RIP Gina Lollobrigida

 

1950s Italian bombshell Gina Lollobrigida who starred in films including “Fanfan la Tulipe,” “Beat the Devil,” “Trapeze” and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell,” died on January 16, 2023, in a Rome clinic. She was 95. Born Luigina Lollobrigida on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, Lazio, Italy. Modelling work in her youth led to participation in a series of beauty contests, and she placed third in the Miss Italy pageant in 1947. She made her feature film debut the year before with a small role in the Italian-language “Return of the Black Eagle.” Lollobrigida played opposite Hollywood stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Frank Sinatra, becoming one of the most recognizable cinema icons of the 1950s and 60s. She rivaled Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe and Birgit Bardotte as 1950’s 60s divas. Gina was also an acclaimed photojournalist. She appeared in only one Euro-western as Alica/Alice in 1971’s “Bad Man’s River” with Lee Van Cleef and James Mason.