Born July 4, 1927, Gina Lollobrigida is an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician who is running for the Italian Senate in next month’s elections at the age of 95.

Lollobrigida made her film debut in minor roles in 1946. Coming in third in 1947’s Miss Italy contest, she gained national exposure. In 1949 she married Miko Skofic, a Slovenian physician. They had a son born in 1957. Given a contract at RKO by Howard Hughes in 1950, she refused to move to Hollywood, prompting him to hold onto the contract even after he sold RKO in 1955, forbidding her to make a film in the U.S. through 1959.

In 1952, she starred opposite Gerard Philippe in the French-made Fan Fan the Tulip. She received her first awards recognition with the 1953 Italian film, Bread, Love and Dreams for which she was nominated for a BAFTA as Best Foreign Actress the following year. Although not allowed to make films in the U.S., she did, however, film John Huston’s 1953 film, Beat the Devil co-starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones in English in Italy and Carol Reed’s 1956 film, Trapeze in English in Paris opposite Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. The internationally successful French made 1956 version of The Hunchback in Notre Dame provided her with top billing over Anthony Quinn in the title role.

By 1959, the actress was in such high demand in American films made abroad that she turned down a part in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita written especially for her. Instead, she starred opposite Frank Sinatra in John Sturges’ Never So Few, filmed in Burma, and Yul Brynner in King Vidor’s Solomon and Sheba, filmed in Madrid. In 1960, she moved to Canada with her husband and child. The couple would divorce in 1971.

Her 1960s films included Go Naked in the World opposite Anthony Franciosa, Come Spetember and Strange Bedfellows opposite Rock Hudson, Woman of Straw opposite Sean Connery, and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress – Comedy or Musical.

With her acting career on the wane, Lollobrigida became a noted photojournalist by the end of the 1970s. She photographed, among others, Audrey Hepburn, Paul Newman, Ella Fitzgerald, Salvador Dali, and even Fidel Castro. She returned to acting in the 1980s, most notably in a role written for Sophia Loren in the TV series. Falcon Crest opposite Jane Wyman for which she received another Golden Globe nomination.

Retired from acting she 1997, she has concentrated on photojournalism and politics ever since. Books of her photographic work were published in 1973, 1976, 1994, and 2006. 2022 Olympic Speed Skating Silver Medalist Francesca Lollobrigida is her grandniece.

Lollobrigida’s political inspiration is Mahatma Gandhi. She was a good friend of India’s only female Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984. We wish her well in the upcoming elections.

GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA AND OSCAR

• No nominations, no wins.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

TRAPEZE (1956), directed by Carol Reed

Reed’s sad circus film was the third biggest box-office hit of the year. Lollobrigida, in her first starring role in an American film, plays a trapeze artist who comes between Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, released the year before their most famous pairing in Sweet Smell of Success. Former Oscar nominees Katy Jurado and Thomas Gomez co-starred as Lancaster’s former girlfriend and the circus owner, respectively. Former acrobat and trapeze artist Lancaster filmed all his stunts except for one. Lollobrigida’s stuntwoman died after a 40-foor drop during the film’s production.

SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959), directed by King Vidor

Death stalked this one as well. Tyrone Power, the original Israeli King Solomon of the film, suffered a heart attack while performing a swordfight with George Sanders in this biblical epic in which Lollobrigida played the scheming Queen of Sheba. He died on stage ten minutes later, one of the most horrific episodes in the actress’s life. Power had completed 75% of the film, but all of his scenes were reshot with Yul Brynner who replaced him. Lollobrigida gives it her best, but it was not a happy time for her after Power’s death and it shows in her performance. Marisa Pavan, David Farrar, John Crawford, Finlay Currie, and Harry Andrews co-star.

COME SEPTEMBER (1961), directed by Robert Mulligan

This frothy comedy, filmed in Portofina, Italy, was one of Lollobrigida’s happiest experiences. She adored working with Rock Hudson with whom she later made Strange Bedfellows. This is the film on which second leads Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin met, fell in love, and married shortly thereafter. Lollobrigida plays the owner of an Italian villa who turns up unexpectedly to find that her butler (Walter Slezak) has rented the place to American business Hudson for the summer. The usual battle of the sexes ensues with Hudson and Lollobrigida both at comedic best with a strong supporting cast backing them up.

WOMAN OF STRAW (1964), directed by Basil Dearden

Sean Connery was the bigger star by the time the film was released but Lollobrigida was the bigger name during production and had top billing as the Italian nurse to Connery’s nasty billionaire uncle, Ralph Richardson. Advised by wheelchair bound Richardson that he will not inherit the bulk of his fortune, Connery with whom Lollobrigida is in love, convinces her to marry Richardson so that she will inherit his fortune when he dies and share it with him. Not content to wait for the old man to die a natural death, the two help it along with unexpected consequences. Alexander Knox co-stars as a suspicious detective.

BUONA SERA, MRS. CAMPBELL (1968), directed by Melvin Frank

Lollobrigida was nominated for a Golden Globe for her sparkling portrayal of an unmarried middle-aged Italian woman who has invented a deceased American airman husband and named him after Campbell’s soup so that her daughter (Janet Margolin) would not know she was illegitimate. Meanwhile, she has elicited monthly support payments from three former servicemen each of whom believes they are the girl’s father. All three are coming back for a 25th anniversary reunion. The plot, which was recycled for Mamma Mia! , is well served by its cast which also includes Shelley Winters, Phil Silvers, Peter Lawford, and Telly Savalas.