Lollobrigida, Gina (1927–)

Italian actress and photographer. Name variations: modeled as Diana Loris. Born July 4, 1927, in Subiaco, Italy; dau. of Giovanni (furniture manufacturer) and Giuseppina Lollobrigida; attended Academy of Fine Arts, Rome, Italy; m. Drago Milko Skofic (physician and her manager), 1950 (div. 1966); children: son Andrea Milko Skofic.

Won title "Miss Rome" (1948); had 1st major film role in Miss Italy (1950); by early 1950s, was one of Continental Europe's most famous stars, appearing in such films as The Wayward Wife (1953), for which she won the Grolla d'Oro (Italian equivalent of the Oscar), and the highly successful Bread, Love and Dreams (1953) and its sequel Bread, Love and Jealousy (1954); made 1st European film with a US cast, Beat the Devil (1954), followed by 1st major US film Beautiful but Dangerous (1955), about soprano Lina Cavalieri; also appeared in Trapeze (1956), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956), Solomon and Sheba (1959), Come September (1961), Strange Bedfellows (1965) and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1969); retired from films (1977) and became a photographer; published 5 books of photographs, including The Wonder of Innocence (1994); directed acclaimed documentary Rittrato di Fidel (Portrait of Fidel Castro, 1975) and appeared in US on 2 episodes of "Falcon Crest"; drafted by the splinter centrist Democrat Party, made an unsuccessful bid for a seat in European Parliament (1999).

See also Women in World History.