Tributes Pour in for Anita Ekberg

Tributes have begun to pour in for Swedish actress Anita Ekberg. The buxom blonde, who frolicked in Rome’s Trevi Fountain with Marcello Mastroianni in Federico Fellini‘s classic La Dolce Vita, died in a hospital outside of Rome. She was 83.

Read more Anita Ekberg Dead at 83

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was one of many Scandinavians to honor the deceased actress, saying Ekberg’s work “made Sweden world famous.” Christina Schollin, who appeared in Ingmar Bergman‘s Fanny and Alexander, called Ekberg “a colorful, humorous and determined lady who I liked very much,” noting that she “loved being a diva” but basically was an ordinary Swedish girl.

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“To me, she was the big female symbol for the whole 1950s,” Norwegian singer and actress Grynet Molvig told Swedish newspaper Expressen.

Following news of her death, the British Film Institute tweeted a quote by Ekberg, referencing that iconic scene in La Dolce Vita: “It was I who made Fellini famous, not the other way around.”

“It was I who made Fellini famous, not the other way around” – Anita Ekberg pic.twitter.com/bs0B6yQHlM

— BFI (@BFI) January 11, 2015

Donald Clarke, a film critic at The Irish Times, said Ekberg was “the core of a scene that defined an age,” while acclaimed British film critic Jonathan Romney: “Anita Ekberg, without whom the Trevi Fountain was just another fancy water feature.”

Anita Ekberg has died. The core of a scene that defined an age: pic.twitter.com/yJBdaYkGpU

— Donald Clarke (@DonaldClarke63) January 11, 2015

RIP Anita Ekberg, without whom the Trevi Fountain was just another fancy water feature.

— Jonathan Romney (@JonathanRomney) January 11, 2015

Sasha Grey, star of Steven Soderbergh‘s The Girlfriend Experience was one of many simply tweeting “RIP” to the Swedish icon, while fans around the world tweeted her famous line to Mastroianni in La Dolce Vita as she showered in the Trevi fountain: “Marcello, come here.”

RIP Anita Ekberg #cinema #ladolcevita #fellini #glamour http://t.co/YT5l3GxE8F

— Sasha Grey (@SashaGrey) January 11, 2015

“Marcello, come here!”. Anita Ekberg, thank U! RIP. pic.twitter.com/ho8HKyRsDf

— Deivid Güest #TheZ (@El_Voceras) January 11, 2015

Twitter: @sroxborough