Sophia Loren (Italian pronunciation: [soˈfiːa
ˈlɔːren]; born Sofia Villani Scicolone
[soˈfiːa vilˈlaːni ʃʃikoˈloːne]; 20 September 1934) is an
Italian
actress.
Loren is widely recognized as Italy's most renowned and honored
actress. She was the first actress of the talkie era to win an
Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance, for her
portrayal of Cesira in
Vittorio De Sica's
Two
Women. Her other awards include a
Grammy Award, five special
Golden Globes, a
BAFTA Award and a
Laurel Award. In 1995 she received the
Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements, one of many such
awards.
Her films include:
Houseboat (1958),
El Cid (1961),
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963),
Marriage Italian-Style (1964), and
A Special Day (1977). In later years she has appeared in
American blockbusters such as
Grumpier Old Men (1995), and
Nine (2009). In 1994 she starred in
Robert Altman's
Prêt-à-Porter, which earned her a
Golden Globe nomination the same year. She has also achieved
critical and commercial success in TV movies such as Courage
(1986).
Early life
Loren was born in the Clinica Regina Margherita in
Rome,
Italy,[1][2]
daughter of Romilda Villani (1914–1991) and Riccardo Scicolone, a
construction engineer. Scicolone refused to marry Villani, leaving
Romilda, a piano teacher and aspiring actress, without support.[3]
Loren's parents had another child together, her sister
Anna Maria Villani Scicolone, in 1938. Loren has two younger
paternal half-brothers, Giuliano and Giuseppe.[4]
Romilda, Sofia and Maria lived with Loren's grandmother in
Pozzuoli, near
Naples.[5]
During
World War II, the harbour and munitions plant in Pozzuoli was a
frequent bombing target of the
Allies. During one raid, as Loren ran to the shelter, she was struck
by
shrapnel and wounded in the chin. After that, the family moved to
Naples,
where they were taken in by distant relatives.[citation
needed]
After the war, Loren and her family returned to Pozzuoli. Grandmother
Luisa opened a pub in their living room, selling homemade cherry liquor.
Villani played the
piano,
Maria sang and Loren waited on tables and washed dishes. The place was
very popular with the
American GIs stationed nearby.
When she was 14 years old, Loren entered a
beauty contest in Naples and, while not winning, was selected as one
of the finalists. Later she enrolled in acting class and was selected as
an extra in
Mervyn LeRoy's 1951 film
Quo Vadis, launching her career as a motion picture actress.
Career
1950–57 (beginnings and Hollywood stardom)
After being credited professionally as Sofia Lazzaro, she
began using her current stage name in 1952's La Favorita. Her
first starring role was in
Aida (1953), for which she received critical acclaim.[6]
After playing the lead role in
Two Nights with Cleopatra (1953), her breakthrough role was in
The Gold of Naples (1954), directed by
Vittorio De Sica.[6]
Too Bad She's Bad, also released in 1954, became the first of
many films in which Loren co-starred with
Marcello Mastroianni. Over the next three years she acted in many
films such as
Scandal in Sorrento (1955) and
Lucky to Be a Woman (1956). In 1957, Loren's star had begun to
rise in Hollywood, with the films
Boy on a Dolphin (her U.S. film debut),
Legend of the Lost with
John Wayne, and
The Pride and the Passion in which she starred opposite
Cary Grant and
Frank Sinatra.
International fame
Loren became an international film star following her five-picture
contract with
Paramount Pictures in 1958. Among her films at this time were
Desire Under the Elms with
Anthony Perkins, based upon the
Eugene O'Neill play;
Houseboat, a romantic comedy co-starring
Cary Grant; and
George Cukor's
Heller in Pink Tights, in which she appeared as a blonde for the
first time.
In 1961, she starred in
Vittorio De Sica's
Two
Women, a stark, gritty story of a mother who is raped while
trying to protect her daughter in war-torn Italy. Originally cast as the
daughter, Loren fought against type and was re-cast as the mother
(actress
Eleonora Brown would portray the daughter). Loren's performance
earned her many awards, including the
Cannes Film Festival's best performance prize, and an
Academy Award for Best Actress, the first major Academy Award for a
non-English-language performance and to an Italian actress. She won 22
international awards for Two Women. The film proved to be
extremely well accepted by the critics and it was a huge commercial
success.
