Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg (born on September 29, 1931) is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. Ekberg was born in 1931 in Malmo, Skane, the oldest girl and the sixth of eight children. As a starlet at Universal, Ekberg received lessons in drama, elocution, dancing, horse-riding and fencing. By the mid-50s, other studios offered Ekberg work. Ekberg was married to the British actor Anthony Steel from 1956 to 1959. Ekberg has not lived in Sweden since the early 1950s and rarely visits the country.