Cyril Shaps (13 October 1923 – 1 January 2003) was an English actor.

Biography[link]

Shaps was born in Highbury, London; he was of Polish ancestry and his father was a tailor. He was a child broadcaster, providing voices for radio commercials at the age of 12. After grammar school and Army service he trained at RADA and then worked for two years as an announcer, producer and scriptwriter for Radio Netherlands. His short stature and round face then led to a steady flow of character roles in film and television for nearly five decades.

Shaps's films included bit parts in a wide range of high-profile international films, including the Academy Award Best Picture winner Lawrence of Arabia (1962), with Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif (as the officer's club bartender), To Sir, with Love (1967, as neighbour Mr. Pinkus), and the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977, as Dr. Bechmann). One of his showier turns came in 1994, in The Madness of King George, portraying Dr. Pepys, a royal physician obsessed with the colour of His Majesty's stool. In 2002, at the age of 79, he made his final theatrical film appearances, as a pew opener in The Importance of Being Earnest, and had a larger role as concentration camp victim Mr. Grun in another Best Picture Oscar winner, The Pianist (2002).

Television work ranged from science fiction, including multiple appearances on Doctor Who, to classic literature in the BBC serials of Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit (1994) and Our Mutual Friend (1998) to detective shows with appearances in Lovejoy (1993), The Saint (1966), and as Emperor Franz Joseph in Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991). He appeared in two Jim Henson Company television films, Gulliver's Travels (1996, as an elderly madman in Bedlam) and Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story (2001, as "Bent Little Man," the peddler who sells beans to the original Jack). To Supercar fans he is well known, for he provided the voice of Professor Rudolf Popkiss in the second series.

His television appearances include Quatermass II, Danger Man, The Mask of Janus, The Spies, Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, The Saint, Out of the Unknown, Alexander the Greatest, The Rat Catchers, Man in a Suitcase, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Department S, Doctor Who (in the serials The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Ambassadors of Death, Planet of the Spiders and The Androids of Tara), The Liver Birds, When the Boat Comes In, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, The Onedin Line, The Persuaders!, Porridge, The Sweeney, Wilde Alliance, The Young Ones, The Bill, Dark Season, Lovejoy, Midsomer Murders and Doctors.

He also supplied the voice of Mr. Gruber in The Adventures of Paddington Bear and Great Grandfather Frost in one episode of Animated Tales of the World.

His work for radio included a spell with the BBC Drama Repertory Company in the early 1950s. Broadcast parts (his characters were often old men and/or priests) included Firs in The Cherry Orchard, Justice Shallow in Henry the Fourth, Friar Lawrence in Romeo & Juliet, Polonius in Hamlet and Canon Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest.

Selected filmography[link]

• Interpol (1957)
• Miracle in Soho (1957)
• The Silent Enemy (1958)
• Passport to Shame (1958)
• Danger Within (1959)
• SOS Pacific (1959)
• Never Let Go (1960)
• Follow That Horse! (1960)
• The Boy Who Stole a Million (1960)
• Return of a Stranger (1961)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Up Jumped a Swagman (1965)
• To Sir, with Love (1967)
• The Kremlin Letter (1970)
• Operation Daybreak (1975)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
• The Clandestine Marriage (1999)

External links[link]

• Cyril Shaps at the Internet Movie Database

James Mason
Mason in 1959 as he appeared in the film North by Northwest
Born	James Neville Mason (1909-05-15)15 May 1909 Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	27 July 1984(1984-07-27) (aged 75) Lausanne, Romandy, Switzerland
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1935–1984
Spouse	Pamela Mason (m.1941-1964; divorced) Clarissa Kaye-Mason (m.1971-1984; his death)

James Neville Mason (15 May 1909 - 27 July 1984) was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes (winning once).

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to John and Mabel Mason; his father was a wealthy merchant. He was educated at Marlborough College, and earned a first in architecture at Peterhouse, Cambridge where he became involved in stock theatre companies in his spare time. Mason had no formal training as an actor and initially embarked upon it for fun. After Cambridge he joined the Old Vic theatre in London under the guidance of Tyrone Guthrie and Alexander Korda. In 1933 Korda gave Mason a small role in The Private Life of Don Juan but fired him three days into shooting.^[1]

Career[link]

