Pure Swedish Dynamite

You can say nothing else then that Anita Ekberg was and is larger than life. Of course I'm partial since I'm Swedish but I don't think that anyone can deny that she was a real bomb shell. I read in an article once that Marilyn Monroe was terrified of Anita and that she would steal the lime light.

In 1950 Anita Ekberg entered and won the Miss Sweden contest. In the USA for the Miss Universe final She was in the top six and earned a starlet's contract with Universal Studios. Apparently the top contestants got that back then. Anita Ekberg became a pin-up and got smaller roles in films with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

Howard Hughes was interested in signing Anita Ekberg but wanted to change her nose, teeth and name. She didn't want to do it and said that if she became famous people would learn to pronounce it and if she didn't become famous it wouldn't matter. Anita Ekberg as many other Swedish actresses didn't reach as far as they could have because they didn't want to play according to the system's rules.

Anita Ekberg is not famous for being a serious actress but as a former sex symbol. She is in one of the film history's most famous scenes. The scene where she steps into Fontana di Trevi in Fellini's film La Dolce Vita.

She seems to be a formidable woman, a true bomb shell and she had and has a style of her own.

//P.