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Update, Sunday 4:10 Pm: Adds anecdote about Back From Eternity, below: The blond beauty who added a smoldering Swedish sensuality to the pantheon of European 1950s and ’60s screen sirens that included Gina Lollobrigida and Brigitte Bardot, died Sunday in Rocca di Papa, near Rome, according to reports confirmed by Deadline. She was 83.

She had lived in Italy for decades since a starring role, opposite Marcello Mastroianni in Federico Fellini’s groundbreaking 1960 La Dolce Vita, made her an international sex symbol. In the film she she played Sylvia, a Swedish-American movie star who arrives in Rome and captures the attention of Mastroianni’s night-crawling paparazzo, who takes her on a moonlit tour of the city. In one of the episodic film’s most famous scenes, Sylvia — poured into a strapless, form-fitting black gown — wades into the Trevi Fountain, beckoning her suitor to follow.

Later she pointedly, and frequently, remarked that...

Anita Ekberg, a blonde bombshell who became an international sex symbol in the 1950s and ’60s, died in Italy Sunday at age 83.

The Swedish-born actress was best known for her role as a movie star in Federico Fellini’s classic 1960 film “La Dolce Vita,” which received the Golden Palm at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and elevated Ekberg to screen siren status.

She was featured in a scene in which “she wades into the Trevi Fountain in a strapless evening gown, turns her face ecstatically to the fountain’s waterfall and seductively calls Marcello Mastroianni’s character to join her – establishing her place in cinema history,...

By Lee Pfeiffer

The cruel loss of legendary cinematic figures continues into the new year with the death of Anita Ekberg in Italy at age 83. The precise cause of death is not known at this time but she had suffered from a long illness. Ekberg was Swedish by birth but was often mistaken as a native of Italy because of her close association with Fellini and his films. She was named Miss Sweden as a teenager and competed in the Miss Universe contest before her statuesque figure ensured a career in show business during an era when full-bosomed sex sirens were all the rage. Hollywood studios were particularly on the lookout for the next exotic European beauty and Ekberg filled the bill perfectly. She slogged through bit parts uncredited in major studio productions before landing a prominent role opposite John Wayne and Lauren Bacall in the 1955 hit "Blood Alley" (in...

“It was I who made Fellini famous, not the other way around” – Anita Ekberg

According to reports (La Stampa), Anita Ekberg has died at age 83.

The Swedish-born actress and sex-symbol of the 1950s and `60s was immortalized bathing in the Trevi fountain in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. Ekberg also starred in King Vidor’s War And Peace and alongside Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 1956’s Hollywood Or Bust which she won a Golden Globe award for “Most Promising Newcomer.”

From the AP:

Ekberg’s lawyer Patrizia Ubaldi confirmed she died in Rome Sunday morning following a series of illnesses. She had been hospitalized most recently after Christmas. Ubaldi said a ceremony would be held in the coming days at a Lutheran church in Rome, and that Ekberg had specified that her remains be cremated.

Ubaldi also said that in her last days Ekberg was saddened by the illness and her advancing age.

Anita Ekberg, a former Miss Sweden who will be forever linked to Rome for her iconic role in director Federico Fellini's 1960 cinematic landmark La Dolce Vita, died Sunday morning in Italy after a long illness, reports The New York Times. She was 83. Ekberg reportedly had been incapacitated for several years since she broke a hip after being knocked over by one of her pet Great Danes, reports the BBC. Her final film had been 1996's Bambola, which was described as a French-Spanish-Italian erotic melodrama. In the Fellini classic, which starred Marcello Mastroianni in what was essentially one long hedonistic romp through the Eternal City,...

Anita Ekberg, a former Miss Sweden who will be forever linked to Rome for her iconic role in director Federico Fellini's 1960 cinematic landmark La Dolce Vita, died Sunday morning in Italy after a long illness, reports The New York Times. She was 83. Ekberg reportedly had been incapacitated for several years since she broke a hip after being knocked over by one of her pet Great Danes, reports the BBC. Her final film had been 1996's Bambola, which was described as a French-Spanish-Italian erotic In the Fellini classic, which starred Marcello Mastroianni in what was essentially one long hedonistic romp through the Eternal City,...

'Henry V' Movie Actress Renée Asherson dead at 99: Laurence Olivier leading lady in acclaimed 1944 film (image: Renée Asherson and Laurence Olivier in 'Henry V') Renée Asherson, a British stage actress featured in London productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Three Sisters, but best known internationally as Laurence Olivier's leading lady in the 1944 film version of Henry V, died on October 30, 2014. Asherson was 99 years old. The exact cause of death hasn't been specified. She was born Dorothy Renée Ascherson (she would drop the "c" some time after becoming an actress) on May 19, 1915, in Kensington, London, to Jewish parents: businessman Charles Ascherson and his second wife, Dorothy Wiseman -- both of whom narrowly escaped spending their honeymoon aboard the Titanic. (Ascherson cancelled the voyage after suffering an attack of appendicitis.) According to Michael Coveney's The Guardian obit for the actress, Renée Asherson was "scantly...

Claudette Colbert movies on Turner Classic Movies: From ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’ to TCM premiere ‘Skylark’ (photo: Claudette Colbert and Maurice Chevalier in ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’) Claudette Colbert, the studio era’s perky, independent-minded — and French-born — "all-American" girlfriend (and later all-American wife and mother), is Turner Classic Movies’ star of the day today, August 18, 2014, as TCM continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" film series. Colbert, a surprise Best Actress Academy Award winner for Frank Capra’s 1934 comedy It Happened One Night, was one Paramount’s biggest box office draws for more than decade and Hollywood’s top-paid female star of 1938, with reported earnings of $426,944 — or about $7.21 million in 2014 dollars. (See also: TCM’s Claudette Colbert day in 2011.) Right now, TCM is showing Ernst Lubitsch’s light (but ultimately bittersweet) romantic comedy-musical The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), a Best Picture Academy Award nominee starring Maurice Chevalier as a French-accented Central European lieutenant in...