From 1935 to 1948 he starred in many British quota quickies. A conscientious objector during World War II^[2] (causing his family to break with him for many years), he became immensely popular for his brooding anti-heroes in the Gainsborough series of melodramas of the 1940s, including The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945). He also starred with Deborah Kerr and Robert Newton in Hatter's Castle (1942). He then took the lead role in the critically acclaimed and immensely popular The Seventh Veil (1945) that set box office records in postwar Britain and raised him to international stardom. He followed it with a role as a mortally wounded Irish bank robber in Odd Man Out (1947) and his first Hollywood film, Caught (1949). Exhibitors voted him the most popular star in Britain in 1944 and 1945.^[3]

Mason's distinctive voice enabled him to play a menacing villain as greatly as his good looks assisted him as a leading man. His roles include Brutus in Julius Caesar (1953), Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel and The Desert Rats, the amoral valet turned spy in Joseph Mankiewicz's 5 Fingers, the declining actor in the first remake of A Star Is Born (1954), Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (also 1954), a small town school teacher driven insane by the effects of cortisone in Bigger Than Life (1956), a suave master spy in North by Northwest (1959), a determined explorer in Journey to the Center of the Earth (also 1959), Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), a river pirate who betrays Peter O'Toole's character in Lord Jim (1965), the evil Doctor Polidori in Frankenstein: The True Story (1973), the vampire's servant, Richard Straker, in Salem's Lot, and surreal Royal Navy Captain Hughes in Yellowbeard (1983). One of his last roles, that of corrupt lawyer Ed Concannon in The Verdict (1982), earned him his third and final Oscar nomination.

His final screen-work was playing the lead role in Dr. Fischer of Geneva (adapted from the Graham Greene novella, 1985) as the eccentric wealthy businessman who played games with the Swiss upper class, such as offering gifts to his guests on the proviso they accepted some humiliating ritual activity (such as wearing a child's bib at the dinner table). In 1975 he played Falconhurst plantation owner in the controversial film Mandingo.

In the late 1970s, Mason became a mentor to up-and-coming actor Sam Neill.

Late in life, he served as narrator for a British television series on the films of Charlie Chaplin, Unknown Chaplin, which was aired in the U.S. on PBS and later issued on home video.^[4]

As Brutus in Julius Caesar (1953)

Private life[link]

Mason was a devoted lover of animals, particularly cats. He and his wife, Pamela Mason, co-authored the book The Cats in Our Lives, which was published in 1949. James Mason wrote most of the book and also illustrated it. In The Cats in Our Lives, he recounted humorous and sometimes touching tales of the cats (as well as a few dogs) he had known and loved.

Mason was married twice:

• First from 1941 to 1964 to British actress Pamela Mason (née Ostrer) (1916–1996); one daughter, Portland Mason Schuyler (1948–2004), and one son, Morgan (who is married to Belinda Carlisle, the lead singer of The Go-Go's. Their son, James Duke Mason, is also an actor). Portland Mason was named for Portland Hoffa, the wife of the American radio comedian Fred Allen; the Allens and the Masons were friends.
• Australian actress Clarissa Kaye (1971-his death). Tobe Hooper's DVD commentary for Salem's Lot reveals that Mason regularly worked contractual clauses into his later work guaranteeing Kaye bit parts in his film appearances.

Mason's autobiography, Before I Forget, was published in 1981.

Death[link]

Mason survived a cardiac arrest in 1959 and died as a result of another on 27 July 1984 in Lausanne, Switzerland.^[5] He was cremated and (after a delay of 16 years) his ashes were buried in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. The remains of Mason's old friend Charlie Chaplin are in a tomb a few steps away.

Mason's widow, Clarissa Kaye, also known as Kaye-Mason, died in 1994 from cancer.

Filmography[link]

Box Office Ranking[link]

For a number of years, exhibitors voted him among the top ten stars at the British box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.

• 1945 - most popular British star^[6]
• 1946 - most popular British and international star ^[7]
• 1947 - most popular British and 2nd most popular international star^[8]
• 1952 - 7th most popular international star^[9]

Influence[link]

The stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard often impersonates James Mason's voice saying it is the voice of God; it is a running gag in his shows.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Mason

• James Mason at the Internet Movie Database
• James Mason at the TCM Movie Database
• Performances listed in Theatre Archive University of Bristol
• James Mason at the Internet Broadway Database
• James Mason at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Literature on James Mason

Charles Grodin
Grodin at the Book Expo 2007 at the Javits Center
Born	(1935-04-21) April 21, 1935 (age 77) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, author, comedian
Years active	1958–present

Charles Grodin (born April 21, 1935) is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968. In the 1970s he moved into film acting, including playing the lead in The Heartbreak Kid and a supporting role in Catch-22. He became a familiar face as a supporting actor in many 1980s Hollywood comedies, including Midnight Run, Taking Care of Business, Seems Like Old Times, The Great Muppet Caper, The Woman in Red, The Lonely Guy, Ishtar and The Couch Trip. He is probably best known for his role as George Newton in the 1990s John Hughes comedy franchise Beethoven.

