Anita Ekberg obit

Anita Ekberg, Star of 'La Dolce Vita,' Dies at 83

She was not on the list.

The Fellini film's iconic scene in Rome's Trevi Fountain made the actress and former Miss Sweden a global sex symbol

Anita Ekberg, who parlayed a Miss Sweden title into an acting career which peaked with her performance as Sylvia, an unattainable dream woman, in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, has died.

She was 83 and died in a hospital outside of Rome. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Italian newspaper reports.

A scene from the movie in which Ekberg danced uninhibitedly in the Fountain of Trevi is one of the cinema's most sensual sequences.

One of the screen's 1950s sex symbols, Ekberg was briefly under contract with John Wayne's Tatjac Prods. She won a Golden Globe Award as Most Promising Newcomer for her performance as, of all things, a Chinese woman, Wei Ling, in Blood Alley (1955), which starred Wayne and Lauren Bacall.

The buxom Swedish actress, who capitalized on her sexuality, played in such U.S. films as Abbott and Costello Go to Mars and Zarak during the '50s. She appeared on several Bob Hope TV specials, where her special endowments were the butt of Hope's wisecracks. She also toured with Hope on his numerous USO tours, winning the appreciation of U.S. servicemen. Ekberg also appeared in two film comedies with Hope: Paris Holiday (1958) and Call Me Bwana (1962).

Ekberg was also on the 1955 ABC series Casablanca, playing the role of Ilsa, which Ingrid Bergman immortalized in the movie. In the United States during the '60s, Ekberg played a number of roles that capitalized on her blonde bombshell persona, which was carefully cultivated by staged press antics and gossip columnists recounting her romantic escapades with many famous men.

Although Ekberg was mainly cast in roles that required only her statuesque beauty, she was most auspiciously cast as the female lead in RKO's Back From Eternity, where she starred opposite Robert Ryan and Rod Steiger. She delivered another solid performance as Helene in King Vidor's War and Peace in 1956, which was filmed in Rome.

Fellini also utilized her sexual persona in a segment of Bocaccio '70 (1962). In 1972, she played in Fellini's I Clowns. In 1987, she performed along with Marcello Mastroianni in Fellini's mockumentary career reflection Intervista.

For Italian director Vittorio de Sica, she starred along with Shirley MacLaine in Woman Times Seven (1967). Her films also included such romps as Four for Texas, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Ursula Andress. She also starred in such Hollywood fare as The Alphabet Murders, Way … Way Out and If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.

Most recently, Ekberg played an aging opera star in Le Nain Rouge (The Red Dwarf).

Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was born in Malmo, Sweden on Sept. 29, 1931. One of eight children, she won the Miss Malmo Pageant and subsequently was crowned Miss Sweden in 1950. As one of the top six finishers in the Miss Universe Pageant, she was

offered a movie contract with Howard Hughes' RKO. However, she signed instead with Universal-International, playing window-dressing parts, beginning in 1953 with The Mississippi Gambler, Take Me to Town and The Golden Blade.

Ekberg was married to British actor Anthony Steel from 1956 until 1959. In 1963, she married actor Rik Van Nutter, divorcing him in 1975. For many years, she resided in Rome.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes    ref

1953      The Mississippi Gambler                Maid of Honor  

    Uncredited

    American adventure film directed by Rudolph Maté.

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars                 Venusian Guard                American science fiction comedy film directed by Charles Lamont.               

Take Me to Town             Dancehall Girl    Uncredited        

The Golden Blade             Handmaiden      An adventure film directed by Nathan Juran.

Uncredited        

1955      Blood Alley         Wei Ling, Big Han's wife                 American seafaring Cold War adventure film set in China directed by William A. Wellman.               

Artists and Models           Anita    

    Musical comedy in VistaVision directed by Frank Tashlin.

    The film marks Martin and Lewis's fourteenth feature together as a team.

    Longtime Martin and Lewis writer Herbert Baker worked on the script, which had the original title Rock-A-Bye Baby; the title later being used for a 1958 Jerry Lewis film.

1956      War and Peace Hélène Kuragin American-Italian war drama film directed by King Vidor.

Back from Eternity           Rena      drama film directed and produced by John Farrow.          

Man in the Vault               Flo Randall          Film noir directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.          

Zarak     Salma   

    British Warwick Films CinemaScope in Technicolor action film based on the 1949 book The Story of Zarak Khan by A.J. Bevan.

    Directed by Terence Young.

Hollywood or Bust           Herself

    Comedy film directed by Frank Tashlin.

    Last film starring the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

               

1957      Interpol                Gina Broger       

    Known as Pickup Alley in the U.S.A..

    British Warwick Films crime film shot in CinemaScope directed by John Gilling.

Valerie Valerie Horvat   Western film directed by Gerd Oswald.

1958      Paris Holiday      Zara       Comedy film directed by Gerd Oswald   

Screaming Mimi                Virginia Wilson aka Yolanda Lange           

    Film noir directed by Gerd Oswald

    Based on the novel by pulp novelist Fredric Brown.

    Film never received an official video release in the U.S.

               

The Man Inside Trudie Hall          British crime adventure film directed by John Gilling.      

1959      Sheba and the Gladiator                Zenobia               

    Historical drama film loosely pertaining to the Palmyrene Empire and its re-annexation back into the Roman Empire.

