ANITA EKBERG CALL ME BWANA SERIES

Italy and La Dolce Vita Įkberg went to Italy to star in Sheba and the Gladiator (1959), playing Zenobia. Another film was announced for her, entitled A Lot of Woman, but it was not made.

She did a third for Warwick, The Man Inside (1958) with Jack Palance. It was also directed by Oswald as was Screaming Mimi (1958). She co-starred with Bob Hope and Fernandel in Paris Holiday (1958). Gerd Oswald Įkberg returned to Hollywood to make Valerie (1957) with Sterling Hayden and her then-husband Anthony Steel for director Gerd Oswald. When John Wayne split up with his producing partner Robert Fellows, Fellows took over Ekberg's contract. She was announced for Glare directed by Budd Boetticher, but it was not made. In 1956, Hedda Hopper said her fee was $75,000 per picture. Ekberg made a second film for Warwick with Mature, Interpol (1957). She did Zarak (1956) with Victor Mature.Įkberg returned to Hollywood to make a second film with Martin and Lewis (and Tashlin), Hollywood or Bust (1956). Įkberg signed a deal with Warwick Pictures, the company of producers Albert Broccoli and Irwin Allen, who made films in England. It was distributed by RKO Pictures who had given Ekberg an excellent part in Back from Eternity (1956), directed by John Farrow. Ekberg in Hollywood or Bust (1956)Įkberg was third billed in a thriller for Batjac, Man in the Vault (1956). For a time, she was even publicised as 'Paramount's Marilyn Monroe'. She appeared alongside the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy act in Artists and Models (1955), directed by Frank Tashlin for Paramount, playing 'Anita'.Įkberg's greatest opportunity was when Paramount cast her in War and Peace (1956) which was shot in Rome, alongside Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn, directed by King Vidor. It was her first real speaking role in a feature. She had a small part in the film Blood Alley (1955) starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall, made for Wayne's Batjac Productions.

ANITA EKBERG CALL ME BWANA SERIES

She guest-starred in the short-lived TV series Casablanca (1955) and Private Secretary. īy the mid-1950s, after several modelling jobs, Ekberg finally broke into the film industry. Hope spoke of her beauty and John Wayne signed her to a contract with his Batjac Productions at $75 a week. Įkberg toured Greenland with Bob Hope, entertaining American servicemen. She once admitted that an incident in which her dress burst open in the lobby of London's Berkeley Hotel was prearranged with a photographer. Additionally, Ekberg participated in publicity stunts.

The combination of Ekberg's voluptuous physique and colourful private life (such as her well-publicized romances with Hollywood's leading men like Frank Sinatra, Tyrone Power, Yul Brynner, Rod Taylor, and Errol Flynn) appealed to the gossip magazines, like Confidential and she soon became a major 1950s pin-up, appearing in men's magazines like Playboy. Batjac and Paramount Ekberg in War and Peace (1956) Ekberg later admitted she was spoiled by the studio system and played, instead of pursuing bigger film roles. She appeared briefly in The Mississippi Gambler (1953) with Tyrone Power, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953) (playing a woman on Venus), Take Me to Town (1953) with Ann Sheridan, and The Golden Blade (1953) with Rock Hudson and Piper Laurie.Įkberg skipped many of her drama lessons, restricting herself to riding horses in the Hollywood Hills. Īs a starlet at Universal, she received lessons in drama, elocution, dancing, horseback riding, and fencing. Career Universal Studios Īlthough Ekberg did not win the Miss Universe pageant, as one of six finalists, she did earn a starlet's contract with Universal Studios. Despite speaking very little English, she went to the United States to compete for the 1951 Miss Universe title (an unofficial pageant at that time, the pageant became official in 1952). This led to the Miss Sweden contest which she won. Ekberg entered the Miss Malmö competition in 1950 at her mother's urging.

In her teens, Anita worked as a fashion model. Early life Īnita Ekberg was born on 29 September 1931, in Malmö, Skåne (Sweden), the sixth of eight children. Ekberg worked primarily in Italy, where she became a permanent resident in 1964. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960). Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg ( Swedish pronunciation: ⓘ 29 September 1931 – 11 January 2015) was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and curvy figure.

Anita ekberg call me bwana