Anita Ekberg
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg (born on
September 29,
1931 in
Malmö,
Skåne) is a
Swedish former
model and
actress.
A
1951 Miss Sweden â€" she competed in the
Miss Universe pageant â€" Ekberg is best-known for her role as
Sylvia in
La Dolce Vita, directed by
Federico Fellini.
Ethel Merman dubbed the well-endowed Ekberg (measurements 40-22-36) "the thinking man's dunce cap: two of them."
Bob Hope joked that her parents had received the
Nobel Prize for architecture as she was touring with him and
William Holden to entertain U.S. troops in 1954.
That tour led her to a contract with
John Wayne's
Batjac Productions. Wayne cast her in
Blood Alley (
1955) as a Chinese woman, a role that earned her a
Golden Globe award.
Although many of her films are largely forgotten now, she appeared in several notable features: the low-budget
Film Noir Screaming Mimi (
1958) directed by Gert Oswald who already used her the previous year opposite
Sterling Hayden in
Valerie;
War and Peace where she played
Henry Fonda's unfaithful wife, Princess Elena. She also appeared in two
Frank Tashlin films with
Jerry Lewis and
Dean Martin:
Artists and Models (
1955) and
Hollywood or Bust (
1956). In
Back from Eternity, (
1956) she was cast as
Robert Ryan's leading lady.
However it was Federico Fellini who gave Ekberg her greatest role in
La Dolce Vita in
1960, in which she played the unattainable "dream woman" opposite
Marcello Mastroianni; then
Boccaccio '70 in
1960, a movie that also featured
Sophia Loren. Fellini would call her back for two other films:
I Clowns (
1972), and
Intervista (
1987), where she played herself in a reunion scene with Mastroianni.
Fellini aside, she was not offered many notable good films in the 60's.
Four for Texas by
Robert Aldrich (
1963) with
Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin and
Ursula Andress, and
Woman Times Seven by
Vittorio de Sica in
1967, with
Shirley MacLaine. Two films in
1966,
The Alphabet Murders again with Frank Tashlin, and
Way...Way Out, the latter introducing
Linda Harrison in her first movie; and a small role in
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium in
1969.
Ekberg was married to the British actor
Anthony Steel from 1956 to 1959. From 1963 to 1975, she was married to the actor
Rik Van Nutter; during their marriage, she had several miscarriages, but no successful pregnancies.
She reportedly was romantically involved with
Tyrone Power,
Marcello Mastroianni,
Errol Flynn,
Yul Brynner,
Frank Sinatra, and
Gary Cooper; she also had a three-year affair with the late
Fiat chairman
Gianni Agnelli.
Ekberg has resided in
Rome for many years.
"It was I who made Fellini famous, not the other way around." [
1]
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