Actress Gina Lollobrigida, one of the biggest stars of European cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, has died at the age of 95, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Often described as “the most beautiful woman in the world”, Lollobrigida participated in hits such as “Crossed Swords”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” or “Solomon and the Queen of Sheba”, where she shared the bill with film legends such as Errol Flynn , Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra and Rock Hudson.
From Lollobrigida, one of the last icons of the golden age of the seventh art, Bogart came to define her as the woman who “made Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple.”
The actress died in a hospital in Rome, where she had been hospitalized in recent weeks, her agent said.
a movie life
Luigina Lollobrigida, her given name, was born in 1927 in the town of Subiaco, a suburb of Rome, into a working family. Her father was a furniture maker.
Although he studied arts (sculpture), acting was not what interested him. A talent scout took her to Cinecittà, then the largest film studio in Europe, but she tried to get away from her by demanding an astronomical sum for her participation in a film. However, her demand was met.
Her physical beauty opened doors for her and also caused her headaches. Thus, in 1947 she participated in the Miss Italy contest, where she came in third place and a photograph of her made the controversial American businessman, Howard Hughes, obsessed with her and proposed to her on several occasions.
Although she did not leave her husband, the Slovenian filmmaker Milko Skofic, to go with Hughes, years later she admitted that she liked the attention that the controversial millionaire gave her.
But Lollobrigida will not only be remembered for her beauty or her performances, but also for her statements. “I knew right away that Rock Hudson was gay. when he didn’t fall in love with me“he told a reporter.
Off camera “La Lollo”, as she was nicknamed, had a historic feud with fellow Italian star Sophia Loren.
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