A legend of Italian cinema has died. The Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida has died at the age of 95. It was on Twitter that the Italian Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, shared the sad news, confirming information from the Italian agency Ansa. “Farewell to a diva of the big screen, protagonist of more than half a century of Italian cinema history. Its charm is eternal. Hello Lollo », he tweeted. On September 12, she fractured her femur when she fell at home, and had to undergo surgery.
Gina Lollobrigida was born on July 4, 1927 in the small town of Subiaco, in the heart of Abruzzo (central Italy), in a modest family that later moved to Rome. A true sex symbol of the 50s and 60s, Gina Lollobrigida played with the greatest of her time, from Frank Sinatra to Sean Connery, from Marcello Mastroianni to Humphrey Bogart. She was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1995 by François Mitterrand.
From cinema to photography and sculpture
In 1946, he caught the attention of film producers and first appeared in The black eagle by Riccardo Freda. For a few years, the cinema will only offer him secondary roles. Until 1952, where in the film they fan the tulip by French director Christian-Jaque, he plays a more important role alongside Gérard Philipe.
In stronger than the devil (1953), his first major American hit:
From this moment on, the first roles follow each other. He mainly plays Esmeralda Notre Dame de Paris by Jean Delannoy or en Solomon and the Queen of Sheba by King Vidor. In 1986, she was the first actress to receive the Camera at the Berlinale, in recognition of her career and the eminent services rendered to the German festival.
In Notre Dame de Paris (1956):
He toured until 1962 in the United States and then ended up returning to Italy. Back then he only appeared occasionally in film and television. “La Lolo” then he returned to his first artistic loves, photography and then sculpture, to which he devoted himself fully from the beginning of the 80s. His papers were, however, sources of inspiration. He had remarkably sculpted an Emerald in bronze.
In 2017, at the height of the MeToo movement, the Italian actress revealed that she had been the victim of sexual assault. “You had to have courage” to report the facts of the moment. “But even I didn’t have that courage. I kept quiet, I didn’t say anything”had mentioned on television.
A strong political commitment
In 1999, Gina Lollobrigida ran in the European elections on the list of the Democratic Party, without being elected. He ran in his country’s early senatorial elections, in an alliance that brings together the Communist Party and other Eurosceptic left parties, in November 2022. This list advocates, among other things, for Italy’s exit from the European Union and NATO, the end of military aid to Ukraine, the lifting of sanctions on Russia and opposes mandatory vaccination.
“I will fight so that the people can decide, from health to justice. Italy is in bad shape, I want to do something good and positive”, she said. In the end, she had not been chosen.
Source : Le JDD
