Anita Ekberg, the La Dolce Vita actress and 1950s sex symbol, died Sunday in Italy following a long illness. She was 83.

Anita Ekberg Dies

The Swedish-born Ekberg was best known for staring in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita as the desirable Sylvia, who was chased after by Marcello Mastroianni’s Marcello. “They would like to keep up the story that Fellini made me famous, Fellini discovered me,” Ekberg noted in 1999. “So many have said they discovered me.”

Prior to landing the role in Fellini’s film and after establishing herself as a model, Ekberg appeared in Blood Alley, War and Peace, Artists and Models, Hollywood or Bust and Paris Holiday. 

In the 60s and 70s, Ekberg starred in Boccaccio ’70, 4 for Texas with Frank Sinatra, Love Factory, The Cobra, Northeast of Seoul and The Killer Nun. Ekbert’s later career included a number of appearances in Italian films and a two-episode arc on TV series Beauty Centre.

During the height of her Hollywood career, Ekberg was also known for her marriages and dalliances with leading men. She was married to actors Anthony Steel (1956 to 1959) and Clyde Rogers (1963 to 1975), and reportedly had steamy affairs with the likes of Sinatra, Rod Taylor, Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power and Yul Brynner.