costumes beginning June 23.
One of the sale\u2019s crown jewels is her custom 1997 Harley-Davidson<\/a> Sportster XL883 Hugger, adorned with a mauve-and-daisy design and ridden by the star for more than 20 years.
When asked by Fox News Digital what riding means to her, the actress, without missing a beat, declared, “Freedom, freedom, freedom!”
Ann-Margret noted that she loves the “speed” and still happily rides today.
“Back in Sweden, my uncle, my mother\u2019s brother, he had a big motorcycle,” she said. “I watched him, and of course, I asked him if I could ride with him. And I did. And that was it. I had to have one of my own.”
With zero hesitation, Ann-Margret replied, “Nope,” when asked whether she was ever scared.
“Isn\u2019t that something?” she said. “I never have been. I love the speed. I try not to go too fast, although I do love the speed. I\u2019m joyful when I get on that bike. I don\u2019t get scared. That\u2019s the problem!”
A devoted motorcycle enthusiast since the 1960s, Ann-Margret has spent decades chasing adventure on two wheels, both on set and off.
In one of her most iconic images, photographer Douglas Kirkland captured the star in 1971 racing down a Las Vegas highway on a chopper, dressed in a patriotic showgirl ensemble and knee-high boots.
And if the star gets any second glances from no-nonsense bikers, she doesn\u2019t seem to notice.
“I\u2019m so busy making sure that I ride my bike correctly, I don\u2019t notice things like that!” she quipped.
That independent streak extends well beyond the open road. At her house, guests can expect to find a sign that reads, “You can tell a Swede, but you can\u2019t tell her much,” which was put up by her late husband, Roger Smith.
“It\u2019s true,” she laughed. “I\u2019m a rebel. And I\u2019m happy. I\u2019m happy with my life. I had 54 great years with Roger. I\u2019m a happy person. And I enjoy my work. It\u2019s not work to me. I\u2019m so deeply appreciative of my fans. I do understand that they understand me. I\u2019m serious about being an entertainer, but again, it\u2019s not work to me. It\u2019s joy.”
Ann-Margret has never been one to play by the rules. One item up for auction is an ivory-and-orange gown with a low V-neck that she wore in 1963 when she appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
She wore the same ensemble to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1963 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, following in Marilyn Monroe’s footsteps a year later.
“It\u2019s such a magnificent dress,” she said. “And I had the audacity to sing \u2018Baby, Won\u2019t You Please Come Home\u2019 [to the president]. I was very, very young. And that audacity? Yeah, I had a good time.”
The memory of performing for Kennedy remains tied to another milestone from that chapter of her life. Ann-Margret described casting her first ballot for Kennedy as one of the many thrills of her life.
“I was very excited about voting,” she said. “It will always be a special moment for me. And I love my guys and girls [from the USO]. I surely remember all the trips that I made. They all still mean the world to me.”
Many of Ann-Margret\u2019s Bob Mackie dresses at the auction helped solidify her status as a Hollywood sex symbol, a title she has no qualms about.
“Well, if men think I am sexy, then that\u2019s fine,” she beamed. “That\u2019s fine with me.”
There\u2019s no denying that Ann-Margret has remained young at heart over the years. Another item up for auction is a signed 1979 book penned by Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/a> titled “Arnold’s Bodyshaping for Women.” The two starred in the 1979 comedy “The Villain.”
“The one thing that I can\u2019t really keep [up with Arnold] really is having dinner by seven o\u2019clock,” she said. “But he\u2019s amazing. The proof is in the pudding with him. He practices what he preaches.”
Like Schwarzenegger, Ann-Margret credits discipline and longevity for helping sustain a decades-long career. She said she remains amazed by the enduring support of her fans, admitting she is “humbled by it all.”
“I had been working nonstop all through those years, and here I am,” she said. “I still get very nervous before I do something. But it\u2019s excitement. I\u2019m much better about nerves today than I was when I was 18. And I was thriving. I guess I have [also] been very good at hiding it. Once I start singing and dancing, I am so into it that I just feel confident.”
And Ann-Margret has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
“Even when I was four or five years old, I was constantly moving,” she said. “I was always moving. I moved a lot, and I keep on moving. I\u2019m a happy person, especially when I move.”
That outlook has fueled her for decades. Ann-Margret previously told Fox News Digital that it\u2019s no secret her love for Harley-Davidsons has kept her feeling forever young.
“When I was ten years old, I would ride on the back of [my uncle\u2019s] bike with him,” she recalled at the time. “He would take me to the Norwegian border, and we would go into Norway. There\u2019s no way I could forget that motorcycle.”<\/p>\n

“I’ve got a lot of energy,” she reflected. “It doesn\u2019t come in a bottle. I am just blessed that my mother and father gave me such great energy. And there\u2019s no negativity here. They instilled in me all of these wonderful things that I still carry with me. You don\u2019t whine about things. You just go out and do the things that you love. And I just feel blessed with the life that I\u2019ve been given.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

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See more of our coverage in your search results. At 85, Ann-Margret still has a need for speed.The “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Viva Las Vegas” legend is opening her personal archives to fans, partnering with Julien\u2019s Auctions to sell cherished keepsakes, household items and glamorous Bob Mackie-designed costumes beginning June 23.One of the sale\u2019s crown jewels is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}