Sybil Danning

Posted June 23, 201113 yr

Sybil Danning (born May 24, 1952) is an Austrian actress known for her many roles in B movies, science fiction films, and action films.

Early life

Danning was born in Ried im Innkreis, Austria as Sybille Johanna Danninger. Her father was an American of Dutch and German descent; her Austrian mother later married a United States Army major who moved the family to the United States when his tour of duty in Austria with the occupation forces was over.

Danning became an actress after leaving home about 1968 at the age of sixteen.

Career

Danning made her film debut in 1968's Komm nur, mein liebstes Vögelein, portraying the legendary German mermaid "Lorelei" covered by only her long blonde tresses. The next year, she had a role in one of Robert De Niro’s first films, Sam's Song.

Danning next trained for three years with a drama coach in Munich. In 1972, she was in the cast of Bluebeard, along with Raquel Welch and Richard Burton, playing a high-caliber prostitute. The same year, she appeared in Eye of the Labyrinth, a giallo thriller.

Also noteworthy were her films The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, again acting with Raquel Welch; both movies being produced by Ilya and Alexander Salkind.

In 1978, Danning moved to Hollywood, California, to further her career in American films. She left all her friends and family in Europe behind, and pursued her career with no contract, no agent, and no idea what the future would bring.

Danning portrayed an extraterrestrial Amazon named Saint-Exmin in the 1980 film Battle Beyond the Stars. This performance earned her "The Golden Scroll Award of Merit" from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films. The cheaply-made films Jungle Warriors, Panther Squad, and S.A.S. San Salvador followed in quick succession.

In 1983, Danning appeared on the cover of the August issue of Playboy magazine and in a nude Playboy pictorial inside.

Next, Sybil co-starred with Christopher Lee in Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf, playing Stirba, an evil werewolf queen. She began to guest-star in many American television series, notably A Man Called Sloane, Vega$, Simon & Simon, Masquerade, The Fall Guy, and V (The TV series). In 1986, Sybil was seen with the troubled rocker Wendy O. Williams in Reform School Girls, a campy "Women in Prison" film. After the sketch parody Amazon Women on the Moon, Sybil founded her own production company, "Adventuress Productions, Inc.", and that one produced L.A. Bounty, in which she starred and helped write the script.

Danning was the hostess of her own collection of 26 action-adventure films that bear the title Sybil Danning's Adventure Video for the "USA Home Video" company. She appeared at the beginning, spouted one-liners, introduced the video, and returned at the end to wrap it up. In 1989, Danning re-teamed with the producers of Bluebeard, The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and The Prince and the Pauper to play a succubus in the television series Superboy.

In 1990, Danning's acting career was cut short by an accident in a gymnasium while she was rehearsing a film stunt. For the next two months, she rested, while working with writers on her first screenplay-writing experience, but the pain worsened. Doctors misdiagnosed her condition as either a strained muscle or a damaged nerve, and they prescribed painkillers and massages. Finally, a surgeon, recommended by Jack Nicholson, discovered that Danning had two severely herniated discs, and put her into the hospital that same afternoon.

Danning underwent a series of epidurals, followed by traction. At that point, Sybil could not walk, and she was always either in bed or in a wheelchair. At first, she was determined to overcome her orthopedic problem without surgery, but the pain became too overwhelming. Sybil finally consented to a new microdissectomy technique on the day after Thanksgiving 1990. She spent the following year recovering and watched the duration of the Persian Gulf War from her hospital bed.

In 2003, Danning returned to public performances. She started by appearing in the fan memorabilia convention circuit, with appearances in California, Chicago, Illinois, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, and New Jersey. The Chiller Theater in New Jersey included footage of Danning in her first appearance in its 2004 documentary, UnConventional.

The year 2007 marked Danning's return to the big screen, most notably in the film Grindhouse, in a faux trailer titled Werewolf Women of the SS. This was followed by her appearance in Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween.

She has appeared in the third season of the here! series The Lair as Frau von Hess, a sinister vampiress out to kill the vampire whose influence over her son caused her transformation.