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.
Golden Globe Award for Best New Star of the Year – Actress
Movies
La Dolce Vita, 4 for Texas, Blood Alley, Back from Eternity, War and Peace, Zarak, Boccaccio '70, Call Me Bwana, Artists and Models, Way...Way Out, Screaming Mimi, Killer Nun, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, The Alphabet Murders, Bámbola, Woman Times Seven, The Man Inside, Paris Holiday, Man in the...
TV Shows
Casablanca (1955)
Star Sign
Libra
#
Trademark
1
Seductive deep voice
2
Voluptuous figure
3
Cat-like blue eyes
4
Platinum blonde hair
#
Quote
1
I don't know if paradise or hell exists, but I'm sure hell is more groovy.
2
I was lonely, but I have no regrets. I have loved, cried, been mad with happiness. I have won and I have lost.
3
If you want "la dolce vita", it is how you look at life. When I go back to Rome, my roses will be in bloom again.
4
They would like to keep up the story that [Federico Fellini] made me famous, Fellini discovered me. So many have said they discovered me.
5
When you're born beautiful, it helps you start in the business. But then it becomes a handicap.
6
I'm very much bigger than I was, so what? It's not really fatness, it's development.
7
I'm very proud of my breasts, as every woman should be. It's not cellular obesity, it's womanliness.
8
How can I know who's PM or in government in Sweden? It's been 40 years since I moved abroad! Oh!
#
Fact
1
Retired from acting in 2002 after 50 years in the motion picture industry.
2
Celebrity spokesperson for Foster Grant sunglasses during the 1960s.
3
Was engaged in a long-running personal feud with fellow starlet Cleo Moore.
4
Was mentioned in the song "High School Confidential" by the Canadian New Wave group Rough Trade.
5
Was mentioned in the song "I Shall Be Free" by Bob Dylan on his 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan".
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).
8
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.
9
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.
10
On July 19, 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. Despite her condition not being considered serious, Ekberg was put under observation in the facility.
11
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.
12
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.
13
Returned to Sweden in 1964 to appear in her first Swedish movie, Bo Widerberg's Kärlek 65 (1965), but canceled her appearance because, she said, "Widerberg was such an amateur!".
14
Was up for the lead role in the short-lived television series Sheena: Queen of the Jungle (1955) before her contract was bought out by John Wayne's production company Batjac Productions.
15
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#98) (1995).
$10 Million
