SOPHIA LOREN BIOGRAPHY
| Born | in Rome, Lazio, Italy |
| Birth Name | Sofia Villani Scicolone |
| Nickname | The Italian Marilyn Monroe |
| Height | 5' 8½" (1.74 m) |
Mini Bio (1)
Sophia Loren was born as Sofia Scicolone at the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome on September 20, 1934. Her father Riccardo was married to another woman and refused to marry her mother Romilda Villani, despite the fact that she was the mother of his two children (Sophia and her younger sister Maria Scicolone). Growing up in the slums of Pozzuoli during the second World War without any support from her father, she experienced great sadness in her childhood. Her life took an unexpected turn for the best when, at age 14, she entered into a beauty contest and placed as one of the finalists. It was here that Sophia caught the attention of film producer Carlo Ponti, some 22 years her senior, whom she later married. Perhaps he was the father figure she never experienced as a child. Under his guidance, Sophia was put under contract and appeared as an extra in ten films beginning with Le sei mogli di Barbablù (1950), before working her way up to supporting roles. In these early films, she was credited as "Sofia Lazzaro" because people joked her beauty could raise Lazzarus from the dead.
By her late teens, Sophia was playing lead roles in many Italian features such as La favorita (1952) and Aida (1953). In 1957, she embarked on a successful acting career in the United States, starring in Boy on a Dolphin (1957), Legend of the Lost (1957), and The Pride and the Passion (1957) that year. She had a short-lived but much-publicized fling with co-star Cary Grant, who was nearly 31 years her senior. She was only 22 while he was 53, and she rejected a marriage proposal from him. They were paired together a second time in the family-friendly romantic comedy Houseboat (1958). While under contract to Paramount, Sophia starred in Desire Under the Elms (1958), The Key (1958), The Black Orchid (1958), It Started in Naples (1960), Heller in Pink Tights (1960), A Breath of Scandal (1960), and The Millionairess (1960) before returning to Italy to star in Two Women (1960). The film was a period piece about a woman living in war-torn Italy who is raped while trying to protect her young daughter. Originally cast as the more glamorous child, Sophia fought against type and was re-cast as the mother, displaying a lack of vanity and proving herself as a genuine actress. This performance received international acclaim and was honored with an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Sophia remained a bona fide international movie star throughout the sixties and seventies, making films on both sides of the Atlantic, and starring opposite such leading men as Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, and Charlton Heston. Her English-language films included El Cid (1961), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Arabesque (1966), Man of La Mancha (1972), and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). She gained wider respect with her Italian films, especially Marriage Italian Style (1964) and A Special Day (1977), both of which co-starred Marcello Mastroianni. During these years she received a second Oscar nomination and won five Golden Globe Awards.
From the eighties onward, Sophia's appearances on the big screen came few and far between. She preferred to spend the majority of her time raising sons Carlo Ponti Jr. (b. 1968) and Edoardo Ponti (b. 1973). Her only acting credits during the decade were five television films, beginning with Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980), a biopic in which she portrayed herself and her mother. She ventured into other areas of business and became the first actress to launch her own fragrance and design of eyewear. In 1982 she voluntarily spent nineteen days in jail for tax evasion.
In 1991 Sophia received an Honorary Academy Award for her body of work, and was declared "one of world cinema's greatest treasures." That same year, she experienced a terrible loss when her mother died of cancer. Her return to mainstream films in Prêt-à-Porter (1994) was well-received, although the film as a whole was not. She followed this up with her biggest U.S. hit in years, the comedy Grumpier Old Men (1995), in which she played a sexy divorcée who seduces Walter Matthau. Over the next decade Sophia had plum roles in a few independent films like Soleil (1997), Between Strangers (2002) (directed by Edoardo), and Lives of the Saints (2004). Still beautiful at 72, she posed scantily-clad for the 2007 Pirelli Calendar. Sadly, that same year she mourned the death of her 94-year-old spouse, Carlo Ponti. In 2009, after far too much time away from film, she appeared in the musical Nine (2009) opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. These days Sophia is based in Switzerland but frequently travels to the states to spend time with her sons and their families (Eduardo is married to actress Sasha Alexander). Sophia Loren remains one of the most beloved and recognizable figures in the international film world.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: coleary@lineone.net
Spouse (2)
| Carlo Ponti | (9 April 1966 - 10 January 2007) (his death) (2 children) |
| Carlo Ponti | (17 September 1957 - 1962) (annulled) |
Trade Mark (3)
Natural brunette hair
Cat-like green eyes
Seductive deep voice
Trivia (69)
Natural daughter of Romilda Villani by Riccardo Scicolone, son of Salvatore Louis, Marchese Scicolone, from a Noble family from Agrigento, Sicily, and wife Sofia Maria Aquilino, of Venetian origin, daughter of Angelo Aquilino and wife Alfonza Licata.
