[1] Ekland continued to act throughout the 1970s, with roles in films such as The Ultimate Thrill (1974), Royal Flash (1975), High Velocity (1976), and King Solomon's Treasure (1979), and into the 1980s, starring in the likes of Fraternity Vacation (1985), Moon in Scorpio (1987), and Scandal (1989).

Her high-profile social life, her 1964 marriage to actor Peter Sellers, and her relationship with singer Rod Stewart attracted considerable press attention, making her one of the world's most photographed celebrities during the 1970s.

Ekland was born Britt-Marie Eklund in Stockholm, Sweden[2] to Maj Britt, a secretary, and Sven Eklund, who ran an upmarket clothing store in Stockholm and was captain of the Swedish national curling team, four-time national champion and one-time president of the World Curling Federation.

[3] As a teenager, Ekland left school to travel with a theatre company and was spotted in a coffee shop in Italy by a talent agent who sent her to London to audition for films.

In the same year Ekland was originally cast in the dramatic role of Karen Eriksson in the British film Guns at Batasi starring Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, and sixties heartthrob actor/singer John Leyton.

However she left the Pinewood production after only three weeks into filming due to tension with her new husband Peter Sellers,[5] who was apparently so paranoid about Ekland having an affair with Leyton he secretly asked his old acting friends, David Lodge and Graham Stark who were co-starring in the picture, to keep an eye on her.

This was followed with a lead role as an Amish girl turned New York City burlesque dancer in William Friedkin's musical The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), which earned Ekland critical acclaim.

In 1971 she was cast as a leading lady and gun moll in the crime film Get Carter, opposite Michael Caine, which firmly established her as a blonde bombshell.

Her best known horror role came in 1973s The Wicker Man, in which she played a Pagan villager and seductress; however, her voice was dubbed in the film to disguise her Swedish-accented English.

On television, she was cast in the TV film The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War (1973) opposite Lee Majors.

[14] In 1976 Ekland provided the French spoken part at the end of then-boyfriend Rod Stewart's single "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)".

Ekland also portrayed biographical characters, such as the one based on real-life actress Anny Ondra (boxer Max Schmeling's wife) in the television film Ring of Passion (1978).

She also appeared in Grumpy Old Women Live and participated in the Swedish reality show Stjärnorna på slottet (The stars at the castle) along with Peter Stormare, Arja Saijonmaa, Jan Malmsjö, and Magnus Härenstam.

For The Wicker Man, spring had to be faked by glueing leaves to trees as principal photography took place in the autumn and Ekland herself was pregnant requiring some of her nude scenes to be filmed with a body double.

Ekland became famous overnight as a result of her 1964 whirlwind romance and marriage to English actor and comedian Peter Sellers, who proposed after seeing her photograph in the paper and then meeting her in London.

[25] On 17 December 1968, Mr Justice Alan Orr granted Ekland a decree nisi for divorce in the High Court on the grounds of cruelty by Sellers, who did not contest the proceedings.