Gaby
“The resources of youth are intellect, talent, and creativity,” insists the actress, who continues to dazzle on glamorous red carpets. “If you learn to harness this source, you can truly conquer age.”
The “Cinderella” from Pozzuoli
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone, the illegitimate daughter of a music teacher, was born on September 20, 1934, in Rome. Shortly after her birth, she moved with her mother to the fishing village of Pozzuoli near Naples. Her early years were spent in a modest grandmother’s cottage, memories of which always brought tears to the actress’s eyes. When she later needed to tap into a melancholic mood for a role, she would mentally return to her childhood and youth. The sound of air raid sirens caused excruciating headaches for the nine-year-old girl. “The bombing alerts forced us to seek refuge in a railway tunnel,” Sofia Loren recalled in her memoirs. “I never had a coat, and the rare joy of childhood came from the shoes I managed to get before winter. For many years, we survived on just soup, and during the war, our daily ration was 100 grams of bread. My acquaintance with hunger led to the habit of falling asleep with a piece of bread in my hand, which even happened at the beginning of my film career – it was my assurance of a better tomorrow.”
Her father never married her mother. To support her two daughters, the single mother played the piano in a tavern, where young Sofia worked as a waitress. Despite their hardships, her mother instilled great ambitions in her children and always supported their aspirations to rise above their circumstances. Sofia’s younger sister, Anna-Maria Scicolone, would become a singer, television host, and the wife of the son of Italian dictator Romano Mussolini (Sofia Loren is the niece of Alessandro Mussolini, a well-known right-wing Italian politician and grandson of Benito Mussolini). As for Sofia, she would eventually earn a million-dollar fee for a role in a not-so-successful film. She would achieve both career heights and family happiness, leaving her native Italy for love. In marital fidelity and mutual support, the Neapolitan “Cinderella” would live with her benefactor “prince” for half a century, until his death at the age of 94. And in Sofia Loren’s biography, there would be no betrayals or personal scandals, aside from the challenging journey the future couple took to find each other.
Beauty and Career
As the Archbishop of Genoa humorously remarked, while disapproving of human cloning in general, the Vatican might make an exception for one person in the world – Sofia Loren. With her expressive eyes (“Eyes that have never cried cannot be beautiful”), sensual lips, voluptuous figure, and slender waist, she is recognized as one of the most enchanting women on the planet. The post-war enforced slenderness and her tall stature (174 centimeters was considered unusual for women at that time) earned young Sofia the nickname “Stichetto,” meaning “stick.” However, this appearance became her advantage: she attracted men from her teenage years. After winning her first beauty contest at 14, the holder of the title “Princess of the Seas” moved to Rome with her mother, where they both worked as extras in films. At the next beauty contest, “Miss Italy,” a special title of “Miss Elegance” was created just for participant Sofia Scicolone. At one of the subsequent contests, the young beauty met film producer Carlo Ponti, who, according to the actress, “gave her life a new meaning.”
Sofia Scicolone at the age of 15 at a beauty contest in Naples
The manager was 22 years older than his protégé and had a keen understanding of the demands of contemporary audiences. After the war, people craved pleasant spectacles, and the experienced producer decided to turn the shapely girl into a new sex symbol of Italian cinema. Initially, her fate was tied to low-quality films with no artistic merit. Sofia appeared on screen half-naked, was unashamed to shoot topless, and her main requirement was to be visually appealing: the producer fixated on her long nose and intended to resolve that issue with plastic surgery. However, soon the more pressing concern for her mentor became buying back the copies of those early films featuring Sofia Loren that did not align with her new reputation. “You have to try many things in life so that later there’s something to forget,” the star would later say with a mysterious smile. Perhaps with this in mind, the producer stripped his protégé of her former pseudonym Lazzaro, giving her the new name Sofia Loren (later she would become Sofia, in the French manner, as the couple would acquire French citizenship for their marriage).
Loren in the film “Yes, Yes! It’s Him!” (1951)
Ponti and the Pontiff
Coming up with a name for the actress, finding the best directors, securing lucrative contracts with film studios, and facilitating his protégé’s recognition in Hollywood proved easier for the married producer than resolving his own divorce and officially formalizing his new relationship. The couple had to marry secretly in Mexico, and it took ten years to formalize their new marriage in Italy. Ponti’s divorce from his first wife was complicated by… the church. For a decade, the prominent cultural figure was in conflict with the Pope himself. Despite the fact that his previous wife did not oppose the divorce and was present at the ceremony in Mexico, under Italian law, the couple remained married because divorces were prohibited in Italy. The press began to brand the producer as a bigamist. Ponti was labeled a “seducer of minors,” although at the time of their engagement in 1957, the bride was 23 years old. In 1962, the marriage between the actress and the producer was finally annulled by the Italians.
Carlo Ponti and Sofia Loren (1958)
The only solution was to leave Italy. Four years later, Ponti and both of his wives surrendered their Italian passports and acquired French citizenship – all to resolve their matrimonial issues. The producer’s determination was fueled by jealousy: Sofia Loren’s clever ruse was to demonstrate affection for her co-star Cary Grant. Whether the actress was genuinely in love with her colleague remains unknown to outsiders. But the choice was clear: Sofia Loren and Carlo Ponti made it in favor of family. This star couple never gave reporters any reason to suspect them of marital infidelity, even though the young wife, in her prime, starred alongside the sex symbols of world cinema: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marcello Mastroianni, Clark Gable, Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Peter Sellers, Anthony Perkins, Anthony Quinn, Charlton Heston, Alec Guinness, Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, and Jean Gabin.
