Anita Ekberg

Ann Kristin Wallengren is Professor in Film Studies at Lund University, Sweden. She is author and co-editor of Today’s Sounds for Yesterday’s Films: Making Music for Silent Cinema (2016), Den nya svenska filmen : kultur, kriminalitet & kakofoni (2014) and Welcome Home Mr Swanson. Swedish Emigrants and Swedishness in Film (2014). Richard Dyer is Professor Emeritus at King’s College London and professorial Fellow at St Andrews University. His books include La dolce vita (2017), Nino Rota (2010), White (1997), The Matter of Images (1993), Only Entertainment (Routledge 1992), Heavenly Bodies (1987), Stars (1979). Tytti Soila is Professor Emeritus at Stockholm University. She is co-editor and author of Now about all these women in the Swedish film industry (2023), Stellar encounters Stardom in Popular European Cinema (2009), Cinema of Scandinavia 24 Frames (2005), Att synliggöra det dolda (2004), Nordic National Cinemas (1998).

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.

• List of figuresList of contributors1. Introduction - Richard Dyer, Tytti Soila and Ann Kristin Wallengren2. Anita Ekberg’s Path to Fame in 1950s Hollywoood - Ann Kristin Wallengren3. Anita’s bosom and the Swedish press: Reports on the reception of Ekberg’s career during Pre-La Dolce Vita period - Tytti Soila4. The Goddess and the Cult Auteur: Ekberg and Gerd Oswald - Tim Bergfelder5. Screaming Mimi - Richard Dyer 6. Star Economy: Anita Ekberg’s Labour in the Italian Film Industry - Andreas Ehrenreich7. Ekberg performing ‘Anita’ - Ann Kristin Wallengren8. Anita and Federico - Louis Bayman9. Anita without Federico. Ekberg’s body, voice and persona in the Italian media landscape (1958‒1964) - Mariapaola Pierini10. Is ‘Hot Ice’ Still Hot in Her Forties? Anita Ekberg’s Image in the 1970s, from Stereotypes about Aging to the Scandal Anachronism - Giovanna Maina11. Constructing and deconstructing an icon: Anita Ekberg in La dolce vita and Intervista - Anne Jerslev12. ‘Fashionably Anita’: Complying with and Resisting the Vestimentary System - Louise Wallenberg13. The Girl in the Fountain. The film about Anita - Paola Jacobbi, Camilla Paternò and Anton Giulio PanizziFilmographyIndex