Ann-Margret Takes a Chance on Life in Hallmark Channel's ``A Place Called Home''; Oscar Nominee Stars as Recluse Who Opens Her Home to a Drifter, Her Heart to His Child.

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Entertainment Editors

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LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 2004

Ann-Margret stars in "A Place Called Home," about a widow who takes a second chance at life when she takes in an aimless drifter and his precocious daughter. The Hallmark Channel Original movie premieres Sunday, March 7 (9/8c). An encore presentation follows at 11/10c.

Shot on location in Lake Tahoe, California, "A Place Called Home" tells the story of Tula Bouvier Jeeters, a recluse whose deteriorating eyesight makes her the prey of her dead husband's opportunistic niece, Billie (Hunter Tylo, "The Bold and the Beautiful"), who schemes to drive Tula off the property to make way for a lucrative real estate venture.

Although Tula refuses to be intimidated, she remains isolated and alone until a drifter (Matthew Settle, "Band of Brothers") and his nine-year-old daughter (Shailene Woodley, "The O.C.") land on her doorstep. Only then does the sea captain's widow decide to enter the stream of life again, taking a chance on a restless father and world-weary child searching for that ever-elusive place called home.

"A Place Called Home" is about letting go of the past, second chances, and making dreams come true. Do any of these themes resonate with Ann-Margret?

"When I was about 16 years old and I said that I wanted to be an entertainer, that was unheard of for a woman to say that. You just got married and you had children and that was it," recalls the two-time Academy Award(R) and five-time Emmy(R) nominee. "Nowadays, girls can do whatever they want to do."

Does the Hollywood legend have any advice for a young person interested in pursuing a show business career today?

"Whatever it is you want to do, don't let anything stop you. But you have to be passionate. One of the first things that you have to learn how to (face) is rejection. If you stop at the first rejection you'll never do anything."

Is success simply a matter of developing a thick skin?

"It can be very tricky," she admits, "very tricky to not build a wall around yourself and to remain vulnerable so you can experience all those things when you have a role, like Tula, to do."

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