Grodin has won several acting awards, including American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for 1993's Dave, Best Actor at the 1988 Valladolid International Film Festival (for Midnight Run). He was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for The Heartbreak Kid in 1972. He also shared a 1978 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program for his work on The Paul Simon Special.

In the mid 1990s, Grodin became a talk show host on CNBC and in 2000 a political commentator for 60 Minutes II. He has written several autobiographical and acting related works, including 1990's It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business and 1994's We're Ready for You, Mr. Grodin.

Early life[link]

Grodin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Orthodox Jewish parents^[1][2] Lena, who worked as an assistant in the family's store and was a volunteer for disabled veterans, and Theodore Grodin, who sold wholesale supplies.^[3] His maternal grandfather was a Russian Jewish immigrant who came from a long line of Rabbis and moved to Pittsburgh at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Grodin has an older brother, Jack.^{[citation needed]}

Grodin attended the University of Miami from September 1953 to April 1954 but left without graduating to pursue acting.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Early career-1950s/1960s[link]

Grodin's film debut was an uncredited bit-part in Disney's 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A student of Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen, He made his Broadway debut in a production of Tchin-Tchin, opposite Anthony Quinn.^[4] In 1965, he began working as an assistant to director Gene Saks and began appearing on several television series during the 1960s including The Virginian.^{[citation needed]}

Grodin had a small part playing an obstetrician in the 1968 horror film, Rosemary's Baby. In 1964 he played Matt Stevens on the ABC soap opera the Young Marrieds.^[5] During the late 1960s, he also co-wrote and directed Hooray! It's a Glorious Day...and All That, a Broadway play, and directed Lovers and Other Strangers and Thieves, also on Broadway.^{[citation needed]} He also directed Simon and Garfunkel's television special Songs of America in 1969.

1970s & 1980s film work[link]

After a supporting role in the 1970 comedy film Catch-22, Grodin gained recognition as a comedy actor when he played the lead role in the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid. Grodin subsequently appeared in several notable 1970s films, including 11 Harrowhouse in 1974, the 1976 version of King Kong and the hit 1978 comedy Heaven Can Wait. During this period, he also frequently appeared on Broadway and was involved in producing several plays. One of these, Thieves, he also directed.^{[citation needed]}

In 1981, he landed in a role in The Great Muppet Caper playing Nicky Holiday, a jewel thief who falls in love with Miss Piggy. His 1980s roles included Neil Simon's Seems Like Old Times (opposite Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn) and 1988's well-reviewed comedy Midnight Run, a buddy movie co-starring Robert De Niro. Grodin also appeared in the 1986 CBS mini-series sendup Fresno, playing the evil son of a raisin matriarch (Carol Burnett).

His Hollywood film roles of the 1980s usually saw him cast as uptight, bland and world-weary white collar professionals, such as a psychiatrist having a nervous breakdown (The Couch Trip), a health conscious accountant (Midnight Run), an ineffectual advertising executive (Taking Care of Business) and a lonely socially awkward nerd The Lonely Guy. He was cast against this type as a scheming CIA agent in Ishtar. Commenting on his work with regard to Ishtar, Hal Hinson in the Washington Post observed: "Grodin has a one-of-a-kind quality on the screen, a sort of inspired spinelessness. And with his cat-burglar rhythms -- he seems to play all his scenes as if someone were asleep in the next room -- he's become a very sly scene-stealer."^[6] Sandra Brennan at Rovi noted that: "Whereas many funnymen have been popular for their ability to overreact and mug their way around everyday obstacles, Grodin belonged, from the beginning, to the Bob Newhart school of wry comedy that values understatement and subtlety."^[4]

Aside from his film work, In 1977, Grodin hosted an episode of the NBC sketch show, Saturday Night Live.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 1990s - Beethoven

