According to consistent Italian media reports, actress Gina Lollobrigida has died at the age of 95. Lollobrigida was one of the most important figures in Italian cinema, taking part in dozens of film productions.
“La Lollo”, as her fans called her, began her career in the early post-war period. The actress, who was born near Rome, has been known to an international audience since her leading role in the cloak and sword film “Fanfan, der Husar” (1952). Movies like “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” with Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo or “Salomon and the Queen of Sheba”, where she appeared alongside Yul Brynner, became classics. She has also appeared on screen with Hollywood actors Humphrey Bogart, Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra.
In 1961 she was awarded the Golden Globe for Favorite International Actress. In Germany, Lollobrigida received the “Bambi” media and television award six times.
Ever since she retired from the film business in the early 1970s, she has devoted herself to photography. She photographed celebrities such as US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1974 she interviewed Fidel Castro in Cuba and made a short film with him.
Lollobrigida later stood in front of the screen again for film projects, and in 1986 she chaired the jury at the Berlin Film Festival. In the 1990s she switched to sculpture, exhibiting sculptures and serving as a Unicef ambassador. After that, the diva was often a welcome guest on red carpets and at film galas. In recent years, a family dispute has flared up around her – at her son’s initiative, a judge assigned her a guardian. Last September, Lollobrigida had to undergo surgery for a broken femur in the hospital.