As one of the final stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Lollobrigida’s roles in films such as Beautiful But Dangerous and The World’s Most Beautiful Woman established her as an international sex icon.
Gina Lollobrigida passed away at age 95.
She was one of the most prominent European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing opposite Humphrey Bogart, Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Frank Sinatra, among others.
She rose from modest beginnings to become one of the most recognizable faces of post-war Italian cinema.
Lollobrigida was one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age and an international sex icon due to her sultry Mediterranean looks, rivaled only by her fellow Italian actress Sophia Loren.
According to her agent, she died in Rome on Monday.
Throughout her five-decade acting career, she starred in films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Solomon and Sheba, Beautiful But Dangerous, and The World’s Most Beautiful Woman.
In his later years, Lollobrigida found success as a photographer, sculptor, and politician.
Nonetheless, she was unable to win a seat in parliament for the left-leaning Sovereign and Popular Italy (ISP) party in September’s elections, as they failed to reach the 3% threshold.
In 1975, rumors circulated that she had an affair with Fidel Castro after gaining exclusive access to him for a documentary she produced.
In 2006, at age 79, Lollobrigida made headlines when she announced she was marrying a man 34 years her junior.
At the age of 80, she stated in an interview, “All my life I have desired a real, genuine love, but I have never had one. No one has ever loved me truly. I am a ponderous woman.
Lollobrigida entered the film industry after placing third in the 1947 Miss Italia competition. In the 1953 film The Wayward Wife, she played an adulteress in one of her earliest roles.
Two Italian comedies, Bread, Love and Dreams and Bread, Love and Jealousy, subsequently cast him in leading roles.
The World’s Most Beautiful Woman
A role alongside Humphrey Bogart in John Huston’s film Beat the Devil increased her visibility.
The World’s Most Beautiful Woman, released in 1955, cemented her worldwide fame and became one of her signature roles.
Despite her success in Hollywood, she preferred to make films with Italian directors such as Mario Bolognini throughout the 1960s.
Her final well-known film, the 1968 comedy Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, co-starring American actor Telly Savalas, garnered her several nominations for awards.
Born Luigia Lollobrigida in Subiaco, a mountainous region east of Rome, to a working-class family in July 1927, she attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome before beginning her career as a model under the name Diana Loris.
Her on-screen success was accompanied by intense interest from Italian paparazzi and gossip writers due to her volatile and impulsive nature.
To protect her privacy, she retreated to an isolated villa on the ancient Appian Way in Rome.
In 1950, she married Milko Skofic, a Yugoslavian physician who later became her manager. The couple had a child.
After nearly 17 years of marriage, they divorced, and Lollobrigida stated at the time that she had no intention of remarrying.
However, in 2006 she announced her engagement to Javier Rigau, a Spaniard 34 years her junior and a close friend. She ultimately canceled the wedding and blamed the media for ruining it.
In an interview she stated that she felt culpable for Rigau’s misfortune after the Spanish media labeled him an opportunist. She stated that she was “more accustomed to having false information written about me.”
During a subsequent trip to the United States, she urged Congress to pass stricter laws protecting individuals’ privacy from media intrusion.
Lollobrigida forged a successful second career as a photojournalist and sculptor after a stellar acting career.
She was a UNICEF and FAO goodwill ambassador (FAO).
In addition, she published six volumes of her photographs, which included images of Italy, the Philippines, and children.
She produced Portrait of Fidel Castro in 1975 and was surrounded by rumors for years that she had an affair with the Cuban leader.
She also stated in interviews that Indira Gandhi, India’s first female prime minister, was a “great friend.”
In her later years, she devoted herself to sculpture, spending the summers in an artists’ colony in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.
In 2008, she performed a one-woman show there and dedicated it to her late friend, the opera singer Maria Callas.
Her marble and bronze statues have been exhibited in Paris, Moscow, and the United States.
In 2013, when she was 85, Sotheby’s in Geneva auctioned off her jewelry for $4.9m (£4.1m) and set a record for a pair of diamond and pearl earrings, which sold for $2.37m (£1.9m). Proceeds were allocated to stem cell research.
She stated regarding the sale, “Jewelry is intended to provide pleasure. And for many years I derived great pleasure from wearing mine.”
“I believe that selling my jewels to raise awareness of stem cell therapy. Which can cure so many diseases, is an excellent use for them.”