Loren is known for her sharp wit and insight. One of her most
frequently quoted sayings is a quip about her famously voluptuous
figure: "Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti". However, on the 20
December 2009, episode of
CBS News Sunday Morning, Loren denied ever delivering the line.
During the 1960s, Loren was one of the most popular actresses in the
world, and she continued to make films in the United States and Europe,
starring with prominent leading men. In 1964 her career reached its
pinnacle when she received $1 million to appear in
The Fall of the Roman Empire. In 1965, she received a second
Academy Award nomination for her performance in
Marriage Italian-Style.
Among Loren's best-known films of this period are
Samuel Bronston's
epic
production of
El Cid (1961) with
Charlton Heston,
The Millionairess (1960) with
Peter Sellers,
It Started in Naples (1960) with
Clark Gable, Vittorio De Sica's triptych
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni,
Peter Ustinov's
Lady L
(1965) with
Paul Newman, the 1966 classic
Arabesque with
Gregory Peck, and
Charlie Chaplin's final film,
A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) with
Marlon Brando.
Loren received four
Golden Globe Awards between 1964 and 1977 as "World Film Favorite –
Female".[7]
1970–88
Loren worked less after becoming a mother. During the next decade,
most of her roles were in Italian features. During the 1970s, she was
paired with
Richard Burton in the last De Sica-directed film,
The Voyage (1974), and a remake of the film
Brief Encounter (1974). The film had its premiere on U.S.
television on 12 November 1974 as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame
series on NBC. In 1976 she starred in
The Cassandra Crossing, a classic
disaster film featuring such veteran stars as
Richard Harris,
Martin Sheen, and
Ava Gardner. It fared extremely well internationally, and was a
respectable box office success in U.S. market. She also co-starred with
Marcello Mastroianni in
Ettore Scola's
A Special Day (1977). This movie was nominated for eleven
international awards such as two Oscars (best actor in leading role,
best foreign picture). It won a Golden Globe award and a César award for
best foreign movie. Loren's performance was awarded with a David di
Donatello award, the seventh in her career. In addition the movie was
extremely well received by American reviewers and was a box office hit
and kick
Following this success, Loren starred in an American thriller
Brass Target. This movie received mixed reviews, although it was
moderately successful in the United States and internationally. In 1978
she won her fourth Golden Globe for "world film favourite". Other movies
of this decade were Academy award nominee
Sunflower (1970) which was a critical success and Arthur
Hiller's
Man of La Mancha (1972) which was a critical and commercial
failure despite being nominated for several awards including two Golden
Globes awards. O'Toole and James Coco were nominated for two NBR awards,
in addition the
NBR listed Man of La Mancha in its best 10 pictures of 1972
list.
In 1980, after the international success of the biography Sophia
Loren: Living and Loving, Her Own Story by A. Hotchner, Loren
portrayed herself and her mother in a made-for-television
biopic adaptation of her
autobiography, Sophia Loren: Her Own Story. Ritza Brown and
Chiara Ferrari each portrayed the younger Loren. In 1981, she became the
first female celebrity to launch her own
perfume,
Sophia, and a brand of eyewear soon followed.[6]
In 1982, while in Italy, she made headlines after serving an 18-day
prison sentence on
tax evasion charges—a fact that failed to hamper her popularity or
career. In fact, Bill Moore, then employed at Pickle Packers
International advertising department, sent her a pink pickle-shaped
trophy for being "the prettiest lady in the prettiest pickle".
She acted infrequently during the 1980s and turned down the role of
Alexis Carrington in 1981 for the TV series
Dynasty. Although she was set to star in thirteen episodes of
CBS's
Falcon Crest in 1984 as
Angela Channing's half-sister
Francesca Gioberti, negotiations fell through at the last moment and
the role went to
Gina Lollobrigida instead. Sophia preferred devoting more time to
raising her sons.[8][9]
In 1988 she starred in the miniseries
The Fortunate Pilgrim.