Grodin's career took a turn in 1992, when he played the nervous family man George Newton in the kids' comedy Beethoven, opposite Bonnie Hunt. The film was a surprise box-office hit, and he reprised the role in the 1993 sequel. His next film role was in 1994's It Runs in the Family (a.k.a. My Summer Story), which received only a limited release and was a sequel to the film A Christmas Story. Grodin portrayed the frustrated uncle, alongside Martin Short in the 1994 comedy Clifford. After a 13-year long hiatus from film, Grodin returned to acting in the Zach Braff comedy The Ex (2007).^{[citation needed]}

Radio talk show host[link]

From 1995 to 1998, Grodin hosted his own issues-oriented talk show, The Charles Grodin Show, on CNBC and, starting in 2000, became a political commentator for 60 Minutes II. In 2004, Grodin wrote The Right Kind of People, an Off-Broadway play about Co-op boards in certain buildings in Manhattan. Grodin's commentaries continue to be heard on New York City radio station WCBS and other affiliates of the CBS Radio Network, as well as on the CBS Radio Network's Weekend Roundup He is also a best-selling author; his works include It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here, Spilled Milk and Other Clichés and How I Get Through Life. His book, If I Only Knew Then...Learning from Our Mistakes was released in November 2007 by Springboard Press. It is a collection of essays from his famous friends (and friends of friends), with all author proceeds going to the Help USA charity. His book How I Got To Be Whoever It Is I Am came out in April 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Grodin has two children: daughter Marion from his marriage to Julie Ferguson, and son Nicky from his marriage to Elissa Durwood.^[7] For a while in the 2000s Grodin gave up show business to be a stay-at-home dad to his children.^[8]

Awards[link]

In 2006, Grodin received the William Kunstler Award for Racial Justice.^[8]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Charles Grodin at the Internet Movie Database
• Charles Grodin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Charles Grodin at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Charles Grodin profile in The New York Observer
• Charles Grodin's radio commentaries at WCBS880.com
• "The Heartfelt Kid: Actor/Playwright Charles Grodin Premiers New Play in San Francisco", Jewish News Weekly, November 26, 2004.
• Charles Grodin Urges New Yorkers To Mentor Kids
• Interview with Charles Grodin

Victor Mature
from the trailer for Kiss of Death (1947)
Born	Victor John Mature (1913-01-29)January 29, 1913 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	August 4, 1999(1999-08-04) (aged 86) Rancho Santa Fe, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1939–84
Spouse	Frances Charles (m. 1938–1940) «start: (1938)–end+1: (1941)»"Marriage: Frances Charles to Victor Mature" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Victor_Mature) Martha Stephenson Kemp (m. 1941–1943) «start: (1941)–end+1: (1944)»"Marriage: Martha Stephenson Kemp to Victor Mature" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Victor_Mature) Dorothy Standford Berry (m. 1948–1955) «start: (1948)–end+1: (1956)»"Marriage: Dorothy Standford Berry to Victor Mature" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Victor_Mature) Adrienne Joy Urwick (m. 1959–1969) «start: (1959)–end+1: (1970)»"Marriage: Adrienne Joy Urwick to Victor Mature" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Victor_Mature) Loretta G. Sebena (m. 1974–1999) «start: (1974)–end+1: (2000)»"Marriage: Loretta G. Sebena to Victor Mature" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Victor_Mature)

Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor.

Early life[link]

Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His father, Marcello Gelindo Maturi, later Marcellus George Mature, was an Italian-speaking immigrant from the town Pinzolo, in the Italian part of the former County of Tyrol (now Trentino in Italy, at that time Austrian-Hungarian Empire);^[1][2] he was a cutler. His mother, Clara P. (Ackley), was Kentucky-born and of Swiss heritage.^[3] An older brother, Marcellus Paul Mature, died at 11 in 1918 from osteomyelitis.^[4] Victor Mature was educated at parochial schools, the Kentucky Military Institute and the Spencerian Business School. He briefly sold candy and operated a restaurant before moving to California.^[5]

Discovered while on stage at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, his first leading role was as a fur-clad caveman in One Million B.C. (1940), after which he joined 20th Century Fox to star opposite actresses such as Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth.^[6]

World War II[link]

In July 1942 Mature attempted to enlist in the U.S. Navy but was rejected for color blindness. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard after taking a different eye test the same day. He was assigned to the USCGC Storis, which was doing Greenland patrol work. After 14 months aboard the Storis, Mature was promoted to the rate of Chief Boatswain's Mate. In 1944 he did a series of War Bond tours and acted in morale shows. He assisted Coast Guard recruiting efforts by being a featured player in the musical revue "Tars and Spars" which opened in Miami, Florida in April 1944 and toured the United States for the next year. In May 1945 Mature was reassigned to the Coast Guard manned troop transport USS Admiral H. T. Mayo which was involved in transferring troops to the Pacific Theater. Mature was honorably discharged from the Coast Guard in November 1945 and he resumed his acting career.^[5]

