Gina Lollobrigida, was an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. At the time of her death, Gina Lollobrigida was among the last living high-profile international actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.

Often described as "the most beautiful woman in the world," her films included Beat the Devil, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Crossed Swords.

She co-starred alongside the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson, and Errol Flynn, and was aggressively pursued by movie mogul Howard Hughes who showered her with marriage proposals. Off camera, she enjoyed a feud with Sophia Loren, a fellow Italian star.

As her film career slowed, Lollobrigida established a second career as a photojournalist. In the 1970s she achieved a scoop by gaining access to Fidel Castro for an exclusive interview.

In later life, she became reclusive. But — from time to time — she would hold court at her huge villa, with its flock of white storks, on Rome's ancient Appian Way. She would glide down her magnificent staircase, bedecked in emeralds, to greet visiting journalists. It was Sunset Boulevard come to life.

Gina Lollobrigida lived to an age at which memories of her glory days — as part of movie world royalty in the '50s and '60s — have grown dim.

But — in her time — she was one of the greats. Her life story was as exotic as any of the roles she played.

And the maxim by which she lived, she said, was simple: "We are all born to die. The difference is the intensity with which we choose to live."

The beautiful Gina Lollobrigida lived a magnificent life and now she will be In Heaven with the Stars forever.