Italian bombshell Gina Lollobrigida has died, her lawyer confirmed to Reuters. Born Luigina Lollobrigida in 1927, she became known as the “most beautiful woman in the world” after starring in a movie of the same name. Lollobrigida was a star of Italian cinema before coming to Hollywood and starring in such films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Anthony Quinn and Solomon and Sheba with Yul Brynner. But she never fully vibed with the movies. “I refused when they offered me my first role,” she once said. “So they said they would pay me a thousand lire. I told them my price was one million lire, thinking that would put a stop to the whole thing. But they said yes!” La Lollo, as she was known in the Italian press, eventually quit Hollywood and then cinema for good. She became a photographer, sculptor, and documentarian. She was a leftist, making the doc Portrait of Fidel Castro in 1975 and running for Italian parliament just in September.
The paparazzi played up a rivalry between La Lollo and Sophia Loren, a.k.a. “La Loren,” but any ill feeling was long over. Today, Loren said she was “very shocked and saddened” to hear of Lollobrigida’s death. Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano tweeted, “Farewell to a diva of the silver screen, protagonist of more than half a century of Italian cinema history. Her charm will remain eternal. Ciao Lollo.”
