Though the Hollywood legend Ann-Margret famously once dated Elvis Presley, the love of her life was 77 Sunset Strip actor Roger Smith, who she was married to for fifty years before he died in 2017.

“I knew he would protect me,” she told Closer Weekly of Smith, adding that she knew she would marry him after their third date. “I knew that I could depend on him.”

In the three years since Smith died, the 79 year-old Ann-Margret has managed to recover her footing and move forward.

“You’re not dead when you reach a certain age,” she explained. “You have to keep living and not sit at home and watch TV alone. You have to participate.”

Soon after Smith’s death, Ann-Margret’s longtime friend Alan Alda invited her to guest star on his series “The Kominsky Method.”

“He said, ‘You’ve got to get back to work!’” she recalled. “At the very end I said to him, ‘You were right.’”

Alda isn’t the only friend that Ann-Margret has in Hollywood after decades of working in the business.

“She’s still great friends with Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman and other actors she’s known for years. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are good friends, too,” an insider said.

Though Ann-Margret never had children of her own, Smith’s children from a previous marriage are close to her and look after her.

“Her stepdaughter Tracey and stepsons Jordan and Dallas all adore her,” the source said. “She is a doting grandmother to all their kids. She sees them, speaks to them and Zooms with them all frequently.”