Gina Lollobrigida in the NEW YORK TIMES

Rachel Donadio writes about film legend Gina Lollobrigida — La Lollo for short — in the New York Times. Lollobrigida, who turned 81 last July, will be honored with a lifetime achievement award next Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival. During her 50+-year career, the actress and sculptress appeared in nearly 70 film and television productions, including many of the best-known European motion pictures of the 1950s and 1960s, e.g., Belles de nuit, Fanfan la Tulipe, Le Grand jeu, La Romana.

Along the way, Lollobrigida won numerous accolades, among them best actress David di Donatellos for Imperial Venus (1963) and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968, tied with Monica Vitti for The Girl with the Pistol), in addition to an (unspecified) acting David di Donatello for La Donna più bella del mondo / The Most Beautiful Woman in the World / Beautiful But Dangerous (1956).

More recently, Lollobrigida won the Special Prize for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema at the 1995 Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Belgium's Joseph Plateau Life Achievement Award in 1997, and the 50th Anniversary David di Donatello in 2006 (she'd won a career award in 1996, as well).

Surprisingly, I've seen very few of Lollobrigida's vehicles. Luigi Comencini's Pane, amore e fantasia / Bread, Love and Dreams (1954, top photo), the likable comedy that turned her into a major star; John Huston's quasi-failure Beat the Devil (1954); John Sturges' atrocious war drama Never So Few (1959) — and that's it.

Even more surprising, considering Lollobrigida's looks and her — reported — acting abilities, I don't recall her performances at all. (Admittedly, Bread, Love and Dreams was a late, late night viewing that took place a loooong time ago.)

Below are a couple of snippets from Donadio's interview:

"No contemporary Italian actress, not even Monica Bellucci or Valeria Golino, has come close to the star status of La Lollo, Sophia Loren or Claudia Cardinale, who reigned supreme in the 1950s and '60s. Now Ms. Lollobrigida has reached the stage of lifetime achievement awards: the National Italian American Foundation honored her in Washington this month, and the Rome International Film Festival is expected to fete her on Wednesday.

"She's pleased, she said, but still surprised by her success. 'In my career I did nothing to become what I am,' she said. 'It was the public made me an actress.'"

…

"Her best-known role remains her first, when she played 'La Bersagliera,' a sassy peasant girl in Luigi Comencini's neorealist comedy Bread, Love and Dreams. It's also her favorite. 'I create La Bersagliera, oh, Dio,' Ms. Lollobrigida said, adding the Italian reference to God for emphasis. 'It fits me like a glove, the character,' she added. 'It's very full of fire. Was like me.'

"Ms. Lollobrigida still appears to be full of fire. Last year she almost married a Spaniard 34 years her junior. The decision to call it off was hers, she said. 'Obviously.'

"'I like younger men because they are generous,' she said. 'They don't have complex. Especially with me, my God.'"

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