Mother of Carlo Ponti Jr. and Edoardo Ponti. Father is Carlo Ponti.
Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1991).
She had her marriage annulled to save Carlo Ponti from bigamy charges in Italy.
She served an 18-day prison sentence in Italy in 1982 for tax evasion.
She may have been the voluptuous sex goddess as an adult. But, until age 14 she was a skinny child and considered an ugly duckling. Her nickname was "The Stick" and "Toothpick".
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#25) (1995).
Derives great pleasure from rolling her bare feet over a wooden rolling pin while watching television.
She did not get along with Marlon Brando during the shooting of A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), especially after the day they were doing a love scene and he commented, "Did you know you have hairs up your nostrils?".
She performed two duets with Peter Sellers which were major hits in the UK pop chart. "Goodness Gracious Me" was released in 1960 and reached four and "Bangers and Mash" made it to the top 20 in 1961.
(September 17, 1957) Carlo Ponti obtained a Mexican divorce from his first wife and married Sophia by proxy, while she was in Hollywood, filming Houseboat (1958) - and dating co-star Cary Grant.
While filming Boy on a Dolphin (1957), Sophia was required to walk in a trench in order to give audiences the impression that her diminutive co-star, Alan Ladd, was taller than she.
Has one sister, Maria Scicolone (born 1938); and two half-brothers, Giuliano Scicolone (born 1943) and Giuseppe Scicolone (born 1946).
Suffered from stage fright and, therefore, never appeared in a theatrical production.
Had two miscarriages prior to her first-born son Carlo Ponti Jr. Because of these complications, she had to have complete bed rest throughout her first and second successful pregnancies.
Her mother won an all-Italy Greta Garbo lookalike contest run by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1932; but, being only 17 years old, her mother would not allow her to pursue her Hollywood dream. Soon after, she became pregnant with Sofia.
Her adopted surname is a slight variation of "Toren" after the Swedish actress Märta Torén.
Her mother named her after her paternal grandmother. When Sophia's father abandoned her, her maternal grandmother began calling her "Lella".
Won a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for her work in "Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf/Beintus" along with former US President Bill Clinton and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Was named #21 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends.
At times, male actors have been hesitant to appear with her, due to the fact that she stands nearly 5'9" and wears towering heels and tall hair that can make her look over 6 feet tall.
Her "Best Actress" Academy Award was the first Oscar ever given for a performance in a "foreign-language" film.
Received an honorary citizenship in her hometown of Pozzuoli, Italy on June 22, 2005 (she gave up her Italian citizenship and became a French citizen years ago because of legal and tax problems she and her husband incurred in Italy).
Was president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966.
(February 10, 2006) One of eight women, also among them Susan Sarandon and author Isabel Allende, carrying the Olympic flag at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games' opening ceremony in Turin.
She and Marcello Mastroianni appeared in 11 movies together: The Miller's Wife (1955), Blood Feud (1978), What a Woman! (1956), A Special Day (1977), Sunflower (1970), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963), Marriage Italian Style (1964), The Priest's Wife (1970), Too Bad She's Bad (1954), Prêt-à-Porter (1994) and La pupa del gangster (1975).
Cited as one of Drew Barrymore's early role models. Loren was close friends with Drew's godmother Anna Strasberg (wife of famed acting coach Lee Strasberg). Anna would bring young Drew--from age 8 until she was 12--to Sophia's ranch outside Los Angeles, where Drew would spend summers with Loren's two sons (Jane magazine interview March 2007).
Being a huge fan of soccer club S.S.C. Napoli, she told the daily "Gazzetta dello Sport", when the team was just third in Serie B, that she would do a striptease if they achieved promotion to Serie A for the next season. When they managed to achieve promotion, she explained that she had made just a joke. [June 2007]
Has appeared in the 2007 edition of the famous Pirelli Calendar at age 72, making her the oldest model in its history.
Was mentioned in the song "I Shall Be Free" by Bob Dylan on his 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan".
Owns an apartment in the Trump World Tower in New York City.
Hating beauty salons, she does her hair and nails herself.
Being one of the contestants at the 1950 Miss Italia competition, she earned the second place and was awarded "Miss Eleganza".
The Best Actress Oscar she won for Two Women (1960) was stolen by thieves from her Italian villa. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) later replaced it for a small fee.
