BRIGIDA TO NOWHERE
Fesity Italian silver screen star Gina Lollobrigida has died aged 95. After placing bronze in the 1947 Miss Italy contest, she became mainstay in both Italian and French cinema for years to come, winning early acclaim for Bread, Love and Dreams and Beautiful but Dangerous. Howard Hughes pursued her for a Hollywood career (read – for a Hughes squeeze), and though Lollobrigida relished the creepy advances – attention was attention in her book – she preferred to work in Europe. Nevertheless she began a string of English-language starring roles alongside Hollywood heavyweights including Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Anthony Quinn. She wasn’t keen on Frank Sinatra, who she found humourless, while her favourite costar was Rock Hudson, who she knew had to be gay given he wasn’t attracted to her!
Her film career winded down by the late 60s, with the lead in comedy Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell one of her last roles of note, and forays into 80s US TV included Falcon Crest and one of many, many guest stars on The Love Boat. Offscreen, she enjoyed a tongue-in-cheek rivalry with Sophia Loren, and had a second wind as a photojournalist who notched a rare interview with Fidel Castro. Her first marriage ended after she had an affair with heart transplant doctor Christian Baarnard, of all people, and her partnership with a much-younger Spanish businessman attracted an extended court battle and much media furore. Thriving off the spotlight until the end, just last year she made a failed attempt for an Italian senate seat.
It’s a right Lollo-palooza on the DDP, with 16 teams picking her. Among them are several extravagant ladies theme teams, a general ladies non-theme team, NoSoup4U!, newcomer Tumbling Dice, and a joker for SAY HELLO TO THE ANGELS.
Gina Lollobrigida
4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023, aged 95
16 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀 5 POINTS, 🃏 (x1) 10 POINTS)