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This Italian pin-up, along with Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot, was emblematic of a brand of post-war European sexuality that America happily imported. But the Hollywood career of “La Lollo” was delayed, thanks to Howard Hughes, whose obsession with Lollobrigida led him to keep her virtually imprisoned in a Los Angeles hotel, and sign her to a contract that made it essentially impossible for her to work for any other US producer.
Gina Lollobrigida in Bread, Love and Dreams, 1953
SHOW NOTES:
Sources:
Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood by Karina Longworth
Orson Welles: One Man Band by Simon Callow
Showman by David Thomson
“The Italian Bombshell Who Proved That Life Is About Much More Than Curves.” by Eliza Berman, TIME, July 22, 2015
“National Body: Gina Lollobrigida and the cult of the star in the 1950s.” by Réka C. V. Buckley Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Volume 20, 2000
“Gina Lollobrigida Breaks The Silence on Her Outrageous Tabloid Scandals.” by James Reginato, Vanity Fair, February 2015
“Gina Lollobrigida” by Elvira Serra, Corriere, September 18, 2015
“Glamour and Grit: Gina Lollobrigida Reflects on Fame, Art, and Hard Work at TCMFF.” https://nitratediva.wordpress.com, May 10, 2016
“Cinema: Hollywood on the Tiber.” TIME, Monday, August 16, 1954
“Gina Lollobrigida Separated From Husband, Ex-Manager.” New York Times, October 25, 1966
“Refusal to Marry Hughes Revealed by Italian Beauty.” by Omar Garrison, Los Angeles Mirror
“The Girl Who Said No to Howard Hughes.” by Top Secret, 1954
Music:
The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro and outro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca. The outro song this week is “For Tomorrow” by Blur.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Reflectif - Artist Unknown
Rendezvous 3 - Martin Landh
Mysterious Grand Piano - Jonas Elander
Cluedo - Hakan Erikson
Sophisticated Gentleman 3 - Magnus Kingbloom
My Simple Thing 2 - Peter Sandberg
Yellow Leaves 5 - Peter Sandberg
After the Freakshow - Jenny Roos
Jazz and Blue Piano 1-Jonatan Jarpehag
Campers Day-Magnus Ringblom
Tomorrow I’ll Be Gone - Franz Gordon
Speakeasy 2 - Gunnar Johnsen
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editor: Olivia Natt.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
Gina Lollobrigida, 2014 | Photograph by Jonathan Becker for Vanity Fair