Sophia Loren Biography

Sophia Loren (born September 20, 1934) is an Academy Award winning Italian film actress, born Sofia Villani Scicolone. She is widely considered to be the most popular Italian actress of her time and is also famous for being a major international sex symbol.

Early life

Loren was born Sofia Villani Scicolone at the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome on September 20, 1934 to Riccardo Scicolone and Romilda Villani. Riccardo refused to marry Romilda, leaving her, a piano teacher and aspiring actress, without support. Romilda, Sofia and sister Maria returned to Pozzuoli, near Naples, to live with Sofia's grandmother in order to survive.

During WWII, the harbor and munitions plant in Pozzuoli was a frequent bombing target of the allies. During one raid, as Sofia ran to the shelter, she was struck by shrapnel and wounded in the chin. Subsequently the family moved to Naples and begged distant relatives to take them in.

After the war, Sofia and her family returned to Pozzuoli. Grandmother Luisa opened their living room as a pub, selling homemade cherry liquor. Romilda played the piano, Maria sang and the shy Sofia waited tables and washed dishes. The place was very popular with the American GIs stationed nearby.

When she was 14 years old, Sofia 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 the Mervyn LeRoy film, Quo Vadis, thus launching her career as a motion picture actress. She would eventually change her name to Sophia Loren.

Marriage

Loren first met Carlo Ponti in 1950 during a beauty contest in which he was a judge. Having helped launch Gina Lollobrigida's career, he had Loren do many small parts. Later, while in Atlanta in 1957, he had lawyers obtain a Mexican divorce from his wife Giuliana and a marriage by proxy to Loren. Italy did not recognize divorce at the time, and the Catholic Church denounced their marriage. In 1962 the marriage was annulled. After this he arranged with Giuliana that the three of them move to France which at that time allowed divorce and they became French citizens. In 1965 Giuliana Ponti divorced her husband, allowing Ponti to marry Loren in 1966 in a civil wedding in Sèvres.

Career

By the late 1950s, Loren's star had begun to rise in Hollywood, with films such as 1957's Boy on a Dolphin and The Pride and the Passion in which she co-starred with Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra. Grant, reportedly, fell so deeply in love with Loren that he ardently proposed marriage, despite her obvious loyalty to Carlo Ponti and Grant's own union with actress and writer Betsy Drake. Loren refused.

International fame

Loren became an international film star with a five-picture contract with Paramount Pictures. Among her films at this time: 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 with blonde hair (a wig) for the first time. Loren demonstrated considerable dramatic skills and attracted respect as a dramatic and comedic actress, especially in Italian projects where she could express herself more freely, although she acquired great proficiency in English.

In 1960, Loren's acclaimed performance in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women earned many awards, including the Cannes, Venice and Berlin Film Festivals' best performance prizes. Her performance was also awarded an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first major Academy Award for a non-English-language performance. Initially, the stark, gritty story of a mother and daughter surviving in war-torn Italy was to cast Anna Magnani as Sophia's mother. Negotiations, perhaps due to billing, broke down and the screenplay was rewritten to make Loren the mother; Eleonora Brown portrayed the daughter.

Belying the typical portrayal of the beautiful actress as vacuous and emptyheaded, Loren was known for her sharp wit and insight. One of her most frequently-quoted sayings is her quip about her famously-voluptuous figure: "Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti."

During the 1960s, Loren was one of the most popular actresses in the world, and she continued to make films in both the U.S. and Europe, acting with leading male stars. In 1964, her career reached its zenith when she received $1 million to act in The Fall of the Roman Empire.

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 with Clark Gable (1960), Vittorio De Sica’s triptych Ieri, oggi, domani (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.

Despite the failure of many of her films to generate sales at the box office, Loren has an impressive roster of credits and work with famous co-stars. Invariably, she has turned in a charming performance and worn some of the most lavish costumes ever created for the movies. Some of her most attractive performances include A Breath of Scandal (1960), Madame Sans-Gêne (1962), Heller in Pink Tights (1960) and More Than A Miracle (1967).

Musical career

Loren 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.

Later career

Once she achieved motherhood, Loren worked less. She moved into her 40's and 50's with roles in films including the last De Sica movie, The Voyage, with Richard Burton and Ettore Scola's A Special Day with Mastroianni.

In 1980, Loren portrayed herself, as well as her mother, in a made-for-television biopic adaptation of her autobiography. Actresses, Ritza Brown and Chiara Ferrari played Loren at younger ages. She made headlines in 1982 when she served an 18-day prison sentence in Italy on tax evasion charges, a fact that didn't damage her career or popularity.

In her 60s, Loren became selective about choosing her films and ventured into various areas of business, including cook books, eyewear, jewelry and perfume. She also made well-received appearances in Robert Altman's Ready to Wear and the 1995 comedy Grumpier Old Men playing a femme fatale opposite Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.

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.

In 1993, Loren presented Federico Fellini with an Academy Honorary Award. In 1998, she presented the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful.

