Ann-Margret’s recollections of her time on “A Streetcar Named Desire” aren’t the most positive.
In a recent piece for Interview Magazine, the 84-year-old actress revisited her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in the 1984 television adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ renowned play. She described the role as “challenging.”
“I knew I had to be as authentic as possible, and that’s what I aimed for,” she remarked. “I gave it everything I had.”
When discussing Williams’ desire to cast her a decade before the film came to be, Ann-Margret expressed her delight. “I was thrilled that he appreciated my work and wanted me for the role,” she said.
“It was such an honor! Tennessee Williams was someone I deeply admired,” she added.
The esteemed actress also recounted the difficulties she faced during the production, revealing that director John Erman had to remind her on the final day of filming that it was “just a movie.”
“People saw me crying when I was all alone and that’s when he came in and said that, because I had gotten to such a point that I was always sad, so that’s when he came in,” she remembered.
“And it took you a while after filming wrapped to get out of that mindset as Blanche DuBois?” interviewer Andrew Hopf asked, to which Ann-Margret replied, “That is true.”
Hopf added, “That’s awful,” as Ann-Margret agreed, “Yeah, it was.”
“A Streetcar Named Desire” is about a former Southern belle who moves into an apartment in New Orleans after experiencing a series of losses.
The ABC TV movie, which also starred Treat Williams, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid and Erica Yohn, came out one year after Tennessee Williams died at age 71 in Feb. 1983.
Ann-Margret previously revealed that she sought help from a psychiatrist to handle filming “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
“I’m an emotional actress, not a technical one. I called her at 2 in the morning. I was losing it. She said, ‘Can you hear me?’ It was like she was speaking from another planet. I tried to focus on her and couldn’t,” she told The Washington Post in 1984.
“She said I was in a psychotic state and would remain there for a few hours. But she assured me I was still Ann-Margret Smith,” the actress recalled. “I had to stay in that state for five more hours. When the filming was over, John embraced me for a long time. He said, ‘It’s okay. You’re still Ann-Margret.’”
“It stayed with me for eight weeks,” she revealed. “I’d have flashbacks. I’d heard stories of actresses who’d been affected by parts. But I never knew anyone who’d been through that. I was Blanche. It still comes back.”
Ann-Margret is also famous for her roles in “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Viva Las Vegas,” “The Train Robbers” and more.
