German actor Horst Buchholz kisses the hand of Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, during the International Film Festival (Berlinale) in Berlin, Germany, July 5, 1958. Lollobrigida has died in Rome at age 95. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch, File),
ROME, ITALY — The Italian silver screen goddess, Gina Lollobrigida, who was known as “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her movies in 1955, died in Rome, Italy, on Monday, at the age of 95, The Associated Press reported.
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Lollobrigida, widely recognized for her sultry, dark looks and stunning figure, was first trained as a painter and a sculptor, but later became a beauty queen and model, before making her screen debut in “The Black Eagle” in 1946, CNN reported.
She had been studying sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome when she was scouted for modeling and acting, and when she was called to Cinecitta studios, she was offered 1,000 lire to sign, The Los Angeles Times reported.
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Lollobrigida told Vanity Fair in 2015, “I told them my asking price was 1 million lire, thinking that would put a stop to the whole thing. But they said yes!”
Reportedly nicknamed “Lollo” in Italy, Lollobrigida became a big star in Europe and then made her English-language film debut in 1953 in “Beat the Devil” by John Huston, appearing along with Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones, according to AP.
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She later played Esmerelda in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” with Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo in 1956, and as the Queen of Sheba in “Solomon and Sheba” with Yul Brynner in 1959, the outlet reported.
Lollobrigida’s hand-drawn portrait appeared on a 1954 cover of Time magazine, which compared her to a “goddess” in a story about Italian movies, AP reported.
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She appeared in “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in 1955, according to the outlet.
In the 70s, she became a photojournalist and snapped photos of many well-known names, including Fidel Castro in Cuba, The New York Times reported.
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Ever changing, she threw her hat into the political arena last year, though running unsuccessfully for a seat in the Italian senate, CNN reported. She told newspaper Corriere della Sera before the country’s elections: “I was just tired of hearing politicians arguing with each other without ever getting to the point,” the outlet reported.
Details of Lollobrigida’s death were not provided by her agent, Paola Comin, AP reported. The star had surgery in September to repair a thigh bone that she broke in a fall, but returned home, sayingthat she had resumed walking quickly, the outlet reported.
She is survived by her only son, Milko Scofic Jr., and a grandson, according to The New York Times.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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