Date of Birth
4 July 1927, Subiaco, Rome, Italy
Birth Name
Luigina Lollobrigida
Nickname
The Mona Lisa of the Twentieth Century
La Lollo
Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)
Gina Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927 in Subiaco, Italy), is an Italian actress and photojournalist. She was one of Italy's most prominent actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s. Today, she remains an active supporter of Italian and Italian American causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2008, she received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala.
Gina Lollobrigida was born in Subiaco, Italy. Gina, destined to be called "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World," possibly had St. Brigid as part of her surname. She was the daughter of a furniture manufacturer, and grew up in the pictorial mountain village. The young Gina did some modeling, and from there went on to participate successfully in several beauty contests. In 1947 she entered a beauty competition for Miss Italy, but came in third. The winner was Lucia Bos? (born 1931) who would go on to appear in over 50 movies, and the first runner-up was Gianna Maria Canale (born 1927), who would appear in almost 50 films. After appearing in a half-dozen films in Italy, it was rumored that in 1947 film tycoon Howard Hughes had her flown to Hollywood; however, this did not result in her staying America, and she returned to Italy (her Hollywood breakout movie wouldn't come until six years later in the John Huston film Beat the Devil (1953)). Back in Italy, in 1949, Gina married Milko Skofic, a Slovenian (at the time, "Yugoslavian") doctor, by whom she had a son, Milko Jr. They would be married for 22 years, until their divorce in 1971. As her film roles and national popularity increased, Gina was tagged "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World", after her signature movie, _Donna pi? bella del mondo, La (1955)_. Gina was nicknamed la "Lollo," as she embodied the prototype of Italian beauty. Her earthy looks and short "tossed salad" hairdo were especially influential, and in fact there's a type of curly lettuce named "Lollo" in honor of her cute hairdo. Her film Come September(1961) co-starring Rock Hudson won the Golden Globe as the World's Film Favorite. In the 1970s Gina was seen in only a few films, as she took a break from acting and concentrated on another career: photography. Among her subjects were Paul Newman, Salvador Dal? and the German national soccer team. A skilled photographer, Gina had a collection of her work, "Italia Mia, " published in 1973. Immersed in her other passions (sculpting and photography), it would be 1984 before Gina would grace American TV on "Falcon Crest" (1981). Although Gina was always active, she only appeared in a few films in the 1990s. In June, 1999, she turned to politics and ran, unsuccessfully, for one of Italy's 87 European Parliament seats, from her hometown of Subiaco. Gina was also a corporate executive for fashion and cosmetics companies. As she told "Parade" magazine in April, 2000: "I studied painting and sculpting at school and became an actress by mistake." (We're glad she made that "mistake.") Gina went on to say: "I've had many lovers and still have romances. I am very spoiled. All my life, I've had too many admirers."
Born Luigina Lollobrigida, she was one of four daughters of a furniture manufacturer (her sisters are Giuliana, Maria and Fernanda). She spent her youth in a picturesque mountain village. In her youth, Gina did some modelling, and from there she went to participate successfully in several beauty contests. At around this time, she began appearing in Italian language films. In 1947, Gina entered the Miss Italia pageant and came in 3rd place. The contest was won by Lucia Bos? and second place was Gianna Maria Canale - they would both go on to be actresses, though neither would come near Lollobrigida's success.
In 1949 she married a Slovenian physician, Mirko Skofic. They had one child, Mirko Skofic, Jr., and were divorced in 1971. Skofic gave up the practice of medicine to become her manager.
In 1969 she was engaged for a short time to George Kaufman, a New York real estate heir. In the 1960s she also had an affair with heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard.
In October 2006, at age 79, she announced to Spain's ?Hola! magazine her engagement to a 45-year-old Spanish businessman, Javier Rigau y Rafols, whom she met at a party in Monte Carlo in 1984 and who had been her companion since then. The engagement was called off on 6 December 2006, reportedly due to media pressure.
Now virtually retired, Lollobrigida has not made a film since 1997. She told PARADE in April 2000:
I studied painting and sculpting at school and became an actress by mistake .... I've had many lovers and still have romances. I am very spoiled. All my life, I've had too many admirers.
Her appearance in Italian films brought her to the attention of Hollywood and she made her first American film, Beat the Devil, in 1953. As her popularity increased, Lollobrigida earned the nickname The World's Most Beautiful Woman after her signature 1955 movie.
She made another notable appearance in Trapeze with Burt Lancaster in 1956 and starred in The Hunchback of Notre Dame the same year. In 1959 she co-starred with Frank Sinatra in Never So Fewand with Yul Brynner in Solomon and Sheba. The latter was notable for having Brynner replace Tyrone Power (who died during filming), for being the last film directed by King Vidor, and for an orgy scene extremely licentious for Hollywood motion pictures of that era.
In 1961 she made one of her most popular films, Come September, with Rock Hudson, for which she won the Golden Globe as "World Film Favorite." She co-starred with him again in 1965's Strange Bedfellows and appeared alongside Alec Guinness in 1966's Hotel Paradiso. In 1968 she starred in the enjoyable Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell with Shelley Winters, Phil Silvers, and Telly Savalas, the plot of which is the basis for the stage musical Mamma Mia!. For this role she was nominated for a Golden Globe.
Lollobrigida co-starred with Bob Hope in the comedy The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell and also accompanied Hope on his visits to military troops overseas.
By the 1970s her film career had wound down. She appeared in only a few poorly received productions in the early part of the decade. In the mid 80's, she starred in "Falcon Crest" as Francesca Gioberti, a role originally written for Sophia Loren who turned it down.She also had a supporting role in the tv mini series Deceptions in 1985 with Stephanie Powers.
In 1986, she was the head of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival which awarded the Golden Bear to Reinhard Hauff's film Stammheim, although she herself, infringing the Festival rules, distanced herself publicly from the decision, claiming the decision had been made for political reasons. She made a few minor film appearances in the 1990s.
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