Britt Ekland
Britt Ekland at home in Chelsea London, 1992
Born	Britt-Marie Ekland (1942-10-06) 6 October 1942 (age 69) Stockholm, Sweden
Occupation	Actress, Singer
Years active	1959–present
Spouse	Peter Sellers (1964–1968) Slim Jim Phantom (1984–1992)
Children	Victoria Sellers, Nikolaj,

Britt-Marie Ekland (born 6 October 1942) is a Swedish actress and singer, and a long time resident of the United Kingdom. She is best known for her roles as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun, and in the British cult horror film The Wicker Man, as well as her marriage to actor Peter Sellers, and her high-profile social life.

Life and career[link]

Ekland's father was a successful retailer in Stockholm, Sweden, her birthplace. The family name was Eklund. She has three younger brothers. Her mother died after a long battle with Alzheimers.^{[citation needed]}

She was the Bond girl in the 1974 James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. Other notable film appearances include The Night They Raided Minsky's, Baxter!, The Double Man, Get Carter (in the 1999 BBC television series I Love the '70s she hosted the 1971 episode in homage to her role as "Anna" in the film), and the 1973 cult film The Wicker Man (for which her voice was dubbed to disguise her Swedish-accented English).^{[citation needed]} In 1975 she provided "whispers" in French on the end of then boyfriend Rod Stewart's Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright).

Ekland also portrayed biographical characters, such as the one based on real-life actress Anny Ondra (boxer Max Schmeling's wife) in the television movie Ring of Passion (1978), and prostitute Mariella Novotny in the feature film Scandal (1989) about the Profumo affair.

She has guest starred on various TV shows, including an appearance on the popular TV series Superboy, playing Lara, Superboy's biological mother, during the show's second season in 1990. Ekland published a beauty and fitness book in 1984 Sensual Beauty: How to achieve it, followed by a fitness video in 1992. Ekland credits her personal trainer, Herb Genendelis, for a workout regimen that has kept her in "show biz shape".^{[citation needed]}

She appeared on stage as a cast member in Cinderella at the Regent Theatre Stoke-On-Trent in December 1999 and January 2000. She also appeared in Grumpy Old Women Live, in December 2007 participated in the Swedish reality show Stjärnorna på slottet (The stars at the castle) along with Peter Stormare, Arja Saijonmaa, Jan Malmsjö and Magnus Härenstam, and in December 2007 and January 2008 she starred again in Cinderella at Swindon's Wyvern Theatre.^[1] She appeared as a guest on the top rated British daytime television show Loose Women, in January 2008. From December 2008 to January 2009, Britt starred in Cinderella at the Shaw Theatre in London. In a rare instance of her singing, she performed the song My Prince, originally recorded by Lara Pulver on the album Act One - Songs from the Musicals of Alexander S. Bermange. In 2009/10 she played the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at Princess Theatre, Torquay.

Between 8 December 2010 and 2 January 2011 she starred as the 'Fairy Pea Pod' in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Kings Theatre, Southsea in Portsmouth.^[2]

[edit] I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

In 2010 Ekland took part in the reality TV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! where she was fourth to be voted off. During the program she developed a close relationship with Stacey Solomon and Nigel Havers, while making an enemy of Gillian McKeith.

Personal life[link]

Britt Ekland and Peter Sellers, 1964

Relationships and family[link]

Ekland became famous overnight as a result of her 1964 whirlwind romance and marriage to English actor and comedian, Peter Sellers, who proposed after seeing her photograph in the paper and then meeting in London.^[3][4] She stood by him after he suffered a series of massive heart attacks shortly after their marriage. Ekland was stepmother to Sellers' children Sarah and Michael (who died of a heart attack at about the same age as his father). In January 1965 they had a daughter, Victoria. The couple made three films together - Carol for Another Christmas in 1964, After the Fox in 1966 and The Bobo in 1967 - before divorcing in 1968.

In June 1973, she had a son, Nic Adler, with record producer Lou Adler.

She also had a much publicized romance with rock star Rod Stewart; they were introduced in 1975 by Joan Collins and lived together for over two years, with Ekland giving up her career to focus on the relationship.^{[citation needed]}

From 1979-1981 she dated and became engaged to Girl frontman and future L.A. Guns singer Phil Lewis.^{[citation needed]}

In 1984 she married rock musician Slim Jim Phantom, who was almost two decades her junior. They had a son, Thomas Jefferson (born in 1988), and divorced in 1992.^{[citation needed]} A close friend of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, she is still a regular fixture on the rock'n'roll social scene.

Health problems[link]

She was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2004, which she attributes to yo-yo dieting and a low calcium diet,^[5] after falling at an awards show and fracturing her wrist and ankle. She has been associated with both Alzheimer's and osteoporosis organizations. Ekland is fluent in English, French, and German, in addition to her native Swedish.

Legacy[link]

In the 1970s Ekland was one of the most photographed and talked about celebrities in the world and in 1980 her best-selling autobiography, True Britt, was published.^[6]

In 2004 Ekland was portrayed by Charlize Theron in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. Theron invited her to be her date at the Cannes Film Festival, where she became highly emotional when she saw the film.^[7]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

• "Do it to Me" / "Private Party" (1979) #15 SWE^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Britt Ekland

• Britt Ekland at the Internet Movie Database
• Britt Ekland biography and credits at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Britt Ekland - From Sweden With Love