With Cary Grant on the set of the film “Houseboat” (1958)
Sofia Loren’s Films
By 1954, 20-year-old Sofia Loren was already a star, vying for the top spot in Italian cinema with her renowned colleague Gina Lollobrigida (the competition for roles did not foster friendship between the actresses). From the 1950s onward, Carlo Ponti’s protégé began receiving invitations to American films being shot in Europe. The next step was to conquer Hollywood. The producer decided it was time to showcase her in America. The new “sex goddess” made her debut across the ocean in 1958 after a powerful promotional campaign. Ultimately, the famous Italian ranked 21st among the greatest stars in the history of American cinema. In the American Film Institute’s list, the actress appeared with her commercial Hollywood roles rather than her outstanding European works. It was this star who, in 1962, was awarded the first-ever Oscar for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film, and in 1991, she received an honorary Oscar for her brilliant cinematic career.
Gregory Peck and Loren at the 35th Academy Awards (1963)
It is believed that alongside the high praise for Ponti’s “treasure,” Hollywood vulgarized the actress, who needed to return to her homeland to perform her best roles. For most viewers, Sofia Loren primarily became the embodiment of the Italian character. These traits were recognized in the star by the director who worked with her for over 20 years – one of the main representatives of Italian neorealism, four-time Oscar winner Vittorio De Sica. In his films, Sofia Loren was always convincing in the roles of simple yet strong women who heroically overcome the trials that life throws at them. With the master, the actress successfully portrayed a comical Neapolitan vendor in the tragicomedy “The Gold of Naples” in 1954 and a martyr widow in the war drama “Two Women” in 1960. The tragic role of a mother saving her daughter during the war is still considered Sofia Loren’s unparalleled work in cinema. In a scene of violence, the actress’s emotional intensity has remained unmatched for over half a century, and she filmed it at the age of 26.
A scene from the film “Two Women”
Public Favorite
After winning the Cannes Film Festival award and receiving an unprecedented American Oscar, the star was in high demand for Italian, English, and American films. Sofia Loren revealed her dramatic potential in works by directors Vittorio De Sica, Ettore Scola, Alessandro Blasetti, Charlie Chaplin, George Cukor, and Lina Wertmüller. From 1958 to 2002, Sofia Loren became a multiple winner of prestigious awards at international film festivals in Venice, Cannes, and Berlin, receiving the Best Actress award in San Sebastián and five Golden Globe Awards in the special category “Favorite of the Public.” In between filming, the actress experienced two miscarriages, underwent treatment for infertility, and endured the pains of childbirth for her two sons: Carlo was born when she was 34, and Edoardo at 38. One of them became a successful conductor, while the other is a film director who occasionally casts his legendary mother in his films.
Loren with her young son Carlo
For the sake of her children, Sofia Loren unhesitatingly interrupted her film career, spending six months in hospitals to preserve her complicated pregnancies and immersing herself fully in motherhood. When her film popularity began to wane, her husband advised her to write an autobiographical book, and her next publication was a collection of memories and culinary recipes. Unfortunately, strained relations with the Italian authorities hindered the prominent family’s continued stay in Italy. In 1979, Carlo Ponti was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $26.2 million for attempting to smuggle $6 million and a valuable collection of artworks abroad. Since the producer was already a French citizen at that time, France did not extradite him to the Italian authorities. Similar troubles awaited Sofia Loren: in 1982, she was sentenced to 18 days in prison for tax evasion.
A Lifetime Ahead
At the same time, the star did not shy away from charity: she helped the children of fishermen from a poor Italian village (perhaps they reminded the actress of her own difficult childhood in a fishing community). In 1992, Sofia Loren, as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, drew global attention to refugee camps and orphans in Somalia. After permanently relocating from Italy in 1980, Sofia Loren travels between the U.S. and Switzerland. Her sons grew up in America (their family ranch “Thousand Oaks” is located near Los Angeles), while Sofia Loren has a beautiful home in Geneva filled with antiques, Persian rugs, and valuable porcelain. The actress enjoys life: at 72, she posed for an explicit Pirelli calendar, and at 80, she stunned the Parisian public with her fabulous figure on the runway during a show by couturier Giorgio Armani. In recent years, Sofia Loren has launched her own perfume line, became the face of a new fragrance by Dolce & Gabbana (named Dolce Rosa Excelsa), and the face of the Sophia Loren jewelry collection by the Damiani jewelry company. The stunning woman eagerly participates in photo shoots and promotional tours, frequently appearing on television and at film festivals.
In 2002, Sofia Loren played her first leading role in the film “Between Us,” directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. In 2020, she became a Netflix star with a new role in the film “The Life Ahead,” directed by Edoardo Ponti. The drama featuring mother and son ranked among the top ten most popular film premieres on Netflix in 37 countries. In 2021, Sofia Loren received her seventh David di Donatello national award for this work – awarded for Best Actress 60 years after the outstanding actress’s first win in this category. “My philosophy is that it’s better to experience life, making mistakes, than to do nothing out of fear of criticism,” Sofia Loren notes, adding, “Even in my youth, I didn’t consider beauty to be a woman’s only virtue, so I’m not afraid of wrinkles – the future of the world concerns me more than my own old age…”
