[Edited and corrected by me, so if I missed anything...]   
       
   Anita Ekberg, who parlayed a Miss Sweden title into an acting career which   
   peaked with her performance as Sylvia, an unattainable dream woman, in   
   Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, has died.   
       
   She was 83 and died in a hospital outside of Rome. The Hollywood Reporter   
   confirmed Italian newspapers reports.   
       
   A scene from the movie in which Ekberg danced uninhibitedly in the Fountain of   
   Trevi is one of the cinema's most sensual sequences.   
       
   Throwback Thursday: In 1956, Miss Sweden Anita Ekberg Dazzled at the Golden   
   Globes   
       
   One of the screen's 1950s sex symbols, Ekberg was briefly under contract with   
   John Wayne's Batjac Prods. She won a Golden Globe Award as Most Promising   
   Newcomer for her performance as, of all things, a Chinese woman, Wei Ling, in   
   Blood Alley (1955), which starred Wayne and Lauren Bacall.   
       
   The buxom Swedish actress, who capitalized on her sexuality, played in such   
   U.S. films as Abbott and Costello Go to Mars and Zarak during the '50s. She   
   appeared on several Bob Hope TV specials, where her special endowments were   
   the butt of Hope's wisecracks. She also toured with Hope on his numerous   
   U.S.O. tours, winning the appreciation of U.S. servicemen. Ekberg also   
   appeared in two film comedies with Hope: Paris Holiday (1958) and Call Me   
   Bwana (1962).   
       
   Ekberg was also on the 1955 ABC series Casablanca, playing the role of Ilsa,   
   which Ingrid Bergman immortalized in the movie. In the United States during   
   the '60s, Ekberg also played a number of roles that capitalized on her blonde   
   bombshell persona, which was carefully cultivated by staged press antics and   
   gossip columnists recounting her romantic escapades with many famous men.   
   Although Ekberg was mainly cast in roles that required only her statuesque   
   beauty, she was most auspiciously cast as the female lead in RKO's Back From   
   Eternity, where she starred opposite Robert Ryan and Rod Steiger. She   
   delivered another solid performance as Helene in King Vidor's War and Peace in   
   1956, which was filmed in Rome.   
       
   Paramount Sues For Ownership of Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' (Exclusive)   
       
   Fellini also utilized her sexual persona in a segment of Bocaccio '70 (1962).   
   In 1972, she played in Fellini's I Clowns. In 1987, she performed along with   
   Marcello Mastroianni in Fellini's mockumentary career reflection Intervista.   
       
   For Italian director Vittorio de Sica, she starred along with Shirley MacLaine   
   in Woman Times Seven (1967). Her films also included such romps as Four for   
   Texas, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Ursula Andress. She also   
   starred in such Hollywood fare as The Alphabet Murders, Way...Way Out and If   
   It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.   
       
   Most recently, Ekberg played an aging opera star in Le Nain Rouge (The Red   
   Dwarf).   
       
   Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was born in Malmo, Sweden on Sept. 29, 1931. One   
   of eight children, she won the Miss Malmo Pageant and subsequently was crowned   
   Miss Sweden in 1950. As one of the top six finishers in the Miss Universe   
   Pageant, she was offered a movie contract with Howard Hughes' RKO. However,   
   she signed instead with Universal-International, playing window-dressing   
   parts, beginning in 1953 with The Mississippi Gambler, Take Me to Town and The   
   Golden Blade.   
       
   Ekberg was married to British actor Anthony Steel from 1956 until 1959. In   
   1963, she married actor Rik Van Nutter, divorcing him in 1975. For many years,   
   she resided in Rome.   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
    * Origin: NCS BBS -Houma, LoUiSiAna- (1:3828/7)