Loren has also recorded well over two dozen songs throughout her
career, including a best-selling album of comedic songs with
Peter Sellers; reportedly, she had to fend off his romantic
advances. It was partly owing to Sellers' infatuation with Loren that he
split with his first wife, Anne Howe. Loren has made it clear to
numerous biographers that Sellers' affections were reciprocated only
platonically. This collaboration was covered in
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers where actress
Sonia Aquino portrayed Loren. It is said that the song "Where
Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" by
Peter Sarstedt was inspired by Loren.[citation
needed]
Later career
In 1991 Loren received the
Academy Honorary Award for her contributions to
world cinema and was declared "one of the world cinema's treasures".
In 1995 she received the
Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.[10]
She presented
Federico Fellini with his Honorary Oscar. In 2009 Loren stated on
Larry King Live that Fellini had planned to direct her in a film
shortly before his death in 1993.[11]
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Loren was selective about choosing
her films and ventured into various areas of business, including
cookbooks, eyewear, jewelry, and perfume.
She received a
Golden Globe nomination for her performance in
Robert Altman's film
Ready to Wear (1994), co-starring
Julia Roberts.
In 1994, a Golden Palm Star on the
Palm Springs, California,
Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.[12]
In the comedy
Grumpier Old Men (1995), Loren played a
femme fatale opposite
Walter Matthau,
Jack Lemmon, and
Ann-Margret. The film was a box-office success and became Loren's
biggest U.S. hit in years.[6]
At the
20th Moscow International Film Festival in 1997, she was awarded an
Honorable Prize for contribution to cinema.[13]
In 2001, Loren received a Special Grand Prix of the Americas Award at
the
Montreal World Film Festival for her body of work.[14]
She filmed two projects in Canada during this time: the independent film
Between Strangers (2002), directed by her son Edoardo and
co-starring
Mira Sorvino, and the television miniseries
Lives of the Saints (2004).
In 2009, after five years off the set and fourteen years since she
starred in a prominent US theatrical film, Loren starred in
Rob Marshall's film version of
Nine, based on the
Broadway musical that tells the story of a director whose midlife
crisis causes him to struggle to complete his latest film; he is forced
to balance the influences of numerous formative women in his life,
including his deceased mother. Loren was Marshall's first and only
choice for the role. The film also stars
Daniel Day-Lewis,
Penélope Cruz,
Kate Hudson,
Marion Cotillard, and
Nicole Kidman. As a part of the cast she received her first
nomination for a
Screen Actors Guild Award.
In 2010, Loren played her own mother in a two-part Italian television
miniseries about her early life, directed by Vittorio Sindoni, entitled
La Mia Casa È Piena di Specchi (translated My House Is Full of
Mirrors), based on the
memoir
written by her sister Maria.[15]
In July 2013, it was reported that Loren was to make her film
comeback in an Italian adaptation of
Jean Cocteau's 1930 play
The Human Voice (La Voce Umana) which charts the breakdown of a
woman who is left by her lover – with her youngest son,
Edoardo Ponti, as director. Filming is to take under a month during
July in various locations in Italy including
Rome and
Naples.
It will be Loren's first significant feature film since the 2009 film –
Nine – in which critics received it to mixed reviews.[16]
Personal life
Loren's primary residence has been in
Geneva,
Switzerland since late 2006.[17]
She also owns homes in
Naples
and Rome.
