Post by Admin on Jan 16, 2023 12:30:34 GMT -4
Gina Lollobrigida, Italian Screen Icon and Photographer, Dead at 95
Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, one of the last remaining stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, has died at age 95
Gina Lollobrigida, an award-winning Italian actress and one of the last stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, has died.
The movie star, who worked with Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Errol Flynn and Rock Hudson in the 1950s and 1960s, died in Rome on Monday, her agent confirmed to the Associated Press. In September, she had leg surgery after suffering a fall, the outlet said. She was 95.
"Farewell to a diva of the silver screen, protagonist of more than half a century of Italian cinema history," Culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano wrote on Twitter. "Her charm will remain eternal."
Lollobrigida is survived by her son Milko Skofic Jr. — her only child with ex-husband Milko Skofic, whom she was married to from 1949 to 1971 — and one grandchild.
Born Luigia Lollobrigida on July 4, 1927, in Subiaco, Italy, Lollobrigida was the second of four daughters and began entering beauty contests in her youth, according to a biography on IMDb. In 1947, she placed third in the Miss Italy competition.
After reportedly rejecting a seven-year American movie contract from Howard Hughes, Lollobrigida appeared in several Italian films before her breakout English-language role in 1954's Beat the Devil. In the John Huston-directed adventure-comedy, she played Maria Dannreuther, the wife of Humphrey Bogart's character Billy Dannreuther.
Lollobrigida went on to land several starring sliver-screen roles, including three in 1956 alone: in Beautiful but Dangerous, Trapeze and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In the latter, she played Esmeralda opposite Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo.
The actress would appear in more than two dozen films after that, with her final role in the 1997 French comedy XXL.
Lollobrigida won a Golden Globe Award for her role in the 1961 romantic comedy Come September, which costarred Rock Hudson, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin. She was nominated for a total of three Golden Globes in her lifetime and once for a BAFTA Award, the latter for her role in the Italian romantic comedy Bread, Love and Dreams (1953).
Aside from her acting talent, Lollobrigida was an accomplished artist, telling Parade magazine in an April 2000 interview, "I studied painting and sculpting at school and became an actress by mistake," per her IMDb biography.
Lollobrigida released several books featuring her photographs over the years, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018.
Shortly after her 95th birthday this past summer, Lollobrigida also announced plans to run for the Senate in Italy's elections the following month, as part of the Sovereign and Popular Italy (ISP) party.
While her bid was unsuccessful, she told Corriere della Sera (via the Los Angeles Times) at the time, "I was just tired of hearing politicians arguing with each other without ever getting to the point."
"I will fight for the people to decide, from health to justice. Italy is in bad shape, I want to do something good and positive," Lollobrigida added.
Rest In Peace
One more thing about her
Beautiful Italian sculptor Gina Lollobrigida
The famous Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, even in the era of her triumphant success in the movie was passionately fond of drawing and sculpture. In her youth, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, but later the talent and beauty have led her to a new way of expression – the cinema. Having achieved great success in the cinema, she finished her film career in the 1990s, and returned to her first love – sculpture.
In her art gallery – dozens of sculptures, life-size in bronze and clay … Meanwhile, the cinema has become a source of inspiration for her sculptural works. Thus, the sculpture is a magical golden mirror of Gina, in which come alive beautiful heroines played by Lollobrigida in the movie: Esmeralda, the Queen of Sheba, and Paolina Borghese …
The monument to Esmeralda by Italian sculptor Gina Lollobrigida.
