Gina Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927 in Subiaco, Italy), is an Italian actress and photojournalist. She was one of Italy's most prominent actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Born LuiginaLollobrigida, she was one of four daughters of a furniture manufacturer (her sisters are Giuliana, Maria and Fernanda). She spent her youth in a picturesque mountain village. In her youth, Gina did some modelling, and from there she went to participate successfully in several beauty contests. At around this time, she began appearing in Italian language films.

In 1947, Gina entered the Miss Italia pageant and came in 3rd place. The contest was won by Lucia Bosé and second place was Gianna Maria Canale - they would both go on to be actresses, though neither would come near Lollobrigida's success.

In 1949 she married a Slovenian physician, MirkoSkofic. They had one child, MirkoSkofic, Jr., and were divorced in 1971. Skofic gave up the practice of medicine to become her manager.In 1969 she was engaged for a short time to George Kaufman, a New York real estate heir. In the 1960s she also had an affair with heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard.

In October 2006, at age 79, she announced to Spain's ¡Hola! magazine her engagement to a 45-year-old Spanish businessman, Javier Rigau y Rafols, whom she met at a party in Monte Carlo in 1984 and who had been her companion since then. The engagement was called off on 6 December 2006, reportedly due to media pressure.Now virtually retired, Lollobrigida has not made a film since 1997.

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