Is one of five performers to win an Oscar playing a character that spoke mostly in a foreign language. The other are Marion Cotillard, Robert De Niro, Roberto Benigni and Benicio Del Toro.
Her sister Maria Scicolone was once married to dictator Benito Mussolini's son, Romano Mussolini.
Godmother of Drew Barrymore.
Was amongst those considered for the role of Lara Antipova in Doctor Zhivago (1965), which ultimately went to Julie Christie.
Mother-in-law of Sasha Alexander and Andrea Mészáros.
Turned down roles that went to Joan Collins on Dynasty (1981) and Gina Lollobrigida on Falcon Crest (1981).
Husband Carlo Ponti was two years older than Sophia's mother.
Has played the love interest of a much older man in the majority of her films, the most illustrative example being It Started in Naples (1960) with Clark Gable when she was 25 and he was 59.
Her father Riccardo died of cancer in 1976.
Has four grandchildren: Lucia (born May 12, 2006) and Leonardo (born December 20, 2010) from son Edoardo Ponti and his wife Sasha Alexander; Vittorio (born April 3, 2007) and Beatrice (born March 15, 2012) from son Carlo Ponti Jr. and his wife Andrea Meszaros.
Attended the September 1992 funeral of former co-star Anthony Perkins.
Turned down the title role in Barbarella (1968).
Turned down an offer to appear in the Western comedy 4 for Texas (1963) and a $1-million fee for four weeks' work.
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7050 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 1, 1994.
She was awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in Palm Springs, California on January 9, 1994.
Returned to work 7 months after giving birth to her son Edoardo Ponti to begin filming The Journey (1974).
Was 1 month pregnant with her son Edoardo Ponti when she completed filming Man of La Mancha (1972).
Delivered both her sons, Carlo Ponti Jr. and Edoardo Ponti, via Caesarean section.
(September 17, 1999) Filed a lawsuit against 76 websites for using "fraudulent photographs" of her on adult sites.
Is one of 14 Best Actress Oscar winners to have not accepted their Academy Award in person, Loren's being for Two Women (1960). The others are Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Judy Holliday, Vivien Leigh, Anna Magnani, Ingrid Bergman, Anne Bancroft, Patricia Neal, Elizabeth Taylor, Maggie Smith, Glenda Jackson and Ellen Burstyn.
Was the 55th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for Two Women (1960) at The 34th Annual Academy Awards (1962) on April 9, 1962.
Is one of six performers with multiple Oscar nominations for foreign language films; the others are Marcello Mastroianni for Divorce Italian Style (1961), A Special Day (1977) and Dark Eyes (1987) (Italian), Liv Ullmann for The Emigrants (1971) and Face to Face (1976) (Swedish), Isabelle Adjani for The Story of Adele H (1975) and Camille Claudel (1988) (French), Javier Bardem for Before Night Falls (2000) and Biutiful (2010) (Spanish), and Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose (2007) and Two Days, One Night (2014) (French). Loren was nominated for her performances in Two Women (1960) (for which she won) and Marriage Italian Style (1964) (Italian), she and Marion Cotillard are the only atresses to win a Best Actress Oscar for a foreign-language film, they also appeared together in the film Nine (2009).
Was mentioned in a song entitled "Oh Boy" by Allan Sherman.
Yvonne De Carlo inspired her to become an actress.
Because of her love for actor Tyrone Power, she saw the romance drama Blood and Sand (1941) twenty times.
For her 80th birthday in 2014, her son, Carlo Ponti Jr.. commissioned a symphony to be written by Daniel Brewbaker. "Sinfonietta per Sofia" ("for love and laughter") was performed in the Napa Valley in 2014 with Carlo Ponti Jr. conducting the orchestra.
Her eldest son Carlo Ponti Jr. weighed 3.487050 Kilos or 7 lbs 11 oz at birth as announced in the January 10, 1969 Milestones column of that weeks issue of Time magazine.
Despite being Italian, she was dubbed by Lydia Simoneschi and Rita Savagnone in the Italian versions of most of her films.
As of 2016, she is the seventh earliest surviving recipient of a Best Actress Oscar nomination, tied with Piper Laurie and behind only Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Caron, Carroll Baker, Joanne Woodward, Shirley MacLaine and Doris Day. She was nominated (and won) in 1961 for Two Women (1960).
Sophia first learned of her Oscar win for Two Women (1960) from erstwhile co-star and paramour Cary Grant who called her home in Italy from Los Angeles with the news. Greer Garson had accepted the statuette on her behalf (Santa Monica Civic Auditorium / April 9, 1962).
She played the mother of her real life niece Alessandra Mussolini in A Special Day (1977).