    (Italian: Nel Segno di Roma)

    Directed by Guido Brignone.

    Originally called The Sign of Rome.

    American International Pictures acquired the American rights to the film and retitled it Sign of the Gladiator despite there being no gladiators in the film.

1960      La Dolce Vita      Sylvia     Italian comedy-drama film written and directed by Federico Fellini.

The Dam on the Yellow River       Miss Dorothy Simmons

    Italian: Apocalisse sul fiume giallo

    French: Le dernier train de Shanghai

    Released in UK as Last Train to Shanghai.

    Italian-French drama film written and directed by Renzo Merusi.

Le tre eccetera del colonnello     Georgina                             

Anonima cocottes                                           

1961      A porte chiuse   Olga Duvovich  

    Internationally released as Behind Closed Doors

    Italian comedy film directed by Dino Risi.

The Mongols      Hulina   Directed by André De Toth.         

1962      Boccaccio '70     Herself

    Italian anthology film directed by Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Vittorio De Sica, from an idea by Cesare Zavattini.

    It is an anthology of four episodes, each by one of the directors, all about a different aspect of morality and love in modern times, in the style of Boccaccio.

    (segment "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio")

1963      Call Me Bwana Luba      Farce film directed by Gordon Douglas.

4 for Texas          Elya Carlson       

    American western comedy directed by Robert Aldrich.

    The film was announced in 1960 as Two for Texas.

Bianco, rosso, giallo, rosa              Alberchiaria                       

1965      Who Wants to Sleep?     Lolita Young      

    German:Das Liebeskarussell

    German comedy film directed by Rolf Thiele, Axel von Ambesser and Alfred Weidenmann.

The Alphabet Murders   Amanda              

    British detective film directed by Frank Tashlin.

    Based on the novel The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

               

1966      How I Learned to Love Women Margaret Joyce

    Italian: Come imparai ad amare le donne

    French: Comment j'ai appris à aimer les femmes

    German: Das gewisse Etwas der Frauen

    Also known as Love Parade

    Italian-French-German comedy film directed by Luciano Salce.

Way...Way Out Anna Soblova     American comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas.        

Pardon, Are You For or Against?                Baroness Olga   

    Italian: Scusi, lei è favorevole o contrario?

    Italian comedy film written, directed and starred by Alberto Sordi.

1967      The Cobra            Lou        

    Italian: Il cobra

    Spanish: El cobra

    Also known as Cobra and Female Cobra

    Italian-Spanish crime film directed by Mario Sequi.

The Glass Sphinx               Paulette              

    Italian: La sfinge d'oro

    Italian-American 1967 adventure film directed by Luigi Scattini.

Woman Times Seven      Claudie

    Sette Volte Donna in Italian

    Italian/French/American co-production anthology film of seven different episodes, all starring Shirley MacLaine, most of them based on aspects of adultery.

    Directed by Vittorio De Sica.

    (segment "Snow")

               

1968      Crónica de un atraco       Bessie                  

1969      If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium       Performer                          

Malenka               Malenka / Sylvia Morel

    Also known as Fangs of the Living Dead.

    Spanish-Italian horror film that was written and directed by Spanish director Amando de Ossorio, and his first horror film.

Un sudario a la medida Jacqueline Monnard                      

Death Knocks Twice        Sophia Perretti

    German: Blonde Köder für den Mörder

    Italian: La morte bussa due volte

    Detective film directed by Harald Philipp.

1970      The Divorce        Flavia    

    Italian: Il divorzio

    Italian comedy film directed by Romolo Guerrieri.

    TV movie

Il debito coniugale           Ines                       

Quella chiara notte d'ottobre                                     

The Clowns         Herself Film by Federico Fellini about the human fascination with clowns and circuses.   

1972      Casa d'appuntamento    Madame Colette             

    Translation: The House of Rendezvous.

    Also known as The French Sex Murders.

    Giallo film directed by Ferdinando Merighi under the pseudonym "F. L. Morris".

               

La lunga cavalcata della vendetta              Jane                      

Northeast of Seoul           Katherine            Film directed by David Lowell Rich.          

1979      Killer Nun            Sister Gertrude

    Also known as Suor Omicidi or Deadly Habits

    Italian nunsploitation film directed and co-written by Giulio Berruti and co-written by Alberto Tarallo.

    The film was originally banned in Britain as a 'video nasty' and released with cuts in 1993, but was finally released uncut on DVD in the UK during 2006, after changes in British censorship policy.

                [72]

1980      S*H*E   Dr. Biebling         American spy film directed by Robert Michael Lewis.       

1982      Cicciabomba       Baronessa Judith von Kemp                        

1986      Dolce pelle di Angela      Signora Rocchi                  

1987      Intervista             Herself Italian film directed by Federico Fellini.  

1991      Count Max          Marika French-Italian comedy film directed by Christian De Sica                

1992      Ambrogio            Clarice                 

Dov'era Lei a quell'Ora?                 Anita Ekberg                      

Cattive ragazze Milli                      

1996      Bambola              Mother Greta    French-Spanish-Italian erotic melodrama film written and directed by Bigas Luna.    

1998      Le nain rouge     Paola Bendoni                  

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes    ref

1979      Gold of the Amazon Women       Queen Na-Eela   Made-for-TV-Movie

    Directed by Mark L. Lester