- Born
- Died
- Birth nameKerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg
- Nicknames
- The Iceberg
- Miss Sweden
- Height5′ 6½″ (1.69 m)
- Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was born on September 29, 1931 in Malmo, Sweden. Growing up with seven brothers and sisters was not an adventure, but Anita's adventure began when she was elected Miss Sweden in 1950. She did not win the Miss Universe contest but she got a modeling contract in the United States. She quickly got a film contract with Howard Hughes's RKO that did not lead anywhere (but Anita herself has said that Hughes wanted to marry her). Instead, she started making movies with Universal, small roles that more often than not only required her to look beautiful. After five years in Hollywood, she found herself in Rome, where Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) meant her breakthrough. She stayed in Italy and made around 20 movies during the next ten years, some roles memorable, some to be forgotten. Her two marriages gave her a great deal of attention from the press. During the 1970s, the roles became less frequent, but she made a marvellous comeback with Fellini's Intervista (1987).
Anita Ekberg retired from acting in 2002 after 50 years in the motion picture industry. In December 2011, she was destitute following three months in a hospital with a broken thigh in Rimini, during which her home was robbed of jewelry and furniture, and her villa was badly damaged in a fire. Ekberg applied for help from the Fellini Foundation, which also found itself in difficult financial straits. She died at age 83 from complications of an enduring illness on January 11, 2015 at the clinic San Raffaele in Rocca di Papa, Italy. Ekberg had a new film project with exclusively female Italian producer "Le Bestevem", in which her character, as movie star, should have been recovered again as an icon of the silver screen, a project that was interrupted by her death.
Her funeral was held on January 14, 2015, at the Lutheran-Evangelical Christuskirche in Rome, after which her body was cremated and her remains were buried at the cemetery of Skanor Church in Sweden.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Mattias Thuresson <[email protected]>
- SpousesRik Van Nutter(April 9, 1963 - 1975) (divorced)Anthony Steel(May 22, 1956 - May 14, 1959) (divorced)
- ChildrenNo Children
- ParentsGustav EkbergAlva Ekberg
- Platinum blonde hair
- Sparkling cat-like blue eyes
- Her enormous breasts
- Seductive deep voice
- Best known by the public for her role as Sylvia Rank in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), which features the famous scene of her cavorting in Rome's Trevi Fountain, clad in a black gown with a plunging neckline.
- In December 2011, Ekberg was destitute following three months in a hospital with a broken thigh in Rimini, during which her home was robbed of jewelry and furniture, and her villa was badly damaged in a fire. She applied for help from the Fellini Foundation, which also found itself in difficult financial straits.
- Was considered for the role of Honey Rider in the first James Bond film Dr. No (1962), which went to Ursula Andress. Ekberg later co-starred with Andress in the Western comedy 4 for Texas (1963).
- Had not lived in Sweden since the early 1950s and rarely visited the country. She had welcomed Swedish journalists in her house outside Rome, and in 2005, appeared on the radio program "Sommar", talking 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 that the Swedish people and media have not appreciated her sufficiently; nevertheless, her personal and radio appearances have been popular in Sweden.
- Had a long involvement with Tyrone Power that began when she was uncredited in his film The Mississippi Gambler (1953). She was involved with him during his subsequent tour of "John Brown's Body" and showed up in New York while he was filming The Eddy Duchin Story (1956). At one point, he took her to Cincinnati with him to meet his family. This all took place while he was married to Linda Christian. Christian describes the affair, but never mentions Ekberg's name, in her autobiography.
- How can I know who's PM or in government in Sweden? It's been 40 years since I moved abroad! Oh!
- I'm very proud of my breasts, as every woman should be. It's not cellular obesity, it's womanliness.
- I'm very much bigger than I was, so what? It's not really fatness, it's development.
- When you're born beautiful, it helps you start in the business. But then it becomes a handicap.
- They would like to keep up the story that [Federico Fellini] made me famous, Fellini discovered me. So many have said they discovered me.
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