In September 1999 Loren filed a lawsuit against 76 adult websites for
posting altered nude photos of her on the internet.[18][19]
Loren is a huge fan of the
football club
S.S.C. Napoli. In May 2007, when the team was third in
Serie B,
she told the
Gazzetta dello Sport that she would do a striptease if the team
won.[20]
Loren posed scantily clad at 72 for the 2007
Pirelli Calendar, along with such actresses as
Penélope Cruz and
Hilary Swank.[21]
Loren is a
Roman Catholic,[22]
though on various issues, such as modesty in dress and her marriage, she
has been at odds with the Church.[23]
Marriage and
family
Loren first met
Carlo Ponti in 1950 when she was 15 and he was 37. They married on
17 September 1957. However, Ponti was still officially married to his
first wife Giuliana under Italian law because Italy did not recognize
divorce at that time. The couple had their marriage annulled in 1962 to
escape
bigamy charges.[24]
In 1965, Ponti obtained a divorce from Giuliana in France, allowing him
to marry Loren on 9 April 1966.[25]
They became French citizens after their application was approved by then
French President
Georges Pompidou.[26]
They had two children:
Loren remained married to Carlo Ponti until his death on 10 January
2007 of pulmonary complications.[27]
When asked in a November 2009 interview if she were ever likely to
marry again, Loren replied "No, never again. It would be impossible to
love anyone else."[28]
In 1962 her sister,
Anna Maria Villani Scicolone, married the youngest son of
Benito Mussolini,
Romano, with whom she had a daughter, the
neofascist Italian politician
Alessandra Mussolini.
Her daughters-in-law are
Sasha Alexander and Andrea Meszaros.[4][29]
Loren has four grandchildren: Lucia Sofia Ponti (born 12 May 2006),[30]
Vittorio Leone Ponti (born 3 April 2007).[4]
Leonardo Fortunato Ponti (born 20 December 2010) and Beatrice Lara Ponti
(born 15 March 2012).
Filmography
References
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"Sophia Loren – Treccani – L'Enciclopedia Italiana".
Treccani.it. Retrieved 15
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"Sophia Loren – Biography – IMDB". imdb.com. 20 September
1934. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
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Carr,
Jay (22 August 1993).
"Sophia Loren Now Appearing in 'El Cid,' she remains a very
human icon".
Boston Globe.
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"Sophia Loren Archives – Chronicles". Lorenarchives.com.
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"Sophia Loren Has a Secret: How She's Managed To Survive".
Parade. January 18, 1987.
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"Sophia Loren Biography". Yahoo! Movies.
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Hall,
Jane (22 October 1984).
"Sophia's Choice – Kids & Family Life, Sophia Loren".
People. Retrieved
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"Sophia Loren – Actors and Actresses – Films as Actress:,
Publications". Filmreference.com.
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"Sophia Loren reflects on her Hollywood". Golden Globes.
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"CNN.com – Transcripts". CNN. 15 December 2009.
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"20th Moscow International Film Festival (1997)". MIFF.
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Awards 2001. Festival des Films du Monde.
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"Sophia Loren plays her mother in biopic". The Times of
India.[dead
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/entertainment-us-italy-loren-idUSBRE9680PO20130709
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"Sophia Loren – Loren Leaves Italy For Switzerland –
Contactmusic News". Contactmusic.com. 12 October 2006.
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The Fake Detective.
"Law Suits Involving Fakes And Celebrity Photographs".
Retrieved 2010-12-10.
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http://www.markroesler.com/pdf/articles/lorensues.pdf
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Staff writers (15 May 2007).
"Napoli fan Sofia Loren to strip if team go up". Thomson
Reuters. Retrieved 23
April 2008.
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Gorgan, Elena (17 November 2006).
"Sophia Loren Sizzles in the New Pirelli Calendar".
Softpedia.
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http://www.contactmusic.com/news/loren-calls-for-late-popes-beatification_1099331
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http://hollowverse.com/sophia-loren/
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"Carlo Ponti, Husband to Sophia Loren, Dead at 94". Fox
News. 10 January 2007.
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Exshaw, John (12 January 2007).
"Carlo Ponti".
The Independent (London).
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^
Carlo Ponti, Husband to Sophia Loren, Dead at 94 from
Fox News 10 January 2007
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"Sophia Loren'S Husband Carlo Ponti Passes Away". Hello.
10 January 2007. Retrieved
2010-12-10.
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^
Gordon, Jane (7 November 2009).
Daily Mail (London)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1225278/Sophia-Loren--I-don-t-know-I-want-I-grow-up.html
.
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^
"Carlo Ponti, Jr., Weds in St. Stephen's Basilica – Photo".
Life. 18 September 2004.
Retrieved 2010-12-10.
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Wren, Jennifer.
"Passages – Sophia Loren". People.
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"4th Moscow International Film Festival (1965)". MIFF.
Retrieved 2012-12-08.
External links