Gina Lollobrigida died at the age of 95

Luigina “Gina” Lollobrigida, the Italian film actress who became one of the most famous stars of European cinema in the 1950s and 60s, has died, the Italian news agency Lapresse reported. Monday. He was 95 years old.

According to Lapresse (via Species), Lollobrigida died in a Roman clinic. The cause of death has not been confirmed. Italy’s agriculture minister and Lollobrigida’s nephew Francesco Lollobrigida tweeted about her death on Monday, calling her “one of the brightest stars of Italian cinema and culture.”

Oggi è scomparsa #GinaLollobrigida, one of the most luminous stars of cinematography and Italian culture. Ineguagliabile fuoriclasse, icona di bellezza e versatile, donna e professionalista straordinaria. Continuerà a vivere e spirare traverso le sue opere. pic.twitter.com/fEW9gVFuEi

— Francesco Lollobrigida 🇮🇹 (@FrancescoLollo1) January 16, 2023

Born in 1927 to the daughter of a furniture maker, Lollobrigida studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and began her career with minor Italian film roles, before coming third in the 1947 Miss Italia pageant. After turning down a contract with Howard Hughes to make three pictures in the United States in 1950, Lollobrigida starred in 1952’s “Fanfan la Tulipe” and 1953’s “Bread, Love and Dreams,” among which the latter received a BAFTA nomination. Best Foreign Actress.

Lollobrigida’s first American film was “Beat the Devil,” a 1953 adventure comedy directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart. In the 1950s and 1960s, she appeared in several American productions shot in France, Italy and Europe, among which stand out “Trapéz” with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” as Esmerelda, ” Solomon”. and Sheba” with Yul Brynner, “Never So Flew” with Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen, “Come September” with Rock Hudson and “Woman of Straw” with Sean Connery, and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell” with Shelley Winters.

Her roles made her one of the main sex symbols of Italian cinema; In 1953, she won Italy’s David di Donatello Award for Best Actress for her performance in the biographical film Beautiful but Dangerous of opera star Lina Cavalieri, known in Italian as “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World.” Later, he won two more David di Donatello awards for “Imperial Venus” and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell”, the Gold Medal of the City of Rome in 1986, the 40th Anniversary of David in 1996, and the 50th Anniversary of David in 2006. In 1961, she won the Golden Globe Henrietta Award for “World Fan Favorite” and was nominated for “Falcon Crest” and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell.”

After the 1960s, Lollobrigida’s career began to slow down, but she continued to appear intermittently, including in the 1995 Agnes Varda film “Les cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma” and in 1980s TV shows such as on CBS’ “Falcon Crest.” ” and ABC’s “The Love Boat.” Lollobrigida had a successful second career as a photojournalist in the 1980s and ran unsuccessfully for the European Parliament in 1999. In 2011, he appeared in his last feature film, in a cameo in the Italian parody film “Box Office 3D: The Filmest of”. Movies.”

For her work throughout her career, Lollobrigida won the Berlinale Camera Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1986, the Special Award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 1995, and the Career Award at the Rome Festival in 2008. In 2018, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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