By Frances d'Emilio -
The Associated Press
The Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved worldwide fame in the 1950s and was considered "the most beautiful woman in the world" for the title of one of her films, died Monday in Rome, according to her agent, Paola Comin.
She was 95 years old.
Lollobrigida underwent surgery in September for a femur fracture from a fall.
She returned home and said that she had recovered quickly.
Her agent did not provide further details about her death.
Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida with German actor Horst Buchholz during the Berlinale, the Berlin film festival, on July 5, 1958.Werner Kreusch / AP
He was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, a picturesque hill near Rome where his father was a furniture maker.
Time magazine compared her to "a goddess" in a 1954 article on Italian cinema.
More than half a century later, Lollobrigida continued to attract attention with her curly brown hair and statuesque figure.
Lollo
, as she was affectionately nicknamed by Italians, began her film career after World War II, when the country began promoting a stereotypical concept of the curvy, swarthy Mediterranean beauty in cinema.
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In addition to
The Most Beautiful Woman in the World
in 1955, her career includes films such as
Come September
, winner of a Golden Globe with Rock Hudson;
trapeze
;
Beat the Devil
, a John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones;
and
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
, which in 1969 earned her the highest award in Italian cinema, a David di Donatello for best actress.
In Italy he worked with the great post-war directors such as Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Pietro Germi and Vittorio De Sica.
Two of his most popular films in his country were Comencini's
Pane Amore Fantasia
(Bread Love Fantasy) (1953), and its sequel, a year later,
Pane Amore Gelosia
(Bread Love Jealousy).
In each of them, the male lead was Vittorio Gassman, one of the most renowned actors on the Italian screen.
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Lollobrigida began her career in beauty pageants, posing for magazine covers and with brief appearances in minor films.
But her sexy image of her quickly propelled her to major roles in major Italian and international productions.
Although she played some dramatic roles, her characters were more popular in light-hearted comedies, such as
Pane Amore
.
Her artistic facet went beyond cinema: she was a sculptor, painter and photographer, and she ended up leaving the screen for fine arts.
With her camera, she traveled the world from the Soviet Union to Australia.
