Today should be a religious holiday: Swedish-American triple threat (actress, singer, dancer) and quintessential sex-kitten-gone-berserk the fabulous Ann-Margret (born 28 April 1941) turns 81! Pictured: the devilish redheaded vixen in her 1977 TV special Ann-Margret: Rhinestone Cowgirl. (Her slinky Western outfit is by “rajah of rhinestones" Bob Mackie, natch!). A-M’s ultra-hip cutting edge guest stars on Rhinestone Cowgirl included Bob Hope, Perry Como and Minnie Pearl!
“Nothing and nobody else matters in Martin Scorsese’s Casino whenever Sharon Stone’s decadent and devastating Ginger McKenna slinks into a frame. Playing a bona fide hustler unhappily betrothed to De Niro’s smitten casino honcho, Stone is the single most striking element in Scorsese’s fact-based Las Vegas crime saga. The actress can take our breath away just by strolling into a room in a beautifully beaded Bob Mackie gown, but she’s also playing a real, anguishing woman to never less than riveting effect. Stone’s voluptuous emotional shadings make us believe every stage of Ginger’s ever-shifting character, whether it be the scam artist with a criminal knowledge to rival any man’s, the codependent lover, the keyed-up addict, or the materialistic housewife itching to get out of her lavish prison at any cost, even if it means offing her husband/jailor with the help of his equally infatuated best friend. Stone never sands down Ginger’s rough edges and her strident, exceptionally physical blow-ups in the film’s final act conjure an intricate and unabating intensity that some critics like to pretend is the exclusive provenance of men in Scorsese’s movies; they’re wrong, and Stone’s superb and rightfully iconic performance is the enduring proof.” — Matthew Eng
