Legendary Italian Actress Gina Lollobrigida Dies Aged 95

Per CNN, the news of Gina's death made headlines state her grandnephew Francesco Lollobrigida, who is the Minister of Agriculture, made the announcement on social media. Francesco had tweeted describing his legendary great aunt as "one of the brightest stars of Italian cinematography and culture."

The movie star was one of the post-war entertainers who renewed the relevance of movie-making and entertainment as a whole. Gina alongside another great actress Sophia Loren upheld the status of a sex symbol among Italian actresses. She made quite some explorations within the industry, proving to be a multi-talented force.

The late great beauty made her entrance into the world in July 1927, in the rural part of Italy before the war. However, amid WWII, Gina and her family fled their home. She attended the Academy of Fine Arts in the country's capital to complete her education. This was how her journey through fame started.

Gina started earning a living when she became a model for Fotoromanzi, taking part in Italian photographic novels. At the time, she used the pseudonym, Diana Loris. Gina was catapulted to fame when she came third place in the 1947 Miss Italia beauty pageant. She snagged a movie role and things swiftly became better from there.

When she began appearing on the big screen, Gina took on feminine roles, and one of her earliest from 1953 was when she played Gemma in the movie, The Wayward Wife. Her big break came when she played the leading roles in two Italian comedies by Luigi Coomencini. These include Bread, Love, and Dreams and Bread, Love, and Jealousy.

In 1954, Gina starred alongside Humphrey Bogart in Beat the Devil, and this was the icing on the cake; it was also her debut English film role. The role stamped her global fame and the following year she made a movie that defined the rest of he career. It was her signature movie, The World's Most Beautiful Woman.

She went on to become a bigshot actress playing roles alongside other greats like Frank Sinatra, Rene Clair, Carol Reed, and Burt Lancaster. She also made movies throughout the1960s. One of Gina's last well-known movies, is Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, and it was a farce directed by Melvin Frank. Despite the spreading fame, the late actress preferred to work close to home.

The dwindling of movie roles during the 1970s made Gina channel her interest in the arts. She became a photojournalist but would appear in movies and TV from time to time. She became a sculptor and a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

During her lifetime, Gina was a woman of interest due to her great beauty and dexterity in the arts. The media plagued her private life even as she battled to keep it secure and ultra-private. She married Milko Skofic, a Yugoslav emigre doctor in 1950, and they welcomed a son. Skofic would later become her manager and they were married for 17 yards. Following this, she revealed that she had no intentions of marrying again.

Many years later in 2006, Gina caught media attention when he made it known that she intended to marry a man 34 years her junior. At the time, Gina was 79 years old. However, some months later, she ended plans to get married again, while blaming the media for being a major factor. She accused the Spanish media of branding her former fiance an opportunist.

Back in 2022, she made headlines again when she ran for the Italian senate. While Gina did not win during the election, she revealed to the media that she "just got tired of hearing politicians arguing with each other without ever getting to the point."