City Lights: Gina Lollobrigida
by Andira Vitale
Bread, Love and Fantasy’s “Bersagliera”, Italians’ “La Lollo”, and world cinema’s “Timeless Diva” Gina Lollobrigida was sent to the world of stars as the “queen of Rome” by her fans. But one of the words that best describe her must be “Cinderella”. With one difference: “Cinderella who couldn’t find her Prince Charming”… How Does? So for those who are interested, let our fairy tale begin…
Once upon a time…
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful country. However, the people of this country that had just come out of the war were depressed. Most people who lost loved ones in the war faced poverty, political turmoil and oppression. In such a conjuncture, the cry of a newborn baby foreshadowing the future was heard in Subiaco, close to the capital city of Rome. It was a hot July 4th day in 1927. The baby’s father was a wealthy furniture manufacturer. They named her Luigina, meaning “famous woman, warrior, glorious war”.
From wealth to poverty…
The Lollobrigida family survived the First World War with minor damage but could not escape the bombs of the Second World War. They lost everything they had. Luigina and her family, who had a comfortable childhood, didn’t have a house to stay in anymore. They often used empty wine barrels to hide and sleep. Finally, they decided to leave Subiaco and go to Rome. After arriving in Rome, Luigina enrolled in the Accademia di Belle Arti. While World War II’s smoke dissipated, Gina started her sculpture and painting education. Her voice is beautiful too. At that time, she did not even think of being an actress. Eighteen-year-old Lollo, who displayed a brave, ambitious and determined character from a very young age, started to draw caricatures with charcoal and to sign sculptures to contribute to the livelihood of the house. In her spare time, she was in front of the camera for photonovels under the pseudonym “Diana Loris”…
From poverty to fairy tale world
One day, as a young film director was walking by the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, he saw a raven-haired student with big brown eyes. Luigina Lollobrigida stood at the door of the grand old institution where she studied with a deceptive, carefree charm. Her beauty and poise were the types that inspired great Italian artists. She was like a Renaissance goddess with dark hair and big brown eyes. The director, who watched Gina with admiration, realized that he had met a star and almost begged her to act in one of his films. More of these offers. Luigia was never interested before. But her need for money drove her. Her family had lost everything in the war. They had turned into a low-income family in one day. So Luigia started to act in films for a fee of 1000 light, 500 dollars a day.
Gina had minor roles at first, but she turned them down when offered the lead role in Love of a Clown, aka Pagliacci (1948). Because she was more interested in painting and sculpture. However, the producers did not give up. This time they went to her mother to persuade Luigina. Gina wanted a million lira to get rid of the producers. But the producers surprisingly accepted this fee as well. Gina, who caught the attention of the producers when she went to Cinecittà by bicycle for the first time, got off the bike the next day and started to ride a Rolls-Royce that the producers gave her as a gift. What happened next turned into a life journey between fairy tale and reality…
Emotional and sophisticated, Gina embodied Italy’s post-war energy and splendour and was soon a sensation. It was called “La Lollo”, and it wouldn’t be long before Hollywood realized her.
Queen of Miss Rome
The first beauty pageant, “Miss Rome”, held in 1947, was another turning point for her. Luigina, who participated in the competition with the guidance of a close friend, did not even have a unique dress to wear on the podium. Nevertheless, at the end of this first film competition, which served as an essential start for many future artists, she came in 3rd place and appeared as one of the queens in public.
And the door of a life spent under the stars, with the stars, is wide open. Who was not? Leading Italian directors such as Alberto Lattuada, Vittorio De Sica, Mario Monicelli, Mario Soldati, Alessandro Blasetti and Pietro Germi… Marcello Mastroianni, Anthony Quinn, Rock Hudson, Yul Brynner, Sean Connery, Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart, Tony Curtis, Names like Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, David Cassidy, Audrey Hepburn, Ella Fitzgerald (to name a few)… Leaders like Fidel Castro, Henry Kissinger… Artists like Salvador Dali…
Gina also met Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe, shook her hand, and said: “Nice to meet you. They call me the American Lollobrigida”.
The journey of the warrior and famous woman…
Gina’s debut in Italian cinema occurred in the late 1940s when the Neorealism movement was in full swing. In a devastated and poor Italy, where Mussolini was hanged, everyone admired her role as “the country girl who has to find her life in the big city”. She acted in films typical of the “Neo-Realism” movement, such as Pagliacci. The “country girl” affair with no choice but to sell her body was a classic in her early films. In addition, she played a woman who was supposed to be a prostitute during the Second World War in the movie “Tragic Love”.
Europuddings and Gina
She also appeared in “Europuddings” films in European cinema, with a cast of European and American stars, often directed by veteran directors of classic Hollywood of the 40s. These more luxuriously produced films left behind the devastated landscapes of post-war Europe and followed two alternative paths: either portraying the conflict in soap opera style or setting pre-World War II Europe with a colourful and glamorous duke, princesses and opera singers. Gina also triumphed in Hollywood period films.
In 1954, Gina appeared in “The Great Game,” a spy story set in French-colonized Algeria, directed by Robert Siodmark in 1954, and played the princess in “Crossed Swords,” an adventure movie set in the 15th century. Finally, she was crowned with the film “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World” directed by Robert Z. Leonard, set in Rome, Paris and Moscow and achieved great success.
The public recognized a more sophisticated Lollobrigida, but she did not wholly abandon the character of a simple girl with raw beauty, representing the race of the popular classes. Antony Quinn becomes Quasimodo while she plays Esmeralda in “Our Lady of Paris.” And in “The Law”, she played the beautiful servant of an aristocrat who is the victim of evil men.
Her romantic comedies with Rock Hudson also made Gina a star known and loved by the general public. These were films such as “When July Comes,” which reproduced all the clichés about ancient Europe, and “Room for Two,” which a passionate Italian sculptor was brought to life.
