Golden Age diva Gina Lollobrigida dies at 95
Rome, Jan 16 (EFE) – Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida died Monday aged 95 at her home in Rome, her family said.
“The Bersagliera has left us. It is with deep sorrow that her son, Milko, and grandson Dimitri make the sad announcement,” read a note from the family published by the Ansa news agency.
In September, the actress was hospitalized in Rome after a fall at home left her with a fractured femur but was later discharged.
Lollobrigida, a muse of Italian cinema and the last diva of the Golden Age of Hollywood, never abandoned her political commitment. On September 25 she ran for a seat in the Senate with the Sovereign and Popular Italy party in the country’s general elections.
Lollobrigida was born in the central town of Subiaco on July 4, 1927. After World War II, she moved to Rome to study art.
She jumped to fame in 1946 when she performed in Riccardo Freda’s Aquila Nera.
Later, she worked with some of the most renowned directors of the time, such as Pietro Germi, Mario Monicelli, Vittorio De Sica, and Mario Soldati.
Her fame grew enormously in the 1950s and 60s, especially for her role in Luigi Comencini’s movie Pane, amore e fantasia (Bread, Love and Dreams) and its sequel Pane, amore e gelosia (Bread, Love and Jealousy).
In those decades, the actress worked between studios in Rome and Hollywood, where she starred in films like Beat the Devil (1953) with Humphrey Bogart, and Trapeze (1956) with Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster.
Lollobrigida married the Slovenian doctor Milko Skofic in 1949, with whom she had a son, Milko. They were married for more than 20 years.
In 2010, she remarried, in private, to Spanish businessman Javier Rigau.
Subsequently, the diva claimed she had been conned into marrying Rigau and later managed to get the marriage annulled by the Vatican.
Her last years were spent in her villa in Rome Appia Antica accompanied by assistants, including Andrea Piazzola, 35, who has been accused of allegedly misappropriating her funds and property.
Piazzola has been taken to court by the actress’ relatives, who obtained judicial protection for her property.EFE
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