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The living legend of world cinema proudly bears the title of one of the most attractive women in the world.
“Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti,” Sophia Loren said with special coquetry. This phrase reflects the character of the actress, who is not used to denying herself anything.
Sophia Loren managed to do what no other actress could do before: she became the first Oscar winner for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film. In family life, she also managed to demonstrate success, which not all star couples can boast of. We were shocked when we learned that Sophia Loren lived with her famous husband Carl Ponti for about 50 years.
© Mary Evans Picture Library / EAST NEWS
Frame from the film "Pride and Passion", 1957.
- Sofia Villani Shicolone (real name of the actress - approx. Bright Side ) was born on September 20, 1934 in a charity shelter for single mothers. Sophie was a child out of wedlock, illegitimate, which prompted her mother Romilda to move from Rome to the metropolis of Naples, to the small town of Pozzuoli, where she herself was from.
- The role of the mother in the life of the future actress is huge: she always supported her daughter, instilled in her confidence that she could become a movie star. It was she who gradually pushed her daughter to this profession.
- By adolescence, Sophie gradually turned from a clumsy girl into a beauty. And her mother and grandmother decided to send her to the beauty contest "The Queen of the Sea and her 12 princesses."
- Grandma made a curtain dress for the competition, and mom painted old black shoes with a thick layer of white paint - and voila - the princess outfit was ready. As a result of the competition, Sophie won a trip to Rome, which turned her life upside down. After all, it is in the Eternal City that she will receive her first roles and meet her future spouse.
- In 1950, Sophie participated in the Miss Italy contest, where she received the title of Miss Elegance, established by the jury especially for her.
© Cinema Publishers Collection / EAST NEWS
Miss Italy pageant, Sophie 2nd from right, 1950.
- Sophie gave the first fee of 1 million lire for the film "Aida" to Ricardo Shicolone (the father of Sofia and Anna Maria, who refused to marry Romilda and take any part in the life of his daughters - approx. Bright Side ) so that he would allow the younger sister of the actress to bear his last name. The fact is that at first the father left Romilda and Sofia, but after 3 years they got back together. Romilda naively believed that Ricardo would change and become a good father to the family. But this did not happen, and another girl appeared, to whom he completely refused to give his last name.
- And Sophie, meanwhile, changes her last name to Lazzaro, supposedly more harmonious, and then to the well-known Lauren. The latter was suggested by the producers of the low-budget film Africa Under the Seas, who wanted it to be something "not so Italian".
- At the next beauty contest, Sophia Loren meets her future producer and husband Carl Ponti. He was married at the time and had 2 children.
- Ponti invited Sophie to the office for a screen test, where the cameraman recommended that she get plastic surgery to correct her nose and lose weight. He simply did not know what to do with her unusual and textured appearance. Lauren, of course, refused.
- Soon Ponti and Sophie became lovers. They could not give their relationship official status, since the Vatican did not give Ponti permission to divorce. When the lovers despaired of waiting, they decided to secretly marry in Mexico.
© Leemage / EAST NEWS
Sophia Loren with Carl Ponti, 1957
- In her numerous interviews, the actress has repeatedly told the story of how Ponti taught her how to eat an omelet correctly. One day he and Carlo came to a restaurant where they ordered an omelette. Lauren quickly armed herself with a fork and knife, but Carlo stopped her, saying that you don’t cut an omelette with a knife, but only with a fork. It is not surprising that since that time the actress has never eaten an omelette again in her life.
- Initially, Ponti positioned Sophie as a sex bomb, so the actress could be seen topless in a number of low-budget films.
- But a few years later, Carlo bought all the erotic films featuring the young Lauren in order to avoid an international scandal.
© Leri, oggi, domani / Compagnia Cinematografica
Shot from the film "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow", 1963.
- In 1966, Carlo Ponti and Sophia Loren officially became spouses. By chance, the next day on the set, Lauren and Grant played a wedding.
- Happiness did not last long. Italian law turned out to be harsh: Ponti was accused of bigamy because of a secret marriage in Mexico, and Sophie of illegal cohabitation. The joy faded instantly. They had to leave Italy. They lived either in France or in Switzerland.
- Lauren's acrobatic acting skills are considered to be the film Chochara, where she plays the widowed mother of an 18-year-old daughter. And the actress herself at that time was only 25 years old. Lauren's expressive play made a strong impression on film critics. Starring in this picture, Sophie won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film.
- It's funny, but the actress simply overslept her main movie night: the ceremony was not shown on Italian television.
- The fact that she won the statuette, Sophie learned from her longtime friend Cary Grant: he called her early in the morning to be the first to tell the news.
© La Ciociara / Compagnia Cinematografica Champion
Shot from the film Chochara, 1960.
- Family happiness was overshadowed by turmoil: Ponti and Lauren were accused of tax evasion and the withdrawal of capital from the country. The actress spent 17 days in prison, and Carlo was sentenced to 4 years of community service. There were rumors that this case was indicative: the state needed to demonstrate how it was struggling with the withdrawal of capital from the country.
© Angelo Palma / A3 / Contrasto / EAST NEWS
Sophie with her husband Carl Ponti, 1996
- During her film career, Sophie managed to work with almost all the most famous Hollywood actors, as well as with many eminent and talented directors: Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Robert Altman, Delbert Mann, Charlie Chaplin.
- Sophia Loren said that Vittorio De Sica was the second person in her life, and number one was, of course, her husband.
- The Archbishop of Genoa once joked (or even daydreamed) about the Vatican's disapproval of human cloning, but he could make an exception for Sophia Loren.
- The actress has her own star on the Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
© Allpix Press / EAST NEWS
In 1994, the actress received a star number 2,000 on the Walk of Fame.
- It is known that now the actress is filming in the film "All Life Ahead." In it, she plays Madame Rosa, a Holocaust survivor who befriends an immigrant boy from Senegal. The film is directed by her son Eduardo Ponti.
© Oliver Palombi / MEGA / Mega Agency / EAST NEWS
Shot from the filming of the film "All Life Ahead", 2019.
- According to the assurances of the actress herself, she is very comfortable working with her son, who knows her like no other. By the way, Sophie is a real Italian mother: just look how she adores her sons.
© Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF / MediaPunch Inc / EAST NEWS
Sophie with her sons Carlo and Eduardo, 2011.
Do you have a favorite film with the legendary Sophia Loren?
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