Anita Ekberg, the Swedish-born actress best remembered for her overflowing decolletage, sultry ice-blond looks and her sensual dip in the Trevi Fountain in Federico Fellini’s 1960 masterpiece of hedonistic Rome, “La Dolce Vita,” died Jan. 11 in Rome. She was 83.
Her attorney confirmed the death but did not cite a specific cause. The actress had been in failing health for years, reportedly after breaking a hip when one of her pet Great Danes knocked her down.
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A former Miss Sweden at 20, Ekberg lost the Miss Universe contest but won a screen contract at Universal Pictures in Hollywood. She was used as cantilevered decoration in a series of comedies such as “Abbott and Costello Go to Mars” (1953) and “Hollywood or Bust” (1956), a Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin comedy where she may well have been the “bust” of the title.
Her whispery voice and phonetic acting style did not help her advance far beyond sex-goddess roles, but there were rare exceptions. She played Henry Fonda’s adulterous wife in a 1956 adaptation of “War and Peace.” She also appeared as a Chinese woman in “Blood Alley” (1955), a John Wayne adventure film.
Then it was back to fare like “Screaming Mimi” (1958) and “Sheba and the Gladiator” (1959) before Fellini rescued her when he cast her in “La Dolce Vita.”
In that film, she played an actress described as the “most wonderful woman created since the beginning of time.” She becomes a fantasy figure to a pleasure-seeking tabloid journalist played by Marcello Mastroianni.
One of the movie’s most enduring scenes showed her swanning through Rome’s darkened streets, then wading in a strapless dress into the Trevi Fountain as if it were a private bath. New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther said Ekberg played the role “with surprising personality and punch.”
“La Dolce Vita” cemented Ekberg as one of the screen’s reigning sex goddesses, even if she did not do much of note afterward.
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