Absolute protagonist of one of the happiest seasons of Italian cinema, Sophia Loren turns 90 today. Myth, timeless diva, icon on the national and international scene, remarkable interpreter capable of ranging from drama to comedy, the diva who bewitched Hollywood starting from Naples has established herself thanks to her beauty and strong personality, for her attractiveness and fresh exuberance, but also by virtue of recognized artistic and professional merits, transforming herself into a refined and sophisticated woman and giving proof of a sensitive and versatile temperament.
This is also confirmed by: three lifetime achievement awards: the Oscar in 1991, the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1998 and the David di Donatello in 1999, in addition to numerous other awards received for individual performances. Ambassador of Italy in the world, in 1997 she was awarded the title of Knight of Merit of the Republic by the Head of State Oscar Luigi Scalfaro together with her husband, the film producer Carlo Ponti.
Sophia Loren achieved great popularity with ‘Carosello napoletano’ (1954) and ‘L’oro di Napoli’ (1954), a fame that was confirmed by her following performances: ‘La Bella mugnaia’ (1955), ‘La donna del fiume’ (1955), ‘Peccato che sia una canaglia’ (1955), ‘Pane, amore e…’ (1955), up to ‘La ciociara’ (Two Women) (1960) by Vittoria De Sica, based on the novel by Alberto Moravia, for which, in the unforgettable dramatic role of Cesira, she obtained numerous awards, among which the Oscar for best leading actress in 1962 stands out.
The beginnings
Born in Rome in 1934raised in Pozzuoli (Naples), where she moved with her mother, Romilda Villani, an aspiring actress, and her sister Maria, in 1949 Sophia Loren (pseudonym of Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone) participated for the first time in the beauty contest of Salsomaggiore for the election of Miss Italy, obtaining the title of Miss Elegance only the following year. In the meantime, she had become a diva of photo novels, alongside Antonio Cifariello and the singer Achille Togliani, with the name of Sofia Lazzaro, who would later transform into the exotic Sophia Loren.
He made his film debut in 1950 as a chorus girl in “Luci del varietà” by Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada, and two years later she played “Aida” by Clemente Fracassi, in the role that had been offered to her historical rival, Gina Lollobrigida; on that occasion she met the producer Carlo Ponti (1912-2007), her future husband, from whom she obtained an exclusive contract.
Success came with a series of films, and characters, that allowed Loren to make the most of her physical and temperamental resources, creating that image of the beautiful and prosperous commoner, both frank and skilled in using the weapons of her femininity, with which she has remained in the memory of the spectators: the ‘sciantosa’ in ‘Carosello napoletano’ (1954) by Ettore Giannini, the beautiful cousin of “The Sign of Venus” (1955), alongside Franca Valeri and directed by Dino Risi, the pizza chef in the episode ‘Pizzas on Credit’ in ‘The Gold of Naples’ (1954) by Vittorio De Sicathe daughter of Don Gaetano in the film with Totò ‘Miseria e nobiltà9 (1954) by Mario Mattoli, the miller’s wife in seventeenth-century Naples in ‘La bella mugnaia’ (1955) by Mario Camerini, the passionate rice-field worker in ‘La donna del fiume’ (1954) by Mario Soldati, the charming thief in the successful comedy ‘Peccato che sia una canaglia’ (1954) by Alessandro Blasetti, who saw her for the first time alongside Marcello Mastroianni, with whom she would form one of the most famous couples in Italian cinema; this occurred as early as the following year in a lively and spirited comedy like ‘La fortuna di essere donna’, again directed by Blasetti.
Hollywood and cult films paired with Mastroianni
Around the mid-1950s, supported by Ponti, Loren decided to try her luck in the United States, where she worked alongside established actors such as Cary Grant, William Holden, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Frank Sinatraand with directors of proven experience, achieving a fair amount of success for his interpretations: ‘The pride and the passion’ (1957; The Pride and the Passion) by Stanley Kramer; ‘Houseboat’ (1958; A Husband for Cynthia) by Melville Shavelson; ‘Black orchid’ (1959; Black Orchid) by Martin Ritt; ‘That kind of woman’ (1959; That Kind of Woman) by Sidney Lumet; ‘A breath of scandal’ (1960; Olympia) by Michael Curtiz; ‘Heller in pink tights’ (1960; The Devil in Pink Tights) by George Cukor; ‘Arabesque’ (1966) by Stanley Donen. In Hollywood, Loren also took part in two blockbusters, both directed by Anthony Mann, ‘El Cid’ (1961), alongside Charlton Heston, and ‘The Fall of the Roman Empire’ (1964).
But his most important and successful films, often shot in tandem with Marcello Mastroianniare those in which you can breathe the same air of the popular alleys, especially in the South, where the actress grew up, and are born, not by chance, from the encounter with the sensitivity, and the consummate craft, of a director like De Sica: the most notable among them are ‘Two Women’ (1960); ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ (1963), an episodic film awarded with the Oscar in 1965, of which we remember the famous seduction scene with striptease in front of an astonished Mastroianni (a scene that about thirty years later the two actors would ironically repeat in Robert Altman’s film ‘Prêt-à-porter’, 1994, also known as ‘Ready to wear’); ‘Matrimonio all’italiana’ (1964), based on the comedy by Eduardo De Filippo ‘Filumena Marturano’, and ‘I girasoli’ (1970), both again with Mastroianni, as well as the twilight ‘Il viaggio’ (1974), based on the novel by Luigi Pirandello, alongside Richard Burton.
