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La Dolce Vita actress Anita Ekberg dies at 83

(Below) In this Nov 15, 1955 file photo, Swedish actress Anita Ekberg, poses for a photograph on her arrival at London air- port from Stockholm to take part in the film Zarak Khan, with Victor Mature, Michael Wilding and Eunice Gayson.

A file photo taken in 1960 shows Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni and his Swedish actress Anita Ekberg in Rome’s famous TreviFountain during the shooting of Federico Fellini’s film “La Dolce Vita”. — AP/AFP photos nita Ekberg, the Swedish-born actress and sex-sym- Regret in life bol of the 1950s and ‘60s who was immortalized She said it was shot in February, the water in the fountain Abathing in the Trevi fountain in “La Dolce Vita,” has was cold and Mastroianni was falling over in the fountain died. She was 83. Ekberg’s lawyer Patrizia Ubaldi confirmed drunk. “And there I was. I was freezing,” she said. “They had to she died in Rome yesterday morning following a series of lift me out of the water because I couldn’t feel my legs any- illnesses. She had been hospitalized most recently after more.” “I have seen that scene a few times. Maybe too many Christmas. Ubaldi said that in her last days Ekberg was sad- times. I can’t stand watching it anymore, but it was beautiful dened by the illness and her advancing age. at the time,” she said. “She had hoped to get better, something that didn’t Ekberg remained in Italy for years, appearing in scores of happen,” she said. Ekberg had long lived in Italy, the coun- movies, many forgettable. She returned in two Fellini movies: try that gave her worldwide fame thanks to the iconic dip “Clowns” and “Intervista.” Ekberg married Briton Anthony opposite Marcello Mastroianni. The scene where the blond Steel in 1956, but divorced him four years later. bombshell, clad in a black dress, her arms wide open, calls In 1963 she married again to actor out “Marcello” remains one of the most famous images in Rik van Nutter, but that marriage film history. Her curvaceous body and glamorous social life also failed. In an interview with made her a favorite of tabloid press in the 1950s and Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet in 1960s. She married twice but never had children - a fact 2006, Ekberg said her only regret in she came to regret later in her life. Some gossip magazines life was never having children. called her “The Iceberg” in a nod to her Scandinavian back- “I would have liked to have a ground. child, preferably a son,” she was quot- But even as she became one of Sweden’s most famous ed as saying. “It didn’t turn out that exports, Ekberg maintained a problematic relation with her way. That’s life, you just have to native country. She never starred in a Swedish film and was accept it.” In the interview, published often at odds with Swedish journalists, who criticized her in connection with Ekberg’s 75th for leaving the country and ridiculed her for adopting an 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. —AP In this Nov 29, 1960 file photo, Swedish actress Anita Ekberg poses on the terrace of her hotel in Maratea, southern Italy.

In this May 9, 1962 file photo, Swedish actress Anita Ekberg and Australian-American actor Rod Taylor, who plan to marry soon, in San Francisco, United States.

American accent. 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 In this May 29, the Miss Universe title. She didn’t win but became a model 1961 file photo, in Hollywood and later started taking on small acting roles. Swedish actress Her role in Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” - where she Anita Ekberg File photo taken on October 30, 2010 shows played a movie star - shot her to stardom. The movie was a and Italian Swedish actress Anita Ekberg arriving for colossal success and came to define the wild and carefree movie director A picture taken on June 21, 2010 shows Swedish-born film star Anita the premiere in Rome of a digitally remas- days of the early 1960s. Hosting a Swedish radio program Federico Fellini Ekberg posing aboard the Italian cruise ship Costa Atlantica at quay in tered version of “La Dolce Vita”, at the 5th in 2005, Ekberg recalled shooting the scene in the Trevi stand talking in Stockholm next to a picture showing her famous swim in the Trevi fountain Rome Film Festival. Fountain in Rome. a Rome suburb. in “La Dolce Vita” by Italian director Federico Fellini in 1960.