Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida | About, Timeline, Less known facts, Quotes, Top searches, Family, Photo , Biography
Gina Lollobrigida | About, Timeline, Less known facts, Quotes, Top searches, Family, Photo , Biography
Gina Lollobrigida | About, Timeline, Less known facts, Quotes, Top searches, Family, Photos, Biography
About
Gina Lollobrigida, born July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, Italy, and died January 16, 2023 in Rome, Italy, was an Italian actress and professional photographer whose earthy sensuality helped propel her to international film prominence in the 1950s and 1960s.
Despite studying painting and sculpting, her modelling career as Diana Loris brought her to the notice of Italian directors. She had won a number of European beauty pageants prior to her debut film appearance in Aquila nera (1946; Return of the Black Eagle). Lollobrigida’s early roles were minor, but she began performing main roles in 1949, and by the early 1950s, she had established her cinematic position throughout Europe. She rose to worldwide prominence in the French swashbuckler Fanfan la Tulipe, where she was known as “La Lollo” (1952). In John Huston’s comedy Beat the Clock, she made her English-language film debut.
Timeline
Born in Subiaco, Italy
Gina Lollobrigida, the second of four daughters of a renowned furniture manufacturer, was born in Subiaco, Italy, a tiny mountain town south of Rome, in 1927. As a kid, she had private lessons in singing, dance, sketching, and languages. During WWII, the family escaped to Rome, where Lollobrigida, who had grown into a voluptuous beauty, helped support the family by posing for the fumetti (Italian comic strips that use photographs instead of cartoons). Following her freedom, she was awarded a scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts, where she spent three years studying painting and sculpting.
Start of Acting carrier
In 1947, Lollobrigida was approached on the street by film director Mario Costa, who gave her a screen test. This led to minor roles in other films as well as employment as a stand-in for a celebrity. (Lollobrigida subsequently stated that the arrangement terminated because the star was envious of her beautiful features.) Her first prominent role was as a beauty pageant participant in Miss Italy (1950), a position she could connect to having earned the title of “Miss Rome” two years before. That same year, she had her first American screen test with RKO’s Howard Hughes, who later signed her to an exclusive seven-year deal. Despite the fact that he never utilised her in a film, he made it hard for her to work for any other American studio during agreement.
Got Married and Foreign film debut
Milko Skofic, a refugee Yugoslav doctor who became Lollobrigida’s manager, married her in 1949. Both had a son, Milko Skofic Jr. They would be married for 22 years, until their divorce in 1971. With her rising relevance in Italian films and her unwavering ambition, the actress made her foreign film debut. By the early 1950s, “La Lolla,” as she was known, had become one of Continental Europe’s most well-known stars. According to Ephraim Katz, the French even developed the term “lollobrigidienne” to characterise the curvy feminine shape. During this time, she was most known for her roles in The Wayward Wife (1953), for which she received the Grolla d’Oro (the Italian equivalent of the Oscar), and Bread, Love, and Dreams (1953), for which she received the highest honour from the Italian Journalists guild. Bread, Love, and Jealousy (1954), a sequel to the latter, was likewise a huge hit.
Films with American Cast
Beat the Devil (1954), starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones, was Lollobrigida’s first European-made film with an American cast, and it was followed by Beautiful but Dangerous (1955), a Fox biopic about Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri. Trapeze (1956), starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, debuted to considerable acclaim but garnered lacklustre reviews. Lollobrigida later featured in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956), co-starring Anthony Quinn, and Solomon and Sheba (1959), co-starring Yul Brynner. Go Naked in the World (1961), Come September (1961), Strange Bedfellows (1965), The Private Navy of Sgt. O’Farrell (1968), and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1969) all featured a glossier Lollobrigida (1969).
Fight with Lawsuits and Temperament
Lollobrigida’s temperament supposedly developed in direct proportion to her success, and at one time she was embroiled in as many as 10 simultaneous lawsuits. She was always in complete control of her cinematic appearance, usually designing her own clothes and doing her own make-up. “I am a Gina specialist,” she was reportedly quoted as saying . Lollobrigida even negotiated her own financial contracts, occasionally pricing herself out of attractive jobs. When she sought half the revenues for Bread, Love, and Nostalgia, a sequel to Bread, Love, and Jealousy, she lost the role to another attractive Italian actress, Sophia Loren.
Retirement from films
Lollobrigida maintained her image of a glamour girl throughout her enormously successful career, yet she was never regarded as a superb actor. “I’m a painter and sculptor, and by luck I made movies,” she explained many years later. Lollobrigid a withdrew from acting in the early 1970s and has since followed a second profession as a photographer, which she discovered following the birth of her son in 1957. She divorced her spouse in 1966.
