Death of the Iceberg siren

First Virna Lisi, now Anita Ekberg dies, eclipsing (in every sense) the passing of her younger, less notorious colleague in sex symbol-dom.  More a natural phenomenon than an actress, Ekberg embodied everything that Fellini was looking for in La Dolce Vita: an established American star, epitome of glamour, and (for him) so much the perfect woman as to be the realization of some impossible dream, the kind only cinema can truly satisfy. The fact that her career went nowhere after that speaks volumes: she had attained her apotheosis. Hollywood had not known what to do with her, with the exception of oddities like Screaming Mimi, distracted by the presence of so many blonde bombshells of its own making.  But Fellini did, and as we contemplate this extraordinary glamour shot, we can see why.