Mairlyn's Photos - Aug 24 2025 - Gina Lollobrigida vs Sophia Loren
Last night's Turner Classic Movie was Gina Lollobrigida's Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell. I remember seeing it at the movie theatre in 1968 or so when it came out. What a strange trio of male leads - Phil Silvers, Peter Lawford and Telly Savalas. I mean that genuinely as they paled in comparison to the beautiful, glowing Gina.
She was called the most beautiful woman in the world at the time. And that made me think of Sophia Loren, who was considered very beautiful. There was a supposed feud between them on this theme. If one were to search the archives carefully, there was lots of nasty insults supposedly tossed back and forth. For example: "Sophia Loren plays peasants. I play ladies."
This comparison of beauty seems to remain current - there are lots of reddit sorts of opinions on who was more beautiful. And that seems to be her legacy. Not her photography and sculptures and photojournalism in the 1970s and beyond. And she died in 2023 at 95, so a long life after movies.
I decided to find out a bit more about her and whether her artistic life was being suppressed because of the glitz of the movies. Reading her obituary by the BBC, the legacy of celebrity beauty seems very understandable. She led a celebrity life of famous men courting her constantly. This romance-filled life even had a strange wedding scandal.
"Disastrously, she met Javier Rigau y Rafols, a charming Spaniard who was 34 years younger. They announced their engagement in 2006 - but soon called it off, citing frenzied press attention.
Rigau, however, went ahead with the wedding - allegedly using an imposter to play Lollobrigida. According to her account, she only discovered her marriage by chance when she found documents on the internet.
She took legal action; Rigau produced witnesses. He insisted Lollobrigida had agreed to marry him by proxy using a power of attorney she had once granted.
She lost the ensuing court case, but the marriage was annulled in 2019 with the blessing of the Pope."
And that was only one chapter of her busy romantic life. I didn't find any great philosophical quotes as one does with Marilyn Monroe. There are lots about men. Even in her photojournalism activities where she interviewed and photographed Castro, the quote is that she related to Castro as a man.
So after reading about her exotic and romance-filled life, maybe Gina Lollobrigida's legacy of being the most beautiful woman in the world is suitable.
I found this bit of tabloid history Gina and Elzabeth Taylor in the same dress at a gala event.
And below that? A pretty little house in Buffalo - too bad about the Buffalo Garden Walk being in Buffalo.
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