Second carrier as a photographer
She has five books of her images published, the most recent being The Wonder of Innocence (Abrams, 1994), which has over 150 photomontages of children and animals from throughout the world. Unlike her earlier volumes, which were almost entirely comprised of single pictures, each shot in this volume is a composite of several separate photographs, often integrating as many as 15 images in a single surrealistic montage. “”Technically, the composites are practically flawless,” adds a Popular Photography critic, making it difficult to discern any trickery. Overlapping subjects, entwined limbs, and tiny strands of hair shine in the sunlight.” Although Lollobrigida refused to share her methodology, she stated that the composites were created exclusively in her home darkroom (no computers), using a method she developed over two years. “You can understand how crazy what I went through was!” Her expertise as a painter, she believed, was a huge assistance in developing her composite pictures.
Returned to acting
The actress has also made sporadic film appearances over the years. She returned to acting in 1984, appearing in the American television series “Falcon Crest” after directing the famous documentary Rittrato di Fidel (Portrait of Fidel Castro, 1975). In June 1999, she became part of a new wave of female politicians in Italy. Lollobrigida, 71, was drafted by the splinter centrist Democrat party to fight for a seat in the European Parliament, aiming to “be a voice for Italy’s women,” but she conceded that it was difficult for people to believe she wasn’t merely in town to promote a movie or television series. “It’s not easy to be a politician,” she said.
Film Festival Jury
In 1986, she was asked to chair the jury at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival, which awarded Reinhard Hauff’s film Stammheim the Golden Bear. She called the majority judgement “prefabricated” and spoke out against it.
She had a few brief French film roles in the 1990s and continued to participate in and visit foreign film festivals.
European elections
Lollobrigida campaigned unsuccessfully for the European Parliament in 1999 as a candidate for The Democrats, a party led by Romano Prodi. She officially supported Pope Francis’ position on LGBT rights in 2020. Lollobrigida sought to seek a seat in the Senate of the Republic in the 2022 Italian general election as a candidate for the Sovereign and Popular Italy (ISP), a newly formed Eurosceptic coalition opposed to Mario Draghi, in Latina, Lazio. She was defeated because her party received only 1% of the constituency vote, falling short of the 3% electoral threshold. Prior to the election, Lollobrigida told Corriere della Sera that Mahatma Gandhi’s “method of doing things” influenced her.
Gina Lollobrigida Less known facts
- Her jewellery worth £10,000 were taken from a purse in November 1998. This occurred when she was waiting for a cab to the airport at a hotel lobby in Munich, Germany.
- The curly lettuce “Lollo” was named for her.
- She was a successful photojournalist who broke news throughout the world by gaining an exclusive interview with Fidel Castro.
- In 1947, she finished third in the Miss Italy pageant, after Lucia Bosè and Gianna Maria Canale.
- Guiliana Lollobrigida, Maria Lollobrigida, and Fernanda Lollobrigida are her three sisters.
- Beyond the Horizon (1994), she was considered for the part of Asunción Olazábal, which went to Luisa Kuliok.
- In 1986, he presided over the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival.
- “The Lips” Joey In Roddy Doyle’s novel “The Commitments,” Fagan’s trumpet is named for her.
- She was previously considered for one of Lady L’s major parts (1965).
- On July 28, 1957, at the age of 30, she gave birth to her first child, a son named Milko Skofic Jr. Milko Skofic, the child’s father, is now an ex-husband.
- On February 1, 2018, she was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6361 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- Humphrey Bogart, who portrayed her spouse in Beat the Devil (1953), detested her and dubbed her “Frigidaire”.
- Lollobrigida, a Croatian-Slovenian electropop band formed in the early 2000s, is named after her.
- She tried out for the role of Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953), which went to Audrey Hepburn.
- Neil Simon was born on the same day as him.
- Her natural brown hair, enticing deep voice, and big breasts made her renowned.
Motivational Quotes
My cinema — the ’50s, ’60s — is different from the cinema today so I thought that it would not be bad to show that kind of cinema where we could dream.
There is only one trouble with having played the most famous courtesan of all times and that is, after Sheba, all other roles will certainly seem tame and anticlimactic.
Popularity has a bright side, it unlocks many doors. But the truth is that I don’t like it very much because it changes the private life into a very small thing.
I’ve had many lovers and still have romances. I am very spoiled. All my life, I’ve had too many admirers.
I do what I like now. I just don’t have time for it all.
A woman at 20 is like ice, at 30 she is warm and at 40 she is hot.
I have experience seducing nephews.
Top Searches
Awards received by Gina Lollobrigida ?
- Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- Legion of Honour
- Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
How is Francesca Lollobrigida related to Gina?
Francesca Lollobrigida is the great-niece of Hollywood actress Gina Lollobrigida and an Italian speed skater.
Which books are published by Gina Lollobrigida ?
- Italia mia, 1973, is a compilation of images taken in Italy.
- The Philippines, 1976, a collection of images taken around the country
- Wonder of Innocence, a photobook published in 1994
- 2003 Sculptures
Did Gina Lollobrigida have any children?
One child. Milko Skofic Jr.
What was Gina Lollobrigida known for?
Lollobrigida was a sculptor, painter, and acclaimed photographer in addition to being a well-known actress. She was a travelling photographer who had travelled with her camera from the Soviet Union to Australia.
Gina Lollobrigida Photos