Star on the Walk of Fame
As a result, Luigina, known as Gina, was turning into a legend with Vittorio De Sica’s magnificent movie “Bread, Love and Fantasy”. With “La burla del diablo”, where she starred with Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones, the Italian European star registered her “Hollywood” status and reported her identity. And finally, she was among the great artists who, with her beauty and talent, embodied the myth of the Italian woman and triumphed in Europe and Hollywood. Gina had risen from the ashes of war as a star that would shine continuously… Hollywood embodied this fact by reflecting this star on the famous Walk of Fame…
Billionaire producer’s Hollywood hurdle
And she was doing all this despite billionaire producer Howard Hughes, who wanted Gina passionately and tried to prevent her from entering the world set Hollywood because he couldn’t have her. But she was cleverly exceeding the contract terms she gave Howard by appearing in Hollywood movies shot in Europe. She was a hardworking star and starred opposite Humphrey Bogart in Beat the Devil (1953). In 1956 she started in Trapeze opposite Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, and Hollywood studios could no longer deny her star power. In 1959 she was cast alongside Frank Sinatra in Never So Few for MGM, who wanted La Lollo so severely they paid off Howard. MGM had to pay $75,000 to Howard Hughes, in addition to her contract, to soothe him.
In the last quarter of her career, she was returning to her starting-point ideals. She sculpted, took photographs, and interviewed celebrities. Among them was one of the legendary names, Fidel Castro.
More than three apples fell on her head, but!
But this woman who stole the whole world’s heart could not find the prince charming of her life. Orson Welles called her “the most amazing woman in the world”… Author Alberto Moravia described her as “an example of Italian feminine beauty,” Humphrey Bogart said, “What a woman! Marilyn Monroe would stay like Shirley Temple next to her”, and placed Gina in the first place. But this beautiful woman was going to eternity as a “lone star”… More than three apples fell from the sky on her head. But not one of them had turned into true love, affection…
Relationships that started with rape…
Perhaps the reason for this could be traced back to the rape she suffered at a young age… Gina confessed to this incident years later. A famous footballer from Lazio allegedly abused her after drugging her: “I woke up completely naked in bed. I was stunned for a few days. Little by little, I realised that I had been raped that night. But it was a thought I tried to ignore. I wanted to forget, to move on. I was still a virgin back then. I felt devastated and quickly married my ex-husband. I didn’t do it for love. I did it to overcome trauma.” Her husband, whom she married in recovery, was a doctor. The name of the doctor who served the refugees was Milko Skofic. They had a son. Despite her notorious unwavering devotion to her husband, Gina’s marriage to Milko was far from perfect, and she divorced him in 1971. She later said, “He played tennis and counted the money. He didn’t do anything else,” she said.
With her husband’s blessing, Gina was free to pursue a career in Hollywood. But the reality was very different from what she’d imagined when she arrived. “All I saw was Howard Hughes,” she said flatly.
Howard set Gina up in a hotel suite, but the guards were stationed outside her door and she was only allowed to leave the room if she was accompanied by Howard. She languished in this way for six weeks until one day Howard turned up and told her he was taking her to a meeting. The next thing she knew, he was flying her to Las Vegas, where he tried to convince her to leave her husband.
“Hughes asked me to divorce Milko and marry him. Then I would have a fast, brilliant career. Millions, furs, jewels, everything I could desire,” she said.
But Gina refused Howard. “I was married, and for me the marriage was one for life,” she said. Fed up, she demanded her give her a screen test. When he gave her a script to read about divorce, Gina announced she was returning to Rome. Before she left, Howard plied her with champagne at a party he threw in her honour. In the early hours of the morning, he gave her a contract to sign. Gina was tired and tipsy and she couldn’t read English very well. She asked what the contract said and then scrawled her signature and returned to Italy. Little did she realise the contract effectively forbade her from working in Hollywood unless she was working for Howard.
Prince and Gina
Among those who admired Gina were Rainier III, the prince de Monaco. Despite being married at the time, Grace Kelly, Prince Rainer had been trying to win her over for years.
“He wooed me even in front of his wife, and it was extremely uncomfortable. Of course, I told him that was out of the question. God, he could have done it a little more cunningly, not in front of her. The actress said, “She was furious that I rejected her for twenty years, but when Grace died, he forgot everything and we became friends again.”
A strange marriage story
Gina then engaged to businessman Javier Rigau Rafols in October 2006, but they split two months later. They were, however, declared married, as per several media reports. In 2013, Gina filed a lawsuit against Javier, alleging he had married a woman pretending to be her. Gina also claimed that Javier tried to get power of attorney from her for his benefit. She lost the case in 2017, and “their marriage” ended in 2019.
Logically, the Italian initiated legal actions to undo a marriage she had not starred in. Regarding her relationship with the young lawyer, “La Lollo”, as she was known, she clarified that there had never been anything carnal: “There was nothing intimate between us. When we travelled together, we slept in separate rooms and never had intimate relations. We never went to his house in Barcelona. However, he did come several times to dinner at my house in Rome,” the Roman star declared.
While she was trying to get rid of her “marriage” with Rigau, a lawyer appeared during the legal dispute who claimed to have accompanied her to her wedding and that; therefore, it was legal. Finally, Gina was able to get rid of the young Catalan in February 2019, when the Vatican annulled this marriage at the actress’s request.
The heroine of this story, where reality and fairy tale are mixed, could not find true love and the love that thinks about her… The last years of the legendary Gina were also spent defending herself and her financial existence against the men who came into her life. She was going to eternity without being under the loving wing of a prince, fighting against men, trying to protect her rights, as a lonely princess of her palace…
Goodbye Lollo!…
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