Film career[link]

Victor Mature in the trailer for Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)

After the war, Mature was cast by John Ford in My Darling Clementine, playing Doc Holliday opposite Henry Fonda's Wyatt Earp. For the next decade, Mature settled into playing hard-boiled characters in a range of genres such as film noir, Westerns, and Biblical motion pictures like The Robe (with Richard Burton and Jean Simmons) and its sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators (with Susan Hayward). Mature also starred with Hedy Lamarr in Cecil B. DeMille's Biblical epic, Samson and Delilah (1949) and as Horemheb in The Egyptian (1954) with Jean Simmons and Gene Tierney. He reportedly stated he was successful in Biblical epics because he could "make with the holy look".

He also starred with Esther Williams in Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) and, according to her autobiography, had a romantic relationship with her.^[7]

After five years of retirement, he was lured back into acting by the opportunity to parody himself in After the Fox (1966), co-written by Neil Simon. Mature played "Tony Powell", an aging American actor who is living off of his reputation from his earlier body of work. In a similar vein in 1968 he played a giant, The Big Victor, in Head, a potpourri movie starring The Monkees. The character poked fun at both his screen image and, reportedly, RCA Victor who distributed Colgems Records, the Monkees's label. Mature enjoyed the script while admitting it made no sense to him, stating "All I know is it makes me laugh."

Mature was famously self-deprecatory about his acting skills. Once, after being rejected for membership in a country club because he was an actor, he cracked, "I'm not an actor — and I've got sixty-four films to prove it!"^[8] He was quoted in 1968 on his acting career: "Actually, I am a golfer. That is my real occupation. I never was an actor. Ask anybody, particularly the critics."^[9]

Death[link]

Victor Mature died of leukemia in 1999, at his Rancho Santa Fe, California home, at the age of 86. He was buried in the family plot at St. Michael's Cemetery in his hometown of Louisville.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Victor Mature has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6780 Hollywood Blvd.

Selected filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Victor Mature

• Victor Mature at the Internet Movie Database
• Victor Mature at the Internet Broadway Database

• Mature's Matinee - The Victor Mature Fan Club and Website

Anita Ekberg
Ekberg in 2007.
Born	Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg (1931-09-29) 29 September 1931 (age 80) Malmö, Sweden
Years active	1953–2002
Spouse	Anthony Steel (m. 1956–1959) «start: (1956)–end+1: (1960)»"Marriage: Anthony Steel to Anita Ekberg" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Anita_Ekberg) Rik Van Nutter (m. 1963–1975) «start: (1963)–end+1: (1976)»"Marriage: Rik Van Nutter to Anita Ekberg" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Anita_Ekberg)

Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg (born 29 September 1931 in Malmö, Skåne) is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita, which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.

Biography[link]

Ekberg was born in 1931, the eldest girl and the sixth of eight children. In her teens, she worked as a fashion model. In 1950, Ekberg entered the Miss Malmö competition at her mother's urging leading to the Miss Sweden contest which she won. She consequently went to the United States to compete for the Miss Universe title despite not speaking English.

Although she did not win Miss Universe, as one of six finalists she did earn a starlet's contract with Universal Studios, as was the rule at the time.^[1] In America, Ekberg met Howard Hughes, who at the time was producing films and wanted her to change her nose, teeth and name (Hughes said "Ekberg" was too difficult to pronounce). She refused to change her name, saying that if she became famous people would learn to pronounce it, and if she did not become famous it would not matter.

As a starlet at Universal, Ekberg received lessons in drama, elocution, dancing, horseriding and fencing. Ekberg skipped many of the lessons, restricting herself to horseriding in the Hollywood Hills. Ekberg later admitted that she was spoiled by the studio system and that she played instead of pursuing bigger film roles.^[1]

The pin-up[link]

The combination of a colourful private life and physique gave her appeal to gossip magazines such as Confidential and to the new type of men's magazine that proliferated in the 1950s. She soon became a major 1950s pin-up. In addition, Ekberg participated in publicity stunts. Famously, she admitted that an incident where her dress burst open in the lobby of London's Berkeley Hotel was pre-arranged with a photographer.^[1]

Film career[link]

Ekberg in one of her most remembered roles, from War and Peace (1956).

