Sybil Danning

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Sybil Danning
Danning in Los Angeles, California, 2018
Born
Sybille Johanna Danninger

(1952-05-24) 24 May 1952 (age 73)
Wels, Austria
Other names
  • Cybil Danning
  • Sybil Danning Lasse
CitizenshipAustria
U.S.
Occupations
  • Actress
  • model
  • film producer
Years active1968–2011 as
  • Actress
  • model
  • film producer
Known forHalloween (2007)
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
They're Playing with Fire (1984)
Hercules (1983)
Chained Heat (1983)
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)
Spouse
Horst Lasse
​
(m. 1991)​
Websitesybildanning.net
Signature

Sybil Danning (born Sybille Johanna Danninger; 1952)[1] is an Austrian–American retired actress, model, and film producer, best known for her onscreen appearances in B movies during the 1970s and 80s.

Early life

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Danning was born in Wels, Austria, on 24 May 1952.[1] Her father was an American military man who returned to the United States, resulting in her growing up primarily in Eatontown, New Jersey, and Sacramento, California. After she finished school, she went to Europe. While in Salzburg, she worked as a nurse and studied cosmetology.[1][2] She then started working in a clothing store in Salzburg, and tried modeling work, from which she was invited to take up acting roles.[3]

Acting

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Danning started her onscreen career with soft-core work in erotic films such as Rolf Thiele's German-Italian production Komm nur, mein liebstes Vögelein (Come on, my dearest little bird), while still underage. In 1971, she was featured in the 1971 "classic sexploitation" movie titled Housewives Report,[4] from which she went on to play in Edward Dmytryk's 1972 thriller Bluebeard alongside Richard Burton and Raquel Welch, and, the same year, to appear in the giallo The Red Queen Kills Seven Times.

After a string of European sexploitation movies, such as Naughty Nymphs and Albino, appearing in minor roles, such as Eugenie, the maid to Comtesse de la Faye, who serves as an informant for Cardinal Richelieu and is involved in a plot to sabotage d'Artagnan, in The Three Musketeers of 1973, and venturing into spaghetti western's, such as the 1976 God's Gun, starring Lee Van Cleef, she was a Valkyrie warrior in the 1980 space opera Battle Beyond the Stars.

In 1983, she had a "domineering shower scene" with Linda Blair in 1983's Chained Heat of the women's prison genre, and, appeared in a ten-page Playboy nude pictorial.[5]

In 1984, she starred in the erotic thriller They're Playing with Fire, and played a femme fatale in the episode "Face to face," starring Robert Vaughn, of The Hitchhiker television series.[6]

Danning in The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)

Her popularity among the B-movie audience, led to talk about work in Bond films and Terminator sequels, which never came through.[4] She announced her retirement from acting in 1986.[4]

In 2003, Danning was invited by Kevin Clement of the Chiller Theatre, in New Jersey, to meet with fans, and, in 2004, the theater screened the documentary UnConventional about the event. In 2007, Danning returned to the screen, appearing in the British-Austrian produced drama Jump!, starring Patrick Swayze and Ben Silverstone, which was loosely based on the Halsman murder case. The same year, she appeared in a faux trailer directed by Rob Zombie, titled Werewolf Women of the SS for Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse, and another one for Rob Zombie's 2007 remake of John Carpenter's original Halloween.

In 2009, she played a vampire out for revenge in five episodes of the gay-themed vampire television series The Lair. In 2010, Danning appeared in the horror film Virus X, and, in 2011, she appeared in a music video for American hard rock band the Last Vegas.[7]

Investments in sports clubs

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From 2002 to 2003, Danning was part owner of the German ice hockey team, SC Riessersee, becoming the first female to ever own a German hockey team. Danning brought in three American players, and saw the team return to the highest division in German ice hockey.[8]

In 2011, Danning expressed her interest for the ownership of Premier League's Sheffield Wednesday F.C.,[9] but the Owls' owner and chairman Milan Mandarić rejected the approach.[10]

Selected filmography

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Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Film Result
1981 Saturn Award Outstanding Achievement Battle Beyond the Stars Won
1984 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Supporting Actress Chained Heat and Hercules Won

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Sybil Danning Biography". ElCinema.com. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  2. ^ "One of Bluebeard's victims 'lives' to talk about it". The Cincinnati Post. 30 August 1972. p. 39. Retrieved 10 September 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Kleiner, Dick (28 February 1986). "Sybil Danning: The female answer to Rambo". The Times and Democrat. Orangeburg, South Carolina. p. 23. Retrieved 10 September 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c Mr Skin's Skincyclopedia: The A-to-Z Guide to Finding Your Favorite Actresses Naked. St. Martin's Press. 2005. pp. 132–3. ISBN 9780312331443.
  5. ^ "Sultry Sybil Danning queen of the action flicks heats up a ten-page pictorial". Abe Books. Playboy. Archived from the original on 14 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  6. ^ "The Hitchhiker". IMDB. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  7. ^ Kaufman, Spencer (10 July 2012). "The Last Vegas Evil Eyes exclusive video premiere". Loud Wire. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  8. ^ Reisner, Dino (30 December 2002). "Riessersee, der Onkel aus Amerika und das Ziel: Aufstieg in die DEL" [Riessersee, the uncle from America and the objective: promotion to the Deutsche Eishockey Liga]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  9. ^ "Ex-glamour model wants to take over Sheffield Wednesday". Daily Mirror. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  10. ^ "Sheffield Wednesday chairman denies reports of club sale". BBC. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
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