ROME – Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who rose to international stardom in the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her films, died Monday in Rome She was 95 years old.
Agent Paola Comin did not provide details.Lollobrigida underwent surgery to repair a bone in her thigh that was fractured in a fall in September. She went home to her house and she immediately started walking, she said.
A painted portrait of the diva graced the 1954 cover. time A magazine likening her to a “goddess” in an article on Italian filmmaking. More than half a century later, Lollobrigida still commands attention for her curly brown hair and statuesque figure, and she preferred to be called an actress rather than the term gender-neutral actor.
“Lolo”, affectionately nicknamed by the Italians, began making films in Italy shortly after the end of World War II. Because the country started promoting the stereotypical concept of Mediterranean beauty as plump and brunette on the big screen.
Moreover most beautiful woman in the world 1955, career highlights include Golden Globe winner come in septemberwith Rock Hudson. trapeze; defeat the devil, a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones.When Buona Serra, Mrs. CampbellIn 1969, Lollobrigida won the David di Donatello Award, Italy’s highest film award, for Best Actress.
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In Italy, after the war, he worked with some of Italy’s top directors, including Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Pietro Germi and Vittorio De Sica.
Two of her more popular films at home were those of Comencini. Pane Amore e Fantasia (bread, love and dreams) was released in 1953, followed by a sequel a year later. Pane Amore e Gelosia (bread and love and jealousy). Her male foil was Vittorio Gassman, one of Italy’s leading men on screen.
Lollobrigida was also an accomplished sculptor, painter, and photographer who eventually quit film for essentially other arts. With her camera, she traveled around the world, from the then-Soviet Union to Australia. In 1974, Fidel Castro hosted her as her guest during her 12 days in Cuba as she worked on her photographic reportage.
Lollobrigida was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, a picturesque hill town near Rome, where his father was a cabinetmaker. She Lollobrigida began her career in beauty pageants, appearing on magazine covers and making brief appearances in minor films. Her producer Mario Costa plucked her from the streets of Rome for her big screen appearance.
Eccentric mogul Howard Hughes eventually brought Lollobrigida to America, where he starred with Hollywood’s leading figures of the 1950s and ’60s, including Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Yul Brynner. I played with men.
Over the years, her co-stars have included some of Europe’s most dashing male stars, including Louis Jourdan, Fernando Rey, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Alec Guinness. was also included.
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Lollobrigida had several dramatic roles, but her sex symbol image defined her career, and her most popular characters were light-hearted comedies such as the “Pan, Love” trilogy. was.
With lush lashes and thick brown curls framing Lollobrigida’s face, Lollobrigida started the hairstyle craze known as the “poodle cut” in the 1950s. Gossip Her columnist commented on the alleged rivalry between her and Sophia Lauren, another Italian film star famous for her beauty.
Middle-aged Lollobrigida’s romance with Javier Rigau, a man 34 years her junior from Barcelona, Spain, kept the gossip pages buzzing for years.
“I’ve always thought I was weak with young men because they are generous and have no complexes,” the actress told Spain’s Hola magazine. Lollobrigida, who was 12 years old, announced that he would marry Rigau, but the marriage did not materialize.
Her first marriage to Yugoslavian-born doctor Mirko Skoffic ended in divorce in 1971.
In the last years of her life, Lollobrigida’s name appeared more frequently in articles by journalists covering the Roman courts, showing her mental ability to look after her finances rather than glamorous scenes. A legal battle ensued as to whether or not they had it.
On her website, Lollobrigida recalled that her family lost their home to World War II bombings and went to live in Rome. She studied sculpture and painting at an arts-specialized high school, and her two sisters worked as ushers in cinemas, so she was able to continue her studies.
FRANCES D’EMILIO The Associated Press
Maria Grazia Murru contributed to the report.
