Biography

Sybil Danning

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Overview

Born
May 24 · Wels, Upper Austria, Austria
Birth name
Sybille Johanna Danninger
Nickname
- The Queen of the B movies
Height
5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Mini bio

Statuesque 5'7" blonde beauty Sybil Danning reigns supreme as one of the sexiest, most dynamic, and commanding actresses to achieve cult B-movie queen status. Born in Austria as daughter of US Army major and Austrian mother she grew up on army bases in New Jersey, Maryland and Sacramento, CA.. Sybil started as a model then film debut as the beautiful tragic Lorelei, German legend who threw herself into the Rhine River in despair over a faithless lover then transformed into a siren who lured fishermen to destruction. As Nibelungen princess Kriemhild, she turns she-devil revenges death of her love Siegfried by her brutal Burgundian King brothers. Sybil studied 3 years with noted German drama coach Anne-Marie Hanschke, multiple mainstream European and American movies followed. When offered lead in prestigious Francis Durbridge play for Germany, Switzerland, and Austria; she chose Hollywood instead. Sybil's (Raid on Entebbe) Oscar nominated Best Foreign Film OPERATION THUNDER BOLT, aka MIVTSA JONATAN with Klaus kinski was her calling card. It was her impressive performance as vivacious Valkyrie warrior "St Exmin" for which she won multiple awards, science-fiction cult movie BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS that introduced Sybil to young and old worldwide. A studio contracted Sybil to produce an action figure based on St Exmin with street date April 2021. Male & female fans love her rare beauty, sexiness, & toughness as tough prison inmate, formidable swanky swordfighter, wicked werewolf queen, cunning femme fatale English professor, Queen of the Moon, wicked warden, alien queen, loyal LAPD officer, brave bounty hunter, etc. Sybil has 2 comics, RUGER(TM) currently in discussion for an action TV series. Away for a while due to personal reasons, Tarantino and Rob Zombie brought her back in GRINDHOUSE as Nazi Villain and HALLOWEEN as nasty nurse! Sybil's back in action!
- IMDb mini biography by: Sybil Danning

Family

Spouse
Children

Self-verified on IMDbPro

Gender / Gender identity
Female

Trademarks

Platinum blonde hair
Sparkling blue eyes
Seductive deep voice

Trivia

President and Chief Operating Officer of "Adventuress Productions", the company she founded with S.C. Dacy and Robert P. Palazzo.
Danning was annoyed with having to go topless or nude so often in her movies, and wanted to remain clothed in Howling II: ... Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985). The producers disagreed, but eventually, a compromise was reached where she would do a single topless shot. She was very angry on watching the finished film to find that the ending credits featured this shot no less than seventeen times.
Has appeared with Christopher Lee in five films: The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), The Night of the Askari (1976), The Salamander (1981) and Howling II: ... Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985); and Raquel Welch in four films: Bluebeard (1972), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974) and Crossed Swords (1977).
Danning's role as the Valkyrie princess Saint-Exmin in the space opera Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) assisted transition her career from movies where she spent most of her time naked playing someone's sexy mistress or girlfriend to the "Queen of the Action Pictures". Though she continued to strip naked in many of those later movies as well.
Very good friends with producer Gale Anne Hurd.

Quotes

What I am is the new dream girl - one who has both body and intelligence.
I love playing women who are not ashamed to be strong. There are many of us out there, you know, and we would love to see more of us on the screen.
I have a tendency to play larger-than-life figures, which is good. I would never want to play a nurse or a housewife. You can see those people in everyday life. How boring!
I love being a strong female on the screen. It suits me fine and I think it's nice that young girls can see some of their own inner fantasies on film. Boys have Clint Eastwood. I hope that girls enjoy seeing me leaping about. Young people need fantasy in their lives. They need larger-than-life figures to watch.
[When asked about her sex appeal and how she might have used it to her advantage in her career] I never really thought of myself as being that sexy; my thinking has always been that every woman is sexy! My manager really thought I could look attractive and sexy, while at the same time carrying a gun on screen. I could be convincing, and have the sexuality and toughness intermixed, which is a great combination. I worked in European films at first, which are naturally much more sexual in nature, so I was already comfortable with playing those roles when I started in Hollywood.