Quit smoking in 1985.
Honoria was portrayed by Kirsty Mitchell in the 2001 miniseries Attila the Hun (2001) and by Sophia Loren in the 1954 film Attila the Hun (1954).
With El Cid (1961) she became only the second actress to get one million [U.S.] dollars for a single film role. Elizabeth Taylor was the first for Cleopatra (1963) in 1960 but "El Cid" was released to theaters first.
Her son Edoardo Ponti dated Chiara Mastroianni in 1992. Chiara's father, Marcello Mastroianni, had a long professional association with Loren.
Personal Quotes (30)
Sex appeal is 50% what you've got and 50% what people think you've got.
Mistakes are a part of the dues one pays for a full life.
The two big advantages I had at birth were to have been born wise and to have been born in poverty.
Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go so much further than people with vastly superior talent.
[on adultery] It's a game I never play.
[on why she did not pose nude in the 2007 Pirelli calendar] When Sophia Loren is naked, that is a lot of nakedness.
Cooking is an act of love, a gift, a way of sharing with others the little secrets -- "piccoli segreti" -- that are simmering on the burners.
A woman's dress should be like a barbed wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.
A mother has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.
Many people think they want things, but they don't really have the strength, the discipline. They are weak. I believe that you get what you want if you want it badly enough.
[on Tyrone Power] Tyrone Power was my ideal man.
[on Marcello Mastroianni] Marcello is a man who thinks like a man, talks like a man -- is a man! He has so much magnetism, he brings out the very soul in a woman.
[on Gregory Peck] One of the most charming men I've ever met.
[on Cary Grant] I learned many things working with Cary Grant. He has such tremendous concentration. Many actors do not have the courage to stand still. Cary Grant knows how to concentrate, how to look directly at you, but always with great relaxation.
[on Gina Lollobrigida] Gina's personality is limited. She is good playing a peasant but is incapable of playing a lady. That said, I don't think she's positively mad about me. Because I'm bigger than she? It's possible. Who knows?
Hate is unfulfilled love.
I don't understand Sharon Stone, who talks about sex as if she were talking about a bowl of spaghetti or a pizza. These things are private; you need a bit of discretion.
I am lucky. I had a very beautiful mother.
The facts of life are that a child who has seen war cannot be compared with a child who doesn't know what war is except from television.
I've never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don't understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now.
I hated my father all my life but in his final days I forgave him for all the suffering he caused us. As you grow older, marry, and have children of you own, you learn and forget. I do not forget easily, but I do forgive.
There IS a Fountain of Youth: It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.
[on why she, a nominee, could not attend the 1961 Academy Awards] I decided that I could not bear the ordeal of sitting in plain view of millions of viewers while my fate was being judged. If I lost, I might faint for disappointment. If I won, I would also very likely faint with joy. I decided it would be better to faint at home.
[on having made the drama film Two Women (1960)] I said before I am not a sexy pot. Now I can prove it.
[on Demi Moore] She dares, and I like a person who dares.
[her advice to young actresses] Learn how to kiss. Now they kiss like they are devouring each other. They should see how people like Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant kiss. Do they eat each other's faces? No.
[2014, on a famous 1957 photo of her stink-eyeing Jayne Mansfield's cleavage] Listen. Look at the picture. Where are my eyes? I'm staring at her nipples because I am afraid they are about to come onto my plate. In my face, you can see the fear. I'm so frightened that everything in her dress is going to blow--BOOM!--and spill all over the table.
[to Barbara Walters in 2000] I am not Italian, I am a Neapolitan!
[on meeting Madonna at the premiere of Prêt-à-Porter (1994)] I only met her once, at a premiere. I was waiting outside with a group of people, surrounded by photographers, and she was walking towards us. I said, "Madonna, come here," because she looked so alone, and we were photographed together. She was charming and very respectful to me, but you know, she looked very lonely.
Oh, how I loved the movies as a little girl. Particularly I loved Yvonne De Carlo - she was my favorite. Others, too, like Rita Hayworth, but I used to dream that I was Yvonne De Carlo. And I liked that little one - what was her name? - June Allyson, too. But for me there was only one Yvonne De Carlo.
Salary (9)
| The Pride and the Passion (1957) | $200,000 |
| Legend of the Lost (1957) | $200,000 |
| It Started in Naples (1960) | $200,000 |
| El Cid (1961) | $1,000,000 |
| Ieri oggi domani (1963) | $500,000 |
| The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) | $1,000,000 |
| Judith (1966) | $1,000,000 |
| Man of La Mancha (1972) | $750,000 |
| Brass Target (1978) | $1,000,000 |
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