Anita Ekberg (September 19, 1931 – January 11, 2015) was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and curvaceous figure. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960). Ekberg worked primarily in Italy, where she became a permanent resident in 1964.
In her teens, Anita worked as a fashion model. Ekberg entered the Miss Malmö competition in 1950 at her mother’s urging. This led to the Miss Sweden contest which she won. Despite speaking very little English, she went to the United States to compete for the 1951 Miss Universe title (an unofficial pageant at that time, the pageant became official in 1952). Although Ekberg did not win the Miss Universe pageant, as one of six finalists, she did earn a starlet’s contract with Universal Studios.
As a starlet at Universal, she received lessons in drama, elocution, dancing, horseback riding, and fencing. She appeared briefly in The Mississippi Gambler (1953) with Tyrone Power, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953), Take Me to Town (1953) with Ann Sheridan, and The Golden Blade (1953) with Rock Hudson and Piper Laurie.
By the mid-1950s, after several modeling jobs, Ekberg finally broke into the film industry. She guest-starred in the short-lived TV series Casablanca (1955) and Private Secretary. She had a small part in the film Blood Alley (1955) starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall. It was her first real speaking role in a feature. She appeared alongside the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy act in Artists and Models (1955), directed by Frank Tashlin for Paramount, playing “Anita.”
Ekberg’s greatest opportunity was when Paramount cast her in War and Peace (1956) which was shot in Rome, alongside Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn. For a time, she was even publicized as “Paramount’s Marilyn Monroe.”
Ekberg was third billed in a thriller for Batjac, Man in the Vault (1956). It was distributed by RKO Pictures who had given Ekberg an excellent part in Back from Eternity (1956). She signed a deal with Warwick Pictures, the company of producers Albert Broccoli and Irwin Allen, who made films in England. She did Zarak (1956) with Victor Mature.
Ekberg returned to Hollywood to make Valerie (1957) with Sterling Hayden and her then-husband Anthony Steel for director Gerd Oswald. She co-starred with Bob Hope and Fernandel in Paris Holiday (1958). This film was also directed by Oswald, as was Screaming Mimi (1958). She did a third for Warwick, The Man Inside (1958) with Jack Palance. Another film was announced for her, entitled A Lot of Woman, but it was not made.
Ekberg went to Italy to star in Sheba and the Gladiator (1959), playing Zenobia. She stayed in Rome to make La Dolce Vita (1960) for Federico Fellini, performing as Sylvia Rank, the unattainable “dream woman” of the character played by Marcello Mastroianni. The film features a scene of her cavorting in Rome’s Trevi Fountain alongside Mastroianni, which has been called “one of cinema’s most iconic scenes.”
The movie was an international sensation and Ekberg settled in Rome. She had the lead in an Italian-French co production, Last Train to Shanghai (1960) (aka The Dam on the Yellow River), then was in Le tre eccetera del colonnello (1960), The Call Girl Business (1960), Behind Closed Doors (1961), and The Mongols (1961), which had an American director (Andre de Toth) and co star (Jack Palance).
She later said “things became a little bit boring for me after La Dolce Vita because every producer or director in Italy, England and America wanted me to recreate the same role – the movie star from America who comes over to Italy.”
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