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The film industry is in mourning after the death of the Italian actress was confirmed Gina Lollobrigida at 95 years of age. Her great-nephew, Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, tweeted the news of her death, calling her “one of the brightest stars of Italian cinema and culture.”
considered a italian cinema legend, Lollobrigida, rose to international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her films. According to the ANSA news agency, the actress passed away in Rome this Monday.
Who was Gina Lollobrigida? From wearing straw shoes to the big screen
The second of four daughters, Luigia Lollobrigida was born in the town of Subiaco, on Sabine Mountain, on July 4, 1927. During the WWIIhis father lost his furniture factory in an Allied bombing raid, forcing him to move the family to Rome, where he began selling black-market cigarettes and military blankets.
“We were so poor that I made my shoes out of stable straw”told the actress in an interview for Weekly World News. After Italy’s surrender, she took to singing and selling sketches to American soldiers. With the money she earned she paid for singing lessons and eventually won a scholarship to the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
Before reaching the big screen, “Lollo”, as the Italians affectionately nicknamed her, worked as a model and earned the title of Miss Rome before placing third in the Miss Italy competition. Later, the producer Mario Costa discovered her and convinced her to make her first film appearance in 1946, with a small role in the film the black eagle.
In Italy, he worked with some of the country’s leading conductors after the war, including Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Pietro Germi, and Vittorio De Sica. Two of his most popular movies were ‘Bread Love and Fantasy’ (“Bread, Love and Dreams”) by Comencini in 1953, and the sequel a year later, ‘Bread Love and Gelosia’ (“Bread, love and jealousy”).
It was the eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes who eventually brought Lollobrigida to the United States, where she starred with some of Hollywood’s most prominent actors of the 1950s and 1960s, including Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis Y Yul Brynner.
Lollobrigida was also an accomplished sculptress, painter Y photographer. In the 1970s he finally gave up film for photojournalism. With his camera, he toured 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 while working on a photographic report.
The 5 films by Gina Lollobrigida that marked her film career
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Fanfan, the invincible (Christian Jacque, 1951)
His first great success was this adventure film classic in which he shared the lead with the French actor Gérard Philipe.
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bread, love and fantasy (Luigi Comencini, 1953)
One of his most successful films in which he worked with Vittorio de Sica. It won the Silver Bear at the Berlin festival and was nominated for the Bafta Awards.
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The devil’s taunt (John Huston, 1953)
In 1953, he made his Hollywood debut by sharing stardom with none other than Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones.
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The most beautiful woman in the world (Robert Z. Leonard, 1955)
In this film, Gina Lollobrigida played the famous soprano Lina Cavalieri in this biopic where she also sang opera with her own voice.
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Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (King Vidor, 1959)
One of his most remembered roles was that of ‘Solomon and the Queen of Sheba’ with Yul Brynner as Solomon.
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