Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed B次元官网网址渢he most beautiful woman in the worldB次元官网网址� after the title of one her movies, died in Rome on Monday, her agent said. She was 95.
The agent, Paola Comin, didnB次元官网网址檛 provide details. But Lollobrigida had surgery in September to repair a thigh bone broken in a fall. She returned home and said she had quickly resumed walking.
A drawn portrait of the diva graced a 1954 cover of Time magazine, which likened her to a B次元官网网址済oddessB次元官网网址� in an article about Italian movie-making. More than a half-century later, Lollobrigida still turned heads with her brown, curly hair and statuesque figure, and preferred to be called an actress instead of a the gender-neutral term actor.
B次元官网网址淟ollo,B次元官网网址� as she was lovingly nicknamed by Italians, began making movies in Italy just after the end of World War II, as the country began to promote on the big screen a stereotypical concept of Mediterranean beauty as buxom and brunette.
Besides B次元官网网址淭he WorldB次元官网网址檚 Most Beautiful WomanB次元官网网址� in 1955, career highlights included Golden Globe-winner B次元官网网址淐ome September,B次元官网网址� with Rock Hudson; B次元官网网址淭rapeze;B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淏eat the Devil,B次元官网网址� a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and B次元官网网址淏uona Sera, Mrs. Campbell,B次元官网网址� which won Lollobrigida ItalyB次元官网网址檚 top movie award, a David di Donatello, as best actress in 1969.
In Italy, she worked with some of the countryB次元官网网址檚 top directors following the war, including Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Pietro Germi and Vittorio De Sica.
Two of her more popular films at home were ComenciniB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淧ane Amore e FantasiaB次元官网网址� (B次元官网网址淏read, Love and DreamsB次元官网网址滷antasy) in 1953, and the sequel a year later, B次元官网网址淧ane Amore e GelosiaB次元官网网址� (B次元官网网址淏read, Love and JealousyB次元官网网址�). Her male foil was Vittorio Gassman, one of ItalyB次元官网网址檚 leading men on the screen.
Lollobrigida also was an accomplished sculptor, painter and photographer, and eventually essentially dropped film for the fine arts. With her camera, she roamed the world from what was then the Soviet Union to Australia. In 1974, Fidel Castro hosted her as a guest in Cuba for 12 days as she worked on a photo reportage.
Lollobrigida was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, a picturesque hill town near Rome, where her father was a furniture maker. Lollobrigida began her career in beauty contests, posing for the covers of magazines and brief appearances in minor films. Producer Mario Costa plucked her from the streets of Rome to appear on the big screen.
Eccentric mogul Howard Hughes eventually brought Lollobrigida to the United States, where she performed with some of HollywoodB次元官网网址檚 leading men of the 1950s and 60s, including Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Yul Brynner.
Over the years, her co-stars also included EuropeB次元官网网址檚 most dashing male stars of the era, among them Louis Jourdan, Fernando Rey, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Alec Guinness.
While Lollobrigida played some dramatic roles, her sex symbol image defined her career, and her most popular characters were in lighthearted comedies such as the B次元官网网址淏read, LoveB次元官网网址� trilogy.
With lush eyelashes and thick, brown curls framing her face, Lollobrigida started a hairstyle rage in the 1950s known as the B次元官网网址減oodle cut.B次元官网网址� Gossip columnists commented on alleged rivalries between her and Sophia Loren, another Italian film star celebrated for her physical beauty,
In middle age, LollobrigidaB次元官网网址檚 romance with a man 34 years her junior, Javier Rigau, from Barcelona, Spain, kept gossip pages buzzing for years.
B次元官网网址淚 have always had a weakness for younger men because they are generous and have no complexes,B次元官网网址� the actress told SpainB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淗olaB次元官网网址� magazine. After more than 20 years of dating, in 2006, the then-79-year-old Lollabrigida announced that she would Rigau, but the wedding never happened.
Her first marriage, to Milko Skofic, a Yugoslavia-born doctor, ended in divorce in 1971.
In the last years of her life, LollobrigidaB次元官网网址檚 name more frequently appeared in articles by journalists covering RomeB次元官网网址檚 courts, not the glamour scene, as legal battles were waged over whether she had the mental competence to tend to her finances.
On her website, Lollobrigida recalled how her family lost its house during the bombings of World War II and went to live in Rome. She studied sculpture and painting at a high school dedicated to the arts, while her two sisters worked as movie threater ushers to allow her to continue her studies.
B次元官网网址擣rances DB次元官网网址檈milio, The Associated Press
