Biography for
Anita Ekberg More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

29 September 1931, Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden

Birth Name

Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg

Nickname

The Iceberg

Height

5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Mini Biography

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 lot of attention from the press. During the 1970s, the roles became less frequent, but she made a marvellous comeback with Fellini's Fellini's Intervista (1987).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Mattias Thuresson <mattias.thuresson@mbox300.swipnet.se>

Spouse

Rik Van Nutter	(9 April 1963 - 1975) (divorced)
Anthony Steel	(22 May 1956 - 14 May 1959) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Voluptuous figure

Platinum blonde hair

Sparkling blue eyes

Her husky voice

Trivia

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#98). [1995]

Miss Sweden 1950.

Was up for the lead role in the 1950s TV series, "Sheena: Queen of the Jungle" (1955) before her contract was bought out by John Wayne's production company, Batjac.

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!".

Measurements: 39 1/2-22-36 (as Miss Sweden 1950), 42-27-38 (posing for glamour photos in 1982 at age 50). (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

1955 Deb Star.

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.

Personal Quotes

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 much bigger than I was, so what? It's not really fatness, it's development.

I'm very proud of my breasts, as every woman should be. It's not cellular obesity. It's womanliness.