Gina Lollobrigida (1927-2023): Five films of the Italian star that you must watch
'Bread, Love and Dreams' (1953)
Lollobrigida shot to stardom in this neo-realist comedy as a feisty, knockout peasant girl who attracts the attentions of a womanising older police chief (Vittorio De Sica) while herself holding a torch for one of his young officers. Lollobrigida's star was born the minute she entered the action, riding side saddle on a donkey with a coquettish smile. Of all her films it was her favourite. "It fits me like a glove, the character," she told The New York Times in an interview years later. "It's very full of fire. Was like me."
'Beat the Devil' (1953)
In 1953, Lollobrigida made her Hollywood breakthrough in John Huston's enjoyable caper about a bunch of crooks waiting in an Italian port town to board a steamer to east Africa, where they hope to make a fortune in uranium. She plays the temptress wife of an American soldier of fortune played by Humphrey Bogart in the film, which was shot on the Amalfi Coast. Truman Capote wrote the screenplay for the feature, which Huston turned into a spoof of "The Maltese Falcon", his earlier noirish flick starring Bogart.
'Trapeze' (1956)
Lollobrigida joined Britain's Carol Reed for this circus romp with Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster, which was a hit at the US box office. Shot in Paris, the film involving a troupe of competitive acrobats, with Lollobrigida as an ambitious but not-so-talented trapeze artist, scooped prizes at the Berlin film festival.
'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1956)
As Gypsy dancer Esmeralda in this lush colour adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel, Lollobrigida starred opposite Anthony Quinn's hunchback Quasimodo. Directed by French director Jean Delannoy with a mostly French-speaking cast, Lollobrigida enchanted in a red flowing dress with a dagger in her belt. The film was a big hit among Paris crowds and in the United States. A keen sculptor, Lollobrigida studied the art in Rome and exhibited her work internationally, including in Paris where she unveiled a five-metre-high (16-foot-high) bronze Esmeralda in 2003.
'Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell' (1968)
Picking up a Golden Globe film nomination for this comic role, Lollobrigida played a single mother attracting the interest of three soldiers vying to pay her child support. Veteran US critic Roger Ebert praised Lollobrigida's performance, "projecting the kind of innocence that is necessary if the situation isn't going to seem vulgar". For her performance she won Italy's top award, a David di Donatello.
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