During her career, the actress also met Charlie Chaplin, who made his last film with Loren, ‘A countess from Hong Kong’ (1967), starring alongside Marlon Brando. In 1967, she reprised the role of the straightforward commoner in a fairytale style in ‘Once upon a time…’ by Francesco Rosi, inspired by the baroque and fairy-tale Naples of Giovan Battista Basile.
‘A Special Day’ and the career since the 70s
The actress gave further proof of her talent and professionalism in the unforgettable role of the humble, make-up-free housewife that she played, once again alongside Mastroianni, in ‘Una giornata particolari’ (1977) by Ettore Scola: the story of the fortuitous meeting between two differently misunderstood beings – he a homosexual waiting to be sent into exile, she a woman of the people, victim of the myths of the regime and of an ignorant husband – against the backdrop of a Rome celebrating the historic visit of Adolf Hitler in 1938.
Starting in the 1970s, Loren’s film appearances became more sparse: in addition to Scola’s masterpiece and the previous success of Dino Risi’s “The Priest’s Wife” (1970), again paired with Mastroianni, we should mention ‘The Cassandra Crossing’ (1976; Cassandra Crossing) by George Pan Cosmatos, “A Murderous Affair Between Two Men Over a Widow’s Cause (Political Motives Suspected)” (1978) by Lina Wertmüller and “Grumpier Old Men” (1995; That’s Amore) by Howard Deutch, in which Loren plays the role of an exuberant Italian seductress in the comic trio with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. In 1981 she published her autobiography, ‘Sophia. Living and Loving: Her Own Story’; three years later she starred in ‘Qualcosa di biondo’ (1984) by Maurizio Ponzi.
In 2002, she played, alongside actors such as Mira Sorvino and Gérard Depardieu, the part of an unhappy woman in her son Edoardo Ponti’s debut film, “Between strangers”. For television, she worked in Stuart Cooper’s “The fortunate pilgrim” (1988; Mamma Lucia), as well as in “Sabato, domenica e lunedì” (1990), based on the comedy of the same name by Eduardo De Filippo, and in “Francesca e Nunziata” (2001), both directed by Wertmüller. In 2014, coinciding with the eightieth anniversary of her birth, the actress published her new autobiography “Ieri, oggi, domani. La mia vita” (Rizzoli).
The Awards: From the Golden Lion to the Oscar
Sophia Loren received the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991 (after having already won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1961 for ‘Two Women’ and obtained a nomination for Best Actress for ‘Marriage Italian Style’ in 1995) and, also for her career, the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1998 and the David di Donatello in 1999. She has won the David di Donatello for Best Actress eight times, the last of which in 2021 for “The Life Ahead”, directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, for whose performance she was also awarded the 2021 Nastro di Platino. She has won two Targhe d’oro at the David di Donatello (1959 and 1984) and in 2014 the David Speciale for “Voce umana”, a short film based on the homonymous play by Jean Cocteau directed by her son Edoardo Ponti.
Among the numerous awards, also five Golden Globe Awards (and as many nominations); a Bafta award as best actress for ‘Two Women’ in 1961; two silver ribbons as best leading actress for ‘Two Women’ and ‘A Special Day’ and three nominations; a Grammy Awardone Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, the Prix d’interprétation féminine for ‘Two Women’ at the Cannes Film Festival; a Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement at the Berlin Film Festival; the Imperial Prize of Japan for her career in cinema. She was honored with a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1996 she was awarded the title of Knight of Merit of the Republic together with her husband Carlo Ponti. In France she was appointed Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor in 1991 and in 2016 she received honorary citizenship of the City of Naples.
Private life
Sophia Loren’s private life was marked by her meeting in 1950, at the age of 16, with the film producer Charles Bridgesthirty-eight years old at the time. Ponti was married to Giuliana Fiastri, whom he had married in 1946 and with whom he had two children: Guendalina (1951) and Alexandre (1953). In 1956 Ponti went to Mexico, where he obtained a divorce from Fiastri and on 17 September 1957 he married Loren by proxy. After the wedding, Ponti did not return to Italy to avoid charges of bigamy (divorce was not permitted in Italy at the time), working in Hollywood. In 1960 he and Loren returned to Italy and were accused of bigamy, but denied being married.
In 1962, Ponti’s first marriage was annulled, thus saving the couple from charges of bigamy. In 1965, Ponti obtained a divorce from his previous wife in France, allowing him to legally marry Loren on April 9, 1966 in Sèvres. Ponti and Loren obtained French citizenship through the intervention of President Georges Pompidou. The couple had two children: Carlo Jr., born in Geneva in 1968 and raised in the United States, conductor, who married the Hungarian violinist Andrea Meszaros, with whom he had two children; and Edoardo, born in Geneva in 1973, director, screenwriter and film producer, who married the American actress Sasha Alexander with whom he had two children. In the sixties the actress had, by her own admission, a flirt with Cary Grant.
In 1962, Loren’s sister, Maria Scicolone, married the artist Romano Mussolini, youngest son of the dictator Benito; therefore, Loren is the biological aunt of Alessandra Mussolini, daughter of Romano and niece of Benito. (by Paul Martini)
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