Anita Ekberg
International Blonde
Edited by Ann-Kristin Wallengren, Richard Dyer, Tytti Soila
Complicates and challenges widespread perceptions of Swedish actor Anita Ekberg
- An examination of an icon of glamour and excess
- An appreciation of the work of celebrity and performance
- A look at a star across nations, genres and phases of life
- A range of critical approaches in the study of a key star and celebrity
Anita Ekberg was a major international star now chiefly remembered for her half-hour appearance in La dolce vita. She was a Swedish film star who worked extensively in the USA, Italy and elsewhere in Europe but never in Sweden. She was seen as a curvaceous blonde in the Marilyn Monroe mould whose roles and style were nothing like Monroe’s. She was celebrated or looked down on for her fabulous looks but never appreciated for her performance.
This collection looks at all these facets of Ekberg’s career, examining the nature of her star image and discussing her skills as actress and celebrity. It considers the perception of her body in different national contexts and genres and as she aged, the significance of casting, directors, dress and performance and the role of the press, class, ethnicity and her own agency in the production of this fascinating personality.
List of figures
List of contributors
1. Introduction - Richard Dyer, Tytti Soila and Ann Kristin Wallengren
2. Anita Ekberg’s Path to Fame in 1950s Hollywoood - Ann Kristin Wallengren
3. Anita’s bosom and the Swedish press: Reports on the reception of Ekberg’s career during Pre-La Dolce Vita period - Tytti Soila
4. The Goddess and the Cult Auteur: Ekberg and Gerd Oswald - Tim Bergfelder
5. Screaming Mimi - Richard Dyer
6. Star Economy: Anita Ekberg’s Labour in the Italian Film Industry - Andreas Ehrenreich
7. Ekberg performing ‘Anita’ - Ann Kristin Wallengren
8. Anita and Federico - Louis Bayman
9. Anita without Federico. Ekberg’s body, voice and persona in the Italian media landscape (1958‒1964) - Mariapaola Pierini
10. Is ‘Hot Ice’ Still Hot in Her Forties? Anita Ekberg’s Image in the 1970s, from Stereotypes about Aging to the Scandal Anachronism - Giovanna Maina
11. Constructing and deconstructing an icon: Anita Ekberg in La dolce vita and Intervista - Anne Jerslev
12. ‘Fashionably Anita’: Complying with and Resisting the Vestimentary System - Louise Wallenberg
13. The Girl in the Fountain. The film about Anita - Paola Jacobbi, Camilla Paternò and Anton Giulio Panizzi
Filmography
Index
For too long, Anika Ekberg was reduced to the image of a ‘blonde bombshell’ splashing ecstatically in Rome’s Trevi fountain under the appreciative gaze of Marcello Mastroianni in Fellini’s La dolce vita. This wonderful collection of essays gathered by Ann Kristin Wallengren, Richard Dyer and Tytti Soila finally brings out the complexity of Ekberg, the star and the woman – encompassing her triumphs and humiliations, her career, the subtlety of her acting and her importance as a truly international star. The book is a revelation and a must for anyone interested in the post-war film industry and in female stardom and celebrity.
