Anita Ekberg, the Swedish-born
actress and sex-symbol of the 1950s and '60s who was immortalized
bathing in the Trevi fountain in "La Dolce Vita," has died. She was 83.
Ekberg's lawyer Patrizia
Ubaldi confirmed she died in Rome Sunday morning following a series of
illnesses. She had been hospitalized most recently after Christmas.
Ubaldi said that in her last days Ekberg was saddened by the illness and her advancing age.
"She had hoped to get better, something that didn't happen," she said.
Ekberg had long lived in
Italy, the country that gave her worldwide fame thanks to the iconic
dip opposite Marcello Mastroianni. The scene where the blond bombshell,
clad in a black dress, her arms wide open, calls out "Marcello" remains
one of the most famous images in film history.
Born on Sept. 29, 1931, in the southern city of Malmo, Ekberg grew up with seven siblings.
In 1951 she won the Miss
Sweden competition, after being recommended to enter by organizers who
saw her on the street, and went to the United States to compete for the
Miss Universe title.
She didn't win but became a model in Hollywood and later started taking on small acting roles.
Her role in Federico
Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" — where she played a movie star — shot her to
stardom. The movie was a colossal success and came to define the wild
and carefree days of the early 1960s.
Hosting a Swedish radio
program in 2005, Ekberg recalled shooting the scene in the Trevi
Fountain in Rome. She said it was shot in February, the water in the
fountain was cold and Mastroianni was falling over in the fountain drunk
on vodka.
"And there I was. I was freezing," she said. "They had to lift me out of the water because I couldn't feel my legs anymore."
"I have seen that scene a
few times. Maybe too many times. I can't stand watching it anymore, but
it was beautiful at the time," she said.
Ekberg remained in Italy
for years, appearing in scores of movies, many forgettable. She
returned in two Fellini movies: "Clowns" and "Intervista."
Ekberg married Briton
Anthony Steel in 1956, but divorced him four years later. In 1963 she
married again to actor Rik van Nutter, but that marriage also failed.
In an interview with Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet in 2006, Ekberg said her only regret in life was never having children.
"I would have liked to
have a child, preferably a son," she was quoted as saying. "It didn't
turn out that way. That's life, you just have to accept it."
In the interview, published in connection with Ekberg's 75th birthday, she also said she wasn't afraid of death.
"I'm just angry because I
won't get the chance to tell others about death, where the soul goes
and if there is a life afterward," she was quoted as saying.
"I don't know if paradise or hell exist, but I'm sure hell is more groovy."
Ubaldi said a ceremony
would be held in the coming days at a Lutheran church in Rome, and that
Ekberg had specified that her remains be cremated.
Hulton Archive / Getty Images Contributor
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