Luigia Lollobrigida (1927 - 2023)

Born 4 Jul 1927 in Subiaco, Roma, Lazio, Italy

Died 16 Jan 2023 at age 95 in Roma, Lazio, Italy

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Biography

Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida was born on 04 July 1927 in a mountain village, Subiaco, about 40 miles from Rome, famous for its Benedictine abbey. She was one of four daughters of Giovanni Lollobrigida, a furniture maker, and his wife, Giuseppina nee Mercuri.

parents: Giuseppina (Mercuri) and Giovanni Lollobrigida.

maternal grandparents: Pierina & Luciano Mercuri.

paternal grandparents: Anna & Luigi Lollobrigida.

The family moved to Rome after the second world war and lived six in a room. Gina got a job as an artist’s model and, as she needed money to pay for singing lessons, accepted work as a film extra.

Later, when she played the singer Lina Cavalieri, a famous beauty of the early years of the century, in La Donna Più Bella del Mondo (The Most Beautiful Woman in the World), she proved the singing lessons had not been wasted, and herself sang an aria from Tosca.

Some of her films included ...

- Trapeze

- The Hunchback of Notre Dame

- Solomon and Sheba.

She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol.

As her film career slowed, she established a second career as a photojournalist. In the 1970s she achieved a scoop by gaining access to Fidel Castro for an exclusive interview.

She continued on as 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.

In 2013 she sold her jewellery collection and donated the nearly US$5 million from the sale to benefit stem-cell therapy research.

She won the Henrietta Award at 18th Golden Globe Awards.

At the time of her death, Lollobrigida was among the last living high-profile international actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.

She died on 16 Jan 2023 in Rome, Italy.

Sources

• https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/16/gina-lollobrigida-obituary

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Lollobrigida

• https://ethnicelebs.com/gina-lollobrigida