Gina Lollobrigidawas born Luigia Lollobrigida in Subiaco, Lazio, Italy on July 4 1927. She did modelling in her youth and also participated in a number of beauty pageants. She was third runner-up in the Miss Italia contest in 1947.
Gina Lollobrigidamade her film debut in a bit part in The Black Eagle in 1946. In the late Forties she appeared in such films as Pagliacci (1947), Flesh Will Surrender (1947), Vendetta nel sole (1947), Mad About Opera (1948), Alarm Bells (1949), The Bride Can't Wait (1949), The White Line (1949), A Dog's Life (1950), Miss Itlaia (1950), and Alina (1950).
It was in the Fifties that Gina Lollobrigida became an international star when she appeared in her first American film, Beat the Devil (1953). During the decade she appeared in such films as A Tale of Five Cities (1951), The Young Caruso (1951), Four Ways Out (1951), Love I Haven't...But...But (1951), Attention! Bandits! (1951), Wife for a Night (1952), Times Gone By (1952), Fanfan la Tulipe (1952), Beauties of the Night (1952), The Wayward Wife (1953), Bread, Love and Dreams (1953), Le infedeli (1953), Beat the Devil (1953), Woman of Rome (1954), Bread, Love and Jealousy (1954), Crossed Swords (1954), Le Grand Jeu (1954), The World's Most Beautiful Woman (1955), Trapeze (1956), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956), Anna of Brooklyn (1958), The Law (1959), Never So Few (1959), and Solomon and Sheba (1959).
In the Sixties Gina Lollobrigida appeared in the films Go Naked in the World (1961), Come September (1961), La bellezza di Ippolita (1962), Venere Imperiale (1963), Mad Sea (1963), Woman of Straw (1964), Me, Me, Me...and the Others (1965), Le Bambole (1965), Strange Bedfellows (1965), Pleasant Nights (1966), The Sultans (1966), Hotel Paradiso (1966), Cervantes (1967), Stuntman (1968), Death Laid an Egg (1968), The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968), Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968), and That Splendid November (1969).
In the Seventies Miss Lollobrigida appeared in the films Bad Man's River (1971), King, Queen, Knave (1972), and No encontré rosas para mi madre (1973). In 1972 she appeared in the Italian mini-series The Adventures of Pinocchio as the Fairy with Turquoise Hair (more commonly referred to In English as "The Blue Fairy"). It was during the Seventies that Gina Lollobrigida began her career as a photojournalist. She photographed such celebrities as Salvador Dali, Ella Fitzgerald, Audrey Hepburn, and Paul Newman. She even managed to get an interview with Fidel Castro, then Communist leader of Cuba.
In the Eighties Gina Lollobrigda had a recurring role on the American TV show Falcon Crest. She appeared in the mini-series Deceptions and Woman of Rome. She guest starred on the TV show Love Boat. In 1996 she appeared in the TV movie Una donna in fuga and the movie XXL (1997). She retired from acting in 1997.
Gina Lollobrigida published four books: Italia Mia (1973), The Philippines (1976), Wonder of Innocence (1994), and Sculptures (2004). For much of her life she also pursued sculpting.
Gina Lollobrigida told Parade in 2000, "I studied painting and sculpting at school and became an actress by mistake." Nonetheless, she was a great actress. She was superb as the wife of Billy Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart), Maria, in Beat the Devil. She also gave a good performance as Esmeralda in the 1956 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She was also very good as personal nurse and a millionaire's widow falsely accused of murder in Woman of Straw. Her best performance may have been as the Mrs. Campbell of the title of the film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell. She was excellent as a woman who is uncertain of her daughter. She gave a fine performance on the TV show Falcon Crest, playing lead character Angela Channing's (Jane Wyman) Italian half-sister who visit with a clam to the Falcon Crest vineyards. Gina Lollobrigida always gave good performances, whether it was on film or in television.
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