Goodbye Gina Lollobrigida. After months of hospitalization in a clinic in Rome for a compound fracture of the femur, she died at 95 one of the last divas of Italian realism and black and white cinema. His name was engraved on the Hollywood Walk of Fame because in the United States, where in 1961 he received the Golden Globe for Come September like the Henrietta Award, it was considered a star, but in Italy it was something more. It was Pizzicarella la Bersagliera. and who saw Straight bread, love and fantasy in 1953 by the excellent Luigi Comenicini knows what we are talking about: a rebellious girl, stubborn as the donkey she carries, capable of angry jealousy, but also of tender and pure love for the shy carabinieri Stellauti.
It was with this Silver Ribbon-winning and BAFTA-nominated role that he managed to enter the collective imagination, although he had already starred opposite Vittorio De Sica in In other cases Alessandro Blasetti, in an episode Phryne’s process. For her, the actor and director coined the neologism “plus physique” for her provocative curves and her destructive beauty. Charm and talent played oneternal rivalry with Sophia Loren, equally loved by the public, which has never been able to decide who is the best. For many, Gina was “the most beautiful woman in the world,” as one of her famous 1950s successes, a biopic that fictionalized the life of soprano Lina Cavalieri paired with Vittorio Gassman, was called, where she also demonstrates good singing skills. .
Her qualities do not escape the American Howard Hughes, who calls her to Hollywood to force her to sign a contract, but this relationship does not last long. because La Lollo – as the press is renaming it – will delete the document, discovering that she will no longer be free and independent, as she always wanted. Not before taking part in international production How Treasure of Africa (1953) John Huston with Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones, Don Juan’s master (1954) Milton Krims, opposite Errol Flynn, e Trapeze Carol Reed with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. They followed The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956) by Jean Delanois where she plays the sensuous Esmeralda alongside Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo, sacred and profane (1959) by John Sturges with Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (1959) by King Vidor with Yul Brynner (who was to replace Tyrone Power, who died during filming) and George Sanders.
In addition to Hollywood, there is also France, where Christian-Jacques wants her for Fanfan La Tulip (1952), as the gypsy Adeline, who conquers Gerard Philippe with her false predictions, unable to resist her charms. However, there are also missing roles. Among his “big rejections” lady without camellias (1953) Michelangelo Antonioni, Jovanka and others (1960) by Martin Ritt and Lady L, in which he was to star again with Tony Curtis and whose filming was interrupted in 1965 due to conflicts with director George Cukor and Sweet life (1960) Federico Fellini as Marcello Mastroianni’s girlfriend. It appears that at the time her husband, the Slovenian doctor Milko Skofic, whom she married in 1949 and whom they separated from in 1971, hid the script from her, and so the role was given to Yvonne Furno.
Her last noteworthy interpretation is in 1972: twenty years later, Comenichini wants her to play the role of the Blue Fairy in a successful The Adventures of Pinocchio. This is her debut on the small screen, but also the sunset of a diva who will also be a photographer for some time in her life (she photographed, among others, Paul Newman, Salvador Dali, Henry Kissinger, David Cassidy, Audrey Hepburn). and Ella Fitzgerald), reporter (having managed to interview Fidel Castro, who is also credited with a short relationship in 1973, and a sculptor, with exhibitions around the world, from China to the USA, from Spain to Russia. A multifaceted and restless talent, looking for inspiration in the things of life, fond of brawling, a little feigned and a little really like when, in the 70s, she announced her intention to marry a much younger Spanish entrepreneur, Javier Rigau Her only son’s attempts, Andrea di La Lollo, will always remain a free woman , because she is true to herself and the memory of her career, although in recent decades she has tried to keep her life with roles that are not worth remembering here and that they will not be able to influence what Gina Lolombrigida represented for Italy in the post-war period, with empty pockets but eyes full of dreams.
Source: Elle