Gina Lollobrigida, the sizzling  Italian sex symbol of my youth of whom it was said “She makes Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple” has passed away at 95.

And mama mia, sultry she was.

Gina Lollobrigida gracing the cover of Life Magazine 1954

Earthy, lusty, and sensual she was one of several Italian beauties to set the world on fire in the postwar world.  In the 1950s and 60s, she was one of the highest-paid European actresses.

So famous, this international actress was regularly referenced in pop culture.

Which is why I always remember her as Gina Lollo Jupiter.

Although I was too young to see her on the big screen, she was brought into my home thanks to TV, magazines, and comic books.

Four-color comic books often featured her movies but that amalgam of magenta, cyan, yellow, and black dots printed on newsprint did little to bring this colorful actress to life.

The voluptuous actresse’s va-va-va-voom got lost on the pages.

Vintage Dell Comic Book 1959 Solomon and Sheba starring Yul Brenner and Gina Lollobrigida

Vintage Dell Comic book 1957 Hunchback of Notre Dame Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida

And thanks to cartoon shows, she was brought to life for this seven-year-old.

A favorite character to lampoon, this international actress time-traveled, from the Stone Age right into the Space age. Both the Flintstones and Jetsons did an homage to Gina as they did with many celebrities of the day.

While the Flintstones would just add  “rock” or “stone” to someone’s name to make it sound more Stone Age, the Jetsons did the same thing, using “space” or something similar to evoke the universe.

Flintstones episode featuring Lollobrickida, an Italian maid

Where the Flintstones hire an Italian Maid named Lollobrickida after Wilma complains of being overburdened with cooking, the Jetsons maintain the bombshells appeal casting her as Gina Lollo Jupiter a glamorous, foreign movie star.

Gina Lollobrigida and her Jetson’s character Gina Lollo Jupiter.

In one episode of the Jetsons, George Jetson is watching the Fred Solarvan Show with special guest Gina Lollo Jupiter.

Jealous of his attention to the bombshell on TV, Jane decides to enter the annual Miss Solar System beauty pageant to prove to her husband that she is just as beautiful as Gina Lollo Jupiter.

Making an appearance at the top beauty contest in the Solar System is none other than glamorous film star Gina Lollo Jupiter who hopes to help out at the contest’s festivities.

Advising the contestants on the proper way of walking, the sex symbol demonstrates her sultry moves, saying walking is very important and can mean the difference between winning and losing.

And Gina Lollobrigida knew a lot about winning. Now her death is our loss.