La Dolce Vita Star Anita Ekberg Dies at 83

1 minute read
By Jack Linshi

Anita Ekberg, the stunning actress who starred in Federico Fellini’s 1960 film La Dolce Vita, died Sunday morning at the age of 83.

The Swedish-Italian film icon died in Rocca di Papa, a small town southeast of Rome, due to complications from a longtime illness, the New York Times reported. Ekberg had recently been hospitalized.

See The Life of Anita Ekberg

Anita Ekberg
Ekberg as the Marilyn Monroe-like Sylvia, playing in Rome's Trevi fountain in La Dolce Vita in 1960.John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images
Anita Ekberg
Miss Sweden, Anita Ekberg, 1951.Lisa Larsen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bob Hope and Other Entertainers Leaving for Army Base
Bob Hope leaves for the Thule Air Force Base in Greenland on Dec. 30, 1954 with Eckberg and other entertainers.William Holden—Bettmann/Corbis
La Dolce Vita
Ekberg as the Marilyn Monroe-like Sylvia, playing in Rome's Trevi fountain in La Dolce Vita in1960. Silver Screen Collection—Getty Images
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AND ANITA EKBERG IN LA DOLCE VITA
Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita in 1960.Getty Images
Anita Ekberg In 'La Dolce Vita'
Ekberg dances in one of Vita's most memorable scenes, in 1960.Getty Images
Anita Ekberg And Marcello Mastroianni In 'La Dolce Vita'
Ekberg clasps hands with the dashing Marcello Mastroianni in a scene from the film 'La Dolce Vita' in 1960.Getty Images
Circa 1960. Vintage colour transparency. Cinema: A portrait of the actress Anita Ekberg.
A color portrait of Ekberg circa 1960.Popperfoto/Getty Images
Gilding The Lily
Ekberg checks her hair between takes of Call Me Bwana on Nov. 8, 1962.John Pratt—Getty Images
Anita Ekberg Attends Fellini's Exhibition In Bologna
Ekberg attends a screening of the restored version of La Dolce Vita, posing next to a poster featuring herself and co-star Mastroianni ,at the Piazza Maggiore on July 6, 2010 in Bologna.Roberto Serra—Iguana Press/Getty Images

Ekberg, known for her sensuality and beauty, rose to global fame after years of small film and TV roles and modeling when Fellini cast her as a Marilyn Monroe-type American actress who visits Rome, in 1960’s La Dolce Vita. The classic scene in which her character dances in Rome’s Trevi fountain before a thunderstruck Marcello Mastroianni soon became one of cinema’s most celebrated images.

Ekberg starred in over 40 films and won the 1956 Golden Globe for most promising newcomer — a now-defunct award category — which she shared with Victoria Shaw and Dana Wynter. That year, Ekberg starred alongside Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda in King Vidor’s War and Peace, following a small role in the film Blood Alley the year before.

[NYT]

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