Current activities

Loren, at the age of 72, appeared in the 2007 Pirelli Calendar entitled "A Bed and Five Stories" along with Hillary Swank, Penelope Cruz, Naomi Watts, and Lou Doillon.

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 they achieved promotion to Serie A for the 2007/08 season. "The fans have a total passion, the city deserves promotion," Loren said. Although they achieved promotion to Serie A on June 10, 2007, Loren did not do a striptease.

Loren's eyes can be found on the Italian wine Fattoria Paradiso bottles.

Filmography
Year     Title     Role     Other notes
1950     I am the Capataz     Secretary of the Dictator     
Barbablu's six wives     Girl kidnapped     
Tototarzan     A tarzanide     
I Devote, Thee     A popular to the party of piedigrotta     
Hearts at Sea     Extra     Uncredited
1951     White Leprosy     A girl in the boardinghouse     
Owner of the Vapor     Ballerinetta     
Milan Billionaire     Extra     Uncredited
Magician for Force     The bride     
Quo Vadis     Lygia's slave     Uncredited
It's Him!... Yes! Yes!     Odalisca     
Anna     Night club assistant     Uncredited
1952     And Arrived the Accordatore     Amica di Giulietta     
I Dream of Zorro     Conchita     
The Favorite     Leonora     
1953     The Country of Campanelli     N/A     
Pilgrim of Love     N/A     
We Find Ourselves in Arcade     Marisa     
Two Nights with Cleopatra     Cleopatra/Nisca     
Girls Marked Danger     Elvira     
Good Folk's Sunday     Ines     
Aida     Aida     
Africa Under the Seas     Barbara Lama     
1954     Neapolitan Carousel     Sisina     
A Day in Court     Anna     
The Anatomy of Love     The girl     
Poverty and Nobility     Gemma     
The Gold of Naples     Sofia     
Attila     Honoria     
Too Bad She's Bad     Lina Stroppiani     
1955     The Sign of Venus     Agnese Tirabassi     
The Miller's Beautiful Wife     Carmela     
The River Girl     Nives Mongolini     
Scandal in Sorrento     Donna Sofia     
1956     Lucky to Be a Woman     Antonietta Fallari     
1957     Boy on a Dolphin     Phaedra     
The Pride and the Passion     Juana     
Legend of the Lost     Dita     
1958     Desire Under the Elms     Anna Cabot     
The Key     Stella     Based on the novel Stella by Jan de Hartog
The Black Orchid     Rose Bianco     
Houseboat     Cinzia Zaccardi     
1959     That Kind of Woman     Kay     
1960     Heller in Pink Tights     Angela Rossini     
It Started in Naples     Lucia Curio     
The Millionairess     Epifania Parerga     
A Breath of Scandal     Princess Olympia     
Two Women     Cesira     Academy Award for Best Actress (Won)
1961     El Cid     Ximena     
1962     Boccaccio '70     Zoe     
Madame Sans-Gêne     Catherine Hubscher aka Madame Sans-Gêne     
The Condemned of Altona     Johanna     
Five Miles to Midnight     Lisa Macklin     
1963     Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow     Adelina Sbaratti/Anna Molteni/Mara     
1964     The Fall of the Roman Empire     Lucilla     
Marriage Italian-Style     Filumena Marturano     Academy Award for Best Actress (Nominated)
1965     Operation Crossbow     Nora     
Lady L     Lady Louise Lendale/Lady L     
1966     Judith     Judith     
Arabesque     Yasmin Azir     
1967     A Countess from Hong Kong     Natascha     
More Than a Miracle     Isabella Candeloro     
1968     Ghosts - Italian Style     Maria Lojacono     
1970     I Girasoli (Sunflower)     Giovanna     
1971     Lady Liberty     Maddalena Ciarrapico     
The Priest's Wife     Valeria Billi     
1972     The Sin     Hermana Germana     
Man of La Mancha     Aldonza/Dulcinea     
1974     The Voyage     Adriana de Mauro     
Verdict     Teresa Leoni     
Brief Encounter     Anna Jesson     
1975     Sex Pot     Pupa     
1976     The Cassandra Crossing     Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain     
1977     A Special Day     Antoinette     
1978     Angela     Angela Kincaid     
Blood Feud     Titina Paterno     
Brass Target     Mara     
1979     Firepower     Adele Tasca     
1980     Sophia Loren: Her Own Story     Herself/Romilda Villani     
1984     Aurora by Night     Aurora     
1986     Courage     Marianna Miraldo     
1988     Running Away     Cesira     
The Fortunate Pilgrim     Lucia     
1990     Saturday, Sunday and Monday     Rosa Priore     
1994     Prêt-à-Porter     Isabella de la Fontaine     
1995     Grumpier Old Men     Maria Sophia Coletta Ragetti     
1997     Soleil     Maman Lévy     
2001     Francesca and Nunziata     Francesca Montorsi     
2002     Between Strangers     Olivia     
2004     Lives of the Saints     Teresa Innocente     
Too Much Romance... It's Time for Stuffed Peppers     Maria     
2009     Nine     Guido's Mother     Pre-production

Sophia Loren Pictures ( 10 Pictures)