Luigia Lollobrigida was born in Subiaco, Lazio, about 64 kilometres (40 mi) from Rome, the daughter of a furniture maker and his wife.[8] She had three sisters: Giuliana, Maria and Fernanda. After the end of World War II in 1945, the family moved to Rome, where Lollobrigida took singing lessons, did some modelling, and participated in several beauty contests, placing third in the 1947 Miss Italy contest. In 1946, she began appearing in Italian films in minor roles.[9]
In 1945 at age 18, Lollobrigida played a part in the comedy Santarellina by Eduardo Scarpetta at the Teatro della Concordia of Monte Castello di Vibio,[9] the smallest theatre all'italiana in the world.[10]
In 1950, Howard Hughes signed Lollobrigida on a preliminary seven-year contract to make three pictures a year. She refused the final terms of the contract, preferring to remain in Europe, and Hughes suspended her.[11] Despite selling RKO Pictures in 1955, Hughes retained Lollobrigida's contract. The dispute prevented her from working in American movies filmed in the U.S. until 1959, but allowed for American productions shot in Europe, although Hughes often threatened legal action against the producers.[11]
Her first widely seen English-language film, Beat the Devil (1953), was shot in Italy, and directed by John Huston.[14] In this film she played the wife of Humphrey Bogart, with Jennifer Jones and Robert Morley as her costars. She then took part in the Italian-American production Crossed Swords (1954), co-starring with Errol Flynn. Her performance in The World's Most Beautiful Woman (also known as Beautiful But Dangerous, 1955) led to her receiving the first David di Donatello for Best Actress award.[9] In this movie Lollobrigida played Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri and sang all the songs in the movie, including arias from Tosca, in her own voice.[15] She played the principal female lead in the circus drama Trapeze (1956)[8] directed by Carol Reed and co-starring with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis and in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956) appeared as Esmeralda with Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo.[8] The film was directed by Jean Delannoy.[9]
She appeared in the French movie The Law (1959), alongside Yves Montand and Marcello Mastroianni; then, she co-starred with Frank Sinatra in Never So Few (1959) and with Yul Brynner in Solomon and Sheba (1959).[8] The latter was the last film directed by King Vidor and features a dance routine which was supposed to depict an orgy scene. Brynner had been chosen to substitute for Tyrone Power, who died before the shots were completed.[16]
In the romantic comedy Come September (1961), Lollobrigida had a leading role along with Rock Hudson, Sandra Dee, and Bobby Darin. It was a film for which she won a Golden Globe Award. She appeared, also in 1961, with Ernest Borgnine and Anthony Franciosa in the drama Go Naked in the World.[13]
Lollobrigida starred in Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968) with Shelley Winters, Phil Silvers, Peter Lawford, and Telly Savalas.[19] For this role, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won a third David di Donatello award. Lollobrigida co-starred with Bob Hope in the comedy The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968) and also accompanied Hope on his visits to military troops overseas.[19]
During this stage of her career, she rejected roles in many films, including Lady L (1965) with Tony Curtis, directed by George Cukor, due to conflicts with Cukor (the leading role then went to Sophia Loren);[citation needed] Five Branded Women (1960), directed by Martin Ritt (the leading role went to Silvana Mangano);[citation needed] and The Lady Without Camelias (1953), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (the leading role went to Lucia Bos).[20] She later revealed regret for having refused a supporting role in La Dolce Vita (1960). The film's director, Federico Fellini, wanted to cast her in the film but, she explained, proposed projects were arriving too often at the time and her husband accidentally misplaced the script.[citation needed]
By the 1970s, her film career had slowed down. She appeared in King, Queen, Knave (1972), co-starring with David Niven,[21] and in a few other poorly received productions in the early part of the decade.[citation needed] In 1973, she was a member of the jury at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.[22]
In the mid-1980s, she guest starred in a multi-episode arc on the television series Falcon Crest as Francesca Gioberti, a role originally written for Sophia Loren, who had turned it down. For the role, she received a third Golden Globe nomination.[citation needed] She also had a supporting role in the 1985 television miniseries Deceptions, co-starring with Stefanie Powers.[citation needed] The following year, she appeared as a guest star in the TV series The Love Boat.[23]
