By Emily Carter • February 26, 2026 • Share
In 1950, Gina Lollobrigida received an invitation that seemed like a dream: Howard Hughes wanted her for a Hollywood screen test. Hughes was 44, controlled RKO Pictures, and had a documented pattern with young actresses—sign them to restrictive contracts, pursue them romantically, and if rejected, weaponize the law to end their careers.
The invitation promised tickets for Gina and her husband Milko, a physician she’d married in 1949. Only one ticket arrived.
At 23, speaking limited English, Gina came to Hollywood alone. For three months, Hughes deployed every weapon in his arsenal—English lessons, luxury parties, expensive gifts, introductions to America’s elite.
Then came his proposition: He’d divorce his wife, marry Gina, give her millions and stardom beyond imagination. She just had to divorce her husband first.
Gina refused. “I was married, and for me the marriage was one for life.”
Most actresses would have fled. But Hughes had one final card to play.
At Gina’s farewell party, champagne flowed into the early morning. When she was exhausted, barely able to read English, Hughes presented “routine departure paperwork.” She signed.
It was a seven-year contract that effectively banned her from working in Hollywood unless she worked exclusively for Hughes. Any studio wanting to hire her would face lawsuits and prohibitive fees.
“I couldn’t return to Hollywood without Howard Hughes filing a lawsuit,” Gina recalled. “He said I was his property.”
But Gina Lollobrigida was nobody’s property.
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