Eig was born in 1930 in Impilahti, Finland (currently Russian Impilakhti), but later raised in Turku by her parents, Helena Dobroumova (of Russian descent) and Åke Elg, a pianist.
She was signed to a seven-year contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the mid-1950s. In 1957 she won the Golden Globe for the Foreign Newcomer Award – Female. She won another Golden Globe in 1958 for Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy for her performance in Les Girls, tying with her co-star Kay Kendall.
In 1958 she was nominated for a Golden Laurel as Top New Female Personality. In 1975 she was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez in Where's Charley?. She appeared in the original Broadway production of Nine as Guido Contini's mother. In 1989 she had the title role as Lea in Chéri, from a Colette novel as adapted by Anita Loos.
In 1980 she played Dr. Ingrid Fischer on CBS daytime drama soap opera Guiding Light.
From 1980-82 she played Olympia Buchanan, first wife of tycoon Asa Buchanan, on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. Her character, held prisoner by Asa for months, had a memorable death sequence, falling over a balcony at a costume party (that lasted nearly a month!) and informing son Bo (falsely) that Asa was not his father.
Personal life
Her son by her first marriage to Carl Björkenheim, which ended in divorce in 1958, is Finnish-American jazz guitarist Raoul Björkenheim. In 1982 she remarried, to Rocco Caporale, an Italian-born educator and professor of sociology. They resided in New York City.