One of the more obscure anthology horror movies is 1981′s The Monster Club, which not only stars Vincent Price, but also features performances from Donald Pleasence, John Carradine and Britt Ekland. Continuing our Vincent Price trailer spotlight, here’s the original trailer for The Monster Club:

“Horror anthology loosely based on the works of horror novelist R. Chetwynd-Hayes. A horror author is invited by a suave vampire (Vincent Price) to accompany him to the title establishment, where he observes the secret social customs of various species of monsters — which apparently include drinking, dancing, and watching undead strippers remove more than just their clothing. He is also made privy to the mating patterns of these creatures, and three bizarre tales are told over the evening. Also starring Donald Pleasence, Richard Johnson, Simon Ward, Britt Ekland, John Carradine, Anthony Steel and Stuart Whitman.”

If you’d like to catch up on...

It was revealed that Scorpion Releasing was working on The Monster Club Blu-ray last year, and it was recently announced that the movie would be available this fall. We now have a look at the official cover art and an updated release date:

“Horror anthology loosely based on the works of horror novelist R. Chetwynd-Hayes. A horror author is invited by a suave vampire (Vincent Price) to accompany him to the title establishment, where he observes the secret social customs of various species of monsters — which apparently include drinking, dancing, and watching undead strippers remove more than just their clothing. He is also made privy to the mating patterns of these creatures, and three bizarre tales are told over the evening. Also starring Donald Pleasence, Richard Johnson, Simon Ward, Britt Ekland, John Carradine, Anthony Steel and Stuart Whitman. This will be vailable both Bd and Sd.”

Scorpion was originally looking...

It was revealed that Scorpion Releasing was working on a new Blu-ray version of The Monster Club last year, but we now have a target release date and list of bonus features.

“Horror anthology loosely based on the works of horror novelist R. Chetwynd-Hayes. A horror author is invited by a suave vampire (Vincent Price) to accompany him to the title establishment, where he observes the secret social customs of various species of monsters — which apparently include drinking, dancing, and watching undead strippers remove more than just their clothing. He is also made privy to the mating patterns of these creatures, and three bizarre tales are told over the evening. Also starring Donald Pleasence, Richard Johnson, Simon Ward, Britt Ekland, John Carradine, Anthony Steel and Stuart Whitman. This will be vailable both Bd and Sd.”

Scorpion announced that they are looking at a late September release date for The Monster Club...

Looking back at the early days of cinema allows us not only the opportunity to see the development of our favourite medium but also discover the hidden gems which may have been forgotten.

Network Releasing are shining their own particular light on some of the lesser-known films from one of the most important studios in British cinema history. The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection Vol. 1 (out on the 8th of April) contains early works from directors such as Carol Reed and Basil Dean and we’ve got a clip and a couple of rare production images from the wonderfully named Cheer Up! for you today.

A struggling playwright hopes to market a musical comedy that he has written in collaboration with another equally penurious composer. Anxious to secure the backing of a millionaire, the two composers only succeed in making him angry — until, following a chain of misunderstandings, they finally emerge triumphant.

Diane Cilento, a tall, voluptuous, sometimes blonde/sometimes brunette beauty best remembered for her Academy Award-nominated performance in the 1963 Oscar winner Tom Jones, died in Cairns, in the north of Queensland, according to an online report in the Australian publication The Newsport/Port Douglas Daily. The report says Cilento was 81; as per the IMDb, she had turned 78 yesterday. The cause of death, "after a long battle with illness," hasn't been disclosed. Born to a family of doctors on Oct. 5, 1933, in Brisbane, Queensland, Cilento began her film career in British and British-set Hollywood productions of the early 1950s. By mid-decade, Cilento was already getting cast in leads and semi-leads, in mid-level fare such as Roy Ward Baker's Passage Home (1955), opposite Anthony Steel and Peter Finch, and Alan Bromly's The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp (1956), in the title role as an angel who, in order to fulfill her mission on Earth,...

Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night Claudette Colbert on TCM: Boom Town, Parrish, Midnight, Outpost In Malaya Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Boom Town (1940) Friends become rivals when they strike-it-rich in oil. Dir: Jack Conway. Cast: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert. Bw-119 mins. 8:00 Am The Secret Heart (1946) A recent widow tries to help her emotionally disturbed stepdaughter. Dir: Robert Z. Leonard. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Walter Pidgeon, June Allyson. Bw-97 mins. 10:00 Am The Secret Fury (1950) A mysterious figure tries to stop a woman's marriage by driving her mad. Dir: Mel Ferrer. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Robert Ryan, Jane Cowl. Bw-86 mins. 11:30 Am Three Came Home (1950) A woman fights to survive as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. Dir: Jean Negulesco. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Patric Knowles, Florence Desmond. Bw-105 mins. 1:30 Pm Parrish (1961) When his mother marries into the tobacco business,...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Jumping the Broom – Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Angela Bassett

Something Borrowed – Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield

Thor – Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman

Movie of the Week

Thor

The Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman

The Plot: The powerful but arrogant warrior Thor (Hemsworth) is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard and sent to live amongst humans on Earth.

The Buzz: When I first heard about this film there was no accompanying metaphorical rumble of thunder. As a matter of fact, I instead grumbled at Marvel’s blunder — a film about Thor? He’s got to be one of the least popular Marvel Comics heroes out there. He’s not even a super hero, he’s the god of thunder, and his books are some of the most boring that Marvel has ever published. What was Marvel thinking? I just couldn...