By the mid-1950s, other studios offered Ekberg work. Paramount Pictures and Frank Tashlin cast her in Hollywood or Bust (1956) and Artists and Models (1955) both starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Both films used her as a foil for many of the director's sight gags.^[1] Ekberg also played an Amazonian extraterrestrial in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953).

Bob Hope joked that her parents had received the Nobel Prize for architecture as she was touring with him and William Holden to entertain American troops in 1954. The tour led her to a contract with John Wayne's Batjac Productions. Wayne cast her in Blood Alley (1955), a small role where Ekberg's features and appearance were Orientalized to play a Chinese woman, a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award.

In 1956, Ekberg went to Rome to make War and Peace, directed by distinguished Hollywood veteran King Vidor and co-starring Audrey Hepburn. That same year, RKO Radio Pictures gave Ekberg the female lead in Back from Eternity, starring Robert Ryan and Rod Steiger.

[edit] As Sylvia in La Dolce Vita

Federico Fellini gave Ekberg her greatest role in La Dolce Vita (1960), in which she played the unattainable "dream woman" opposite Marcello Mastroianni; then Boccaccio '70 (1962), a film that also featured Sophia Loren and Romy Schneider. Fellini would call her back for two other films: I clowns (1972), and Intervista (1987), where she played herself in a reunion scene with Mastroianni.

La Dolce Vita was a sensational success, and Anita Ekberg's uninhibited cavorting in Rome's Trevi Fountain remains one of the most celebrated images in film history.

Personal life[link]

Ekberg was married to the British actor Anthony Steel from 1956 to 1959. From 1963 to 1975, she was married to the actor Rik Van Nutter. In an interview, she said she wished she had a child,^[2] stating the opposite on another occasion.^[3]

Ekberg was romantically linked to Tyrone Power, Marcello Mastroianni, Errol Flynn, Yul Brynner, Frank Sinatra and Gary Cooper; she also had a three-year affair with Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli. In his autobiography Pieces of My Heart, actor Robert Wagner claims to have had an enjoyable one-night stand with Ekberg.

Ekberg has not lived in Sweden since the early 1950s and rarely visits the country. She has welcomed Swedish journalists in her house outside Rome, and in 2005 appeared in the popular radio program Sommar, talking about her life. She stated in an interview that she will not move back to Sweden before she dies, when she will be buried there.^[2] Ekberg has said that the Swedish people and media have not appreciated her sufficiently; nevertheless, her personal and radio appearances have been popular in Sweden.

On 19 July 2009, she had been admitted to the San Giovanni Hospital in Rome, after falling ill in her home in Genzano, according to a medical official in its neurosurgery department. She had been living in Italy for many years. Despite her condition not being considered serious, she has been put under observation in the facility.^[4]

In December 2011, it was reported that the 80-year-old Ekberg was "destitute" following three months in a hospital with a broken thigh in Rimini, during which her home was robbed and badly damaged in a fire.^[5] Ekberg applied to help from the Fellini Foundation, itself in difficult financial straits.^[6]

In popular culture[link]

• Bob Dylan mentions her in the song "I Shall Be Free" from the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.^[7]
• At the 49-minute point in From Russia with Love, the killer Krilencu attempts to escape through a hatch opening from Ekberg's mouth in a huge film poster for Call Me Bwana. After his friend shoots the man, James Bond notes that "she should have kept her mouth shut."
• In 1980, Ekberg was referenced in the controversial Canadian Top 20 hit "High School Confidential" by the popular 1980s Canadian new wave band Rough Trade. In 2005, "High School Confidential" was named the 38th greatest Canadian song of all time on the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.

Partial filmography[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• McDonough, Jimmy (2005). Big Bosoms and Square Jaws : The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-07250-1. 
• Sullivan, Steve (1995). VaVaVa Voom!Glamour Girls of The Pinup Era. London: Stoddart. ISBN 978-1-881649-60-1. 
• Mancini, Henry (2002). Did They Mention the Music?: The Autobiography of Henry Mancini. USA: Copper Square Press. ISBN 978-0-8154-1175-8. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anita Ekberg

• Anita Ekberg at the Internet Movie Database
• Anita Ekberg at the TCM Movie Database
• Anita Ekberg at AllRovi
• Anita Ekberg at Yahoo! Movies