In 1986, she was invited to head the jury at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival, which awarded the Golden Bear to Reinhard Hauff's film Stammheim. She said the majority decision was "prefabricated", and opposed it.[24] In 1997 she was in the jury at Film Fest Gent and similarly distanced herself from the Grand Prix winner The Witman Boys, which she deemed 'immoral'.[25] [26]
By the end of the 1970s, Lollobrigida had embarked on what she developed into a successful second career as a photographic journalist. She photographed, among others, Paul Newman, Salvador Dal, Henry Kissinger, David Cassidy, Audrey Hepburn, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Germany national football team. In 1974 she managed to obtain an exclusive interview with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.[27][28] Between 1972 and 1994 she published six collections of her photographs, including the 1973 title Italia Mia.[29]
In 1999, Lollobrigida unsuccessfully ran for election to the European Parliament as a candidate for The Democrats, a party led by Romano Prodi.[30] In 2020, she publicly endorsed Pope Francis' view on LGBT rights.[31] In the 2022 Italian general election, Lollobrigida, at the age of 95, attempted to win a seat in the Senate of the Republic,[32] by standing for election as candidate for the Sovereign and Popular Italy (ISP), a newly-founded Eurosceptic alliance opposed to Mario Draghi, in Latina, Lazio.[30][33] She was unsuccessful, as the party garnered only 1% of the constituency vote, below the 3% electoral threshold.[33] In an interview with Corriere della Sera prior to the election, Lollobrigida said she was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's "way of doing things". She also claimed to have been close to Indira Gandhi.[30]
In 1949 Lollobrigida married a Slovenian physician, Milko Škofič. Their only child, Andrea Milko (Milko Škofič, Jr.), was born on 28 July 1957.[34][35] Škofič gave up the practice of medicine to become her manager.[36] In 1960, Lollobrigida moved from her native Italy to Toronto, with Škofič and their son.[37] The couple meant to solve the legal situation of their son who was considered stateless by the Italian bureaucracy.[38] The couple divorced in 1971.[39]
In October 2006, at age 79, she announced to Spain's Hola! magazine her engagement to a 45-year-old Spanish businessman, Javier Rigau y Rafols[40][1][2] (Catalan: Javier Rigau i Rfols).[41][42]
In January 2013, she started legal action against Rigau, claiming that her ex-boyfriend had staged a secret ceremony in which he "married" an imposter pretending to be her at a registry office in Barcelona. She said he intended to lay claim to her estate after her death. Lollobrigida accused Rigau of fraud, saying that he had earlier obtained the legal right to act on her behalf with a power of attorney, and carried out the plot to get extra power. "A while ago he convinced me to give him my power of attorney. He needed it for some legal affairs. But instead, I fear that he took advantage of the fact that I don't understand Spanish ... Who knows what he had me sign."[46] In March 2017, she lost her court action, but subsequently said that she would appeal.[1][47]
Lollobrigida retired from filming in 1997. She told PARADE in April 2000: "I studied painting and sculpting at school and became an actress by mistake ... I've had many lovers and still have romances. I am very spoiled. All my life, I've had too many admirers." After retirement she divided her time between her house on Via Appia Antica in Rome and a villa in Monte Carlo. After 2009, she refused visitors to her home.[46]
At the end of the 2010s, Andrea Piazzolla became Lollobrigida's main collaborator,[54][55][56] general director and trustee of some Monegasque real estate and financial societies. In July 2020 he was charged for circumvention of an incapable person.[57][58]
In 2021, the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, at the request of her son, ruled that Lollobrigida should have a legal guardian appointed to manage her affairs and prevent predation. Although the court determined she was mentally capable, medical evidence had indicated that there was "a weakening in her correct perception of reality" and that she was in a state of "vulnerability".[59]
Tina Bush (center) receives a flag from Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould during a memorial service March 16, 2013, for Chuck Bush, the first African American to graduate from the Academy. The couple was married for 48 years. Chuck Bush, who graduated from the Academy in 1963, died Nov. 5, 2012, at his home in Lolo, Mont. Also pictured are Michael Wills (left) and Grace Wills (lower left). (U.S. Air Force photo/Don Branum)
Fletcher Wiley delivers the eulogy at a memorial service for Chuck Bush at the Air Force Academy Cemetery March 16, 2013. Bush was the first African American to graduate from the Academy in 1963. Wiley, the first African American from Indiana to attend the Academy, graduated in 1965 and is now on the Academy's Board of Visitors. (U.S. Air Force photo/Don Branum)
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