From post-war film legends to artists
By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters – Gina Lollobrigida died today at the age 95. After becoming a sultry Mediterranean sex symbol in 1950s, she went on to be a photographer and sculptor.
Lollobrigida was a star of Italian postwar cinema at the height of her fame, in the 1950s and 60s. She was only surpassed by Sophia Loren.
Temperuous and impulsive, she was once again the talk of the town when she, aged 79, announced her intention to marry a man 34-years younger. She called off the wedding later, blaming media for ruining it.
“All my life I desired a real, authentic, and loving relationship, but I have never experienced one. I have never been loved by anyone. “I am a cumbersome lady,” she said to an interviewer at age 80.
She was the daughter of a working class family living in a poor area east Rome. She studied sculpture and then made her debut in filmmaking after placing third in Miss Italia’s 1947 beauty contest. Lucia Bose was that year’s winner.
One of her earliest roles was that of Gemma, an unhappy adulteress in “The Wayward Wife”, a 1953 film directed by Mario Soldati (La Provinciale).
Her fame was sparked by her leading roles as a character in Luigi Comencini’s two Italian comedies, “Bread, Love and Dreams” and “Bread, Love and Jealousy”.
The WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL WOOMAN
Her fame was secured by her role as Humphrey Bogart’s 1954 film “Beat the Devil” and, in 1955, she made “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman”.
She was also directed and produced by Rene Clair, Carol Reed, and other film legends.
Despite playing opposite American stars Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra in films, she did not feel comfortable with Hollywood. Instead, she preferred to work at home, making films with directors such as Mario Bolognini, throughout the 1960s.
Her last movie, perhaps, was “Buona Sera Mrs. Campbell”, a comedy by Melvin Frank that starred Phil Silvers and Peter Lawford, as well as Telly Savalas.
It featured Carla, an Italian lady who had affairs with three American soldiers in World War Two. She meets them all again at a reunion of squadrons 20 years later.
Lollobrigida was conceived July 4, 1927. Lollobrigida and her family fled the countryside where she was born during World War Two. Lollobrigida later went to the Academy of Fine Arts in London to complete her education.
Her first job was as a model in fotoromanzi. This is a collection of Italian photographic novels that are avidly read in Italy. She used the stage name Diana Loris.
Lollobrigida’s success on screen was accompanied by a chaotic, often turbulent lifestyle that provided a wealth of information for Italian gossip writers.
She was determined to protect her private life and hid in a villa on Rome’s Appian Way. There she found her sculptures, paintings, and art from her travels around the world.
She married Yugoslav emigre doctor Milko Skofic in 1950, and he became her manager. The couple had one child, Milko Junior.
Lollobrigida stated later that she did not intend to remarry after their separation of nearly 17 years. She said that marriages are dull and almost always resemble funerals. Couples also tend to restrict their love too much.
WANT TO MARRY A YOUNGER MAN
In 2006, however, at the age of 79, she declared her intention to marry Javier Rigau. A Spaniard 34-years her junior, with whom she had a close and confidential friendship for many years.
She called off the wedding months later, claiming that media coverage had caused her to be subject to “endless attacks and slander”
She lashed out at the Spanish media, accusing Rigau of being an opportunist.
She said in an interview that she felt responsible for Rigau’s suffering because he was connected to her. I’m more used to falsehoods being written about me.”
During a visit to the United States she requested that the American Congress pass more strict laws to protect the privacy of individuals from media intrusion.
He stated that “the law must stop media from continuing to engage in this absurd behavior.”
Lollobrigida quit filmmaking and began new careers as an artist and photographer. Lollobrigida was also a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Children’s Fund and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
She published six books of photographs between 1972-1994, including Italia Mia, My Italy, The Philippines, and The Wonder of Innocence. These were photographs of and for children.
“Children look at us with wide, wide eyes,” she wrote. In the introduction, she said that their looks should inspire us to forget about selfishness and leave our hearts empty.
She made “Portrait of Fidel Castro” in 1975. For years, rumours circulated that she was having an affair with the Cuban leader.
In her later years, she returned to her first passion, sculpture. She maintained a summer home at Pietrasanta in Tuscany, where she was able to work with Bottero and other sculptors.
In 2008, she had a one-woman performance there and dedicated it in her honor to Maria Callas, the late opera singer.
Exhibitions of her bronze and marble statues were also held in Paris, Moscow, as well as the United States.
When she was 85, an auction of her jewellery at Sotheby’s Geneva raised $4.9million. It set a record for a pair diamond- and pearl earrings that sold for $2.37million. The proceeds were used to fund stem cell research.
She said that jewels are supposed to bring pleasure, and for many years I enjoyed wearing mys. I feel that selling my jewels to raise awareness about stem cell therapy, which can treat so many diseases, is a great use for them.
(Reporting by Philip Pullella, Editing by Andrew Heavens, Susan Fenton).