Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish actress, model, and sex symbol. She is best
known for her role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita, which features
a scene of her cavorting in Rome's Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.
Early life Ekberg was born on 29 September 1931, in Malmö,
Skåne, the eldest girl and the sixth of eight children. In her teens, she worked as a fashion
model. In 1950, Ekberg entered the Miss Malmö competition at her mother's urging leading
to the Miss Sweden contest which she won. She consequently went to the United States
to compete for the Miss Universe title despite not speaking English.
Early career Though she did not win Miss Universe, as one
of six finalists she did earn a starlet's contract with Universal Studios, as was the
rule at the time. In America, Ekberg met Howard Hughes, who at the time was producing films
and wanted her to change her nose, teeth and name. She refused to change her name, saying
that if she became famous people would learn to pronounce it, and if she did not become
famous it would not matter. As a starlet at Universal, Ekberg received
lessons in drama, elocution, dancing, horseriding and fencing. She appeared briefly in the 1953
Universal films, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars and The Golden Blade. Ekberg skipped
many of her drama lessons, restricting herself to horseriding in the Hollywood Hills. Ekberg
later admitted she was spoiled by the studio system and played instead of pursuing bigger
film roles. Mainstream career
The combination of a colourful private life and physique gave her appeal to gossip magazines
such as Confidential and to the new type of men's magazine that proliferated in the 1950s.
She soon became a major 1950s pin-up. In addition, Ekberg participated in publicity stunts. Famously,
she admitted that an incident where her dress burst open in the lobby of London's Berkeley
Hotel was prearranged with a photographer. By the mid-1950s, after several modelling
jobs, Ekberg finally broke into the film industry. She guest-starred in the short-lived TV series
Casablanca and Private Secretary. She had a small part in the film Blood Alley starring
John Wayne and Lauren Bacall. She appeared alongside the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
comedy act in Artists and Models and Hollywood or Bust both for Paramount Pictures. For a
while she was publicized as "Paramount's Marilyn Monroe."
Paramount cast her in War and Peace which was shot in Rome, alongside Mel Ferrer and
Audrey Hepburn. Meanwhile, RKO gave the actress her first leading role in Back from Eternity.
Ekberg featured in five films released during 1956, the last two being Man in the Vault
and Zarak. These other productions were minor and had a limited impact on her career. In
1957, she starred in the British drama Interpol with Victor Mature and Valerie also in 1957
with Sterling Hayden. In 1958, she appeared in two high-profile
films, where she co-starred with Bob Hope in Paris Holiday and starred with Philip Carey
and Gypsy Rose Lee in Screaming Mimi. A European film, Sheba and the Gladiator, followed.
Federico Fellini gave Ekberg her greatest role in La Dolce Vita, in which she played
the unattainable "dream woman" of the character played by Marcello Mastroianni. The film has
been released in English, French, German and Italian. After this, she accepted a fairly
good role in The Dam of the Yellow River (it) in 1960.
She then appeared in Boccaccio '70, a film that also featured Sophia Loren and Romy Schneider.
Soon thereafter, Ekberg was being considered to play the first Bond girl, Honey Ryder in
Dr. No, but the role went to an unknown Ursula Andress. In 1963, Ekberg would go on to costar
with Andress, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin in the western-comedy 4 for Texas. Fellini
would call her back for two more films: I clowns, and Intervista, where she played herself
in a reunion scene with Mastroianni. Personal life
Ekberg has been married twice to actors. She was married to Anthony Steel from 1956 to
1959 and then to Rik Van Nutter in 1963; the couple divorced in 1975. In an interview,
she said she wished she had a child, however stating the opposite on another occasion.
Ekberg has not lived in Sweden since the early 1950s and rarely visits the country. However,
she has welcomed Swedish journalists into her house outside Rome and in 2005 appeared
in the popular radio program Sommar, where she talked about her life. She stated in an
interview that she would not move back to Sweden before her death since she would be
buried there. Ekberg said the Swedish people and media have not appreciated her sufficiently.
Nevertheless, her personal and radio appearances have been popular in Sweden.
On 19 July 2009, she was admitted to the San Giovanni Hospital in Rome after falling ill
in her home in Genzano according to a medical official in its neurosurgery department. She
had been living in Italy for many years. Despite her condition not being serious, Ekberg was
put under observation in the facility. In December 2011, it was reported that the
80-year-old Ekberg was "destitute" following three months in a hospital with a broken thigh
in Rimini, during which her home was robbed and badly damaged in a fire. Ekberg applied
for help from the Fellini Foundation, itself in difficult financial straits.
Partial filmography
References Notes
Bibliography
References McDonough, Jimmy. Big Bosoms and Square Jaws:
The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-07250-1.
Mancini, Henry. Did They Mention the Music?: The Autobiography of Henry Mancini. Copper
Square Press. ISBN 978-0-8154-1175-8. External links
Anita Ekberg at the Internet Movie Database Anita Ekberg at the TCM Movie Database
Anita Ekberg at AllMovie