Anita Ekberg

 

Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg (Swedish pronunciation (listen) 29 September 1931 11 January 2015) was a Swedish actress in American and European films, renowned for her beautiful and stunning appearance. She was famous for her role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960). Ekberg was primarily employed in Italy which she later made her permanent resident in 1964. Anita Ekberg was the sixth child of eight. Anita was a model during her teens. Ekberg on the advice of her mother in 1950 she entered Miss Malmo. The result was the Miss Sweden contest which she took home. Despite not speaking much English she travelled to the United States to compete for the 1951 Miss Universe title (an unofficial pageant in the year 1951, the pageant was officially launched in 1952). Ekberg was not the Miss Universe winner, but she was one of six finalist. She did , however, earn the contract of Universal Studios as a starlet. She was a Universal starlet, and was given lessons in dramatization and elocution dancing and horseback riding, fencing, and elocution. She was briefly seen in The Mississippi Gambler (1953), Abbott and Costello (as the woman on Venus), Take Me to Town (1853), and The Golden Blade (1953).