When Sophia Loren won her first Oscar in 1962, she was in bed. Despite being nominated, she had stayed in Rome because Hollywood had never won a foreign actress in a foreign film for best leading role. And the competition was enormous: Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” alone.
But then the phone rang in Rome in the middle of the night. It was Cary Grant, with whom she had more in common than two films together. He shouted into the receiver: “Sophia, you’ve won, won, won.”
And another Oscar
That was one of the great moments of happiness in Sophia Loren’s life. Considering her origins, there were a lot of them. Sofia Villani Scicolone, born in Rome in 1934, grew up near Naples, without a father, in poverty, in the middle of the war, and became a world star. Three decades after the war drama “And Yet They Live”, for which she won an award in 1962, she received another Oscar: for lifetime achievement. Now she is celebrating her 90th birthday.
And there’s no question about it: she’s a real diva, perhaps the last from the great era of cinema. All in all, Loren made more than 100 films, from Italian comedies to European auteur films and Hollywood. Her classic scene: a tall, beautiful woman with cat eyes and a generous cleavage, striding along in high heels.
Cary Grant failed with marriage proposal
She was the embodiment of grandeur, confidence and sex appeal. She never did nude photos. “I’m not exactly tiny,” she explained. “When Sophia Loren is naked, that’s a lot of nudity.”
She could even afford to turn down a marriage proposal from the great heartthrob Cary Grant. Instead, she married a fellow countryman, 20 centimeters shorter and 21 years older than her: the film producer Carlo Ponti, who had discovered her in 1950 at the Miss Rome pageant. (She came second.)
The two were together for more than half a century. After Ponti’s death in 2007, she said: “I chose Carlo because he was part of my world, my people. To marry someone who was not Italian, not from my hometown: I would have been completely lost.”
Marcello Mastroianni as favorite partner
Marcello Mastroianni was her favourite film partner, also Italian and another heartthrob of international cinema. The two made 13 films together, such as “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”, “Marriage Italian Style” and “Prêt-à-Porter”.
And “A Special Day”: May 3, 1938, when Adolf Hitler comes to Rome for a meeting with the other fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Meanwhile, the wife (Loren) of a Roman fascist meets a gay man (Mastroianni) who is facing deportation. She describes this film as her best.
Drama about miscarriages
Despite all her success, there were also difficult phases in her life. Ponti was initially married to someone else, and divorce was still taboo in Italy at the time. It was not until 1966 that they entered into a legally binding marriage. Both of them took French citizenship. It also took a while before they had children. Loren had several miscarriages, which she made no secret of.
She once told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”: “I had wanted children since I was 16 and didn’t have my first child until I was 34, and Eduardo when I was 38. You can imagine how long I suffered.” She had to stay in bed for eight months during both pregnancies. Carlo Ponti junior is now a conductor. Eduardo became a director and also filmed with his mother.
18 days in prison
One of the unpleasant experiences was that she had to go to prison for 18 days in 1982 for tax evasion. At 73, she had herself photographed in erotic poses for the legendary Pirelli calendar. For the past few years, however, Loren has not been filming much. One of her last appearances was in the Netflix film “What Would Sophia Loren Do?”: an encounter with an American housewife for whom she is a role model.
Now she spends most of her time in her villa on Lake Geneva. A restaurant chain bears her name and she also publishes cookbooks. This gives her the opportunity, even in her old age, to repeat the saying about her own figure that has been tried and tested for decades: “Everything you see is thanks to spaghetti.”
Serious fall a year ago
A year ago, shortly after her 89th birthday, she suffered several fractures to her hip in a fall in her villa and had to undergo surgery. Since then, it has been pretty quiet about her. Last month, however, she spoke out again in an interview in the daily newspaper “Corriere della Sera”.
Of course, the question also came up about what the family reunion for the 90th birthday in Rome would look like. Loren’s answer was very Italian: “My family is keeping the celebrations secret. But I’m sure there will be a lot of love, a lot of laughter, music and good food.”
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