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Sophia Loren

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Sophia Loren
Born
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone

(1934-09-20) 20 September 1934 (age 90)
Other namesSofia Scicolone
Sofia Lazzaro
Citizenship
  • Italy
  • France
OccupationActress
Years active1950–2020
Spouses
(m. 1957; ann. 1962)
(m. 1966; died 2007)
ChildrenCarlo Ponti Jr.
Edoardo Ponti
RelativesMaria Scicolone (sister)
Romano Mussolini (brother-in-law)
Alessandra Mussolini (niece)
Romano Floriani Mussolini (grandnephew)
Sasha Alexander (daughter-in-law)

Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone L.d'H. OMRI (Italian: [soˈfiːa vilˈlaːni ʃʃikoˈloːne]; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren (/ləˈrɛn/ lə-REN,[1] Italian: [ˈlɔːren]), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.[2]

Encouraged to enroll in acting lessons after entering a beauty pageant, Loren began her film career at age 16 in 1950. She appeared in several bit parts and minor roles in the early part of the decade, until her five-picture contract with Paramount in 1956 launched her international career. Her film appearances around this time include The Pride and the Passion, Houseboat, and It Started in Naples. During the 1950s, she starred in films as a sexually emancipated persona and was one of the best known sex symbols of the time.

Loren's performance as Cesira in the film Two Women (1960), directed by Vittorio De Sica, won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first performer to ever win an Oscar for a non-English-language performance. She holds the record for having earned seven David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress: Two Women; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963); Marriage Italian Style (1964, for which she was nominated for a second Oscar); Sunflower (1970); The Voyage (1974); A Special Day (1977) and The Life Ahead (2020). She has won five special Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award), a BAFTA Award, a Laurel Award, a Grammy Award, the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1991, she received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievements. In 1999, the American Film Institute named her one of the greatest stars of American film history.

At the start of the 1980s, Loren chose to make rarer film appearances. Since then, she has appeared in films such as Prêt-à-porter (1994), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Nine (2009), and The Life Ahead (2020). Loren was appointed Knight of the Legion of Honour in France in July 1991, and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI) in June 1996.

Early life

Family and childhood

Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone was born on September 20, 1934, in the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome, Kingdom of Italy,[3] the daughter of Romilda Villani (1910–1991) and Riccardo Scicolone Murillo (1907–1976). Her mother was a piano teacher and aspiring actress, her father a failed engineer who worked temporarily for the national railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. Loren claimed in her autobiography that he was of noble descent, by virtue of which she is entitled to call herself "Viscountess of Pozzuoli, Lady of Caserta, a title given by the House of Hohenstaufen, Marchioness of Licata Scicolone Murillo".[4]

Loren's father refused to marry her mother,[5] leaving her without financial support. Loren met her father three times, at age five, age seventeen and in 1976 at his deathbed, stating that she forgave him but had never forgotten his abandonment of her mother.[6][7] Loren's parents had another child together, her sister Maria, in 1938. Scicolone did not want to formally recognise Maria as his daughter. When Loren became successful, she paid her father in order to have her sister Maria take the Scicolone last name.[8] Loren has two younger paternal half-brothers, Giuliano and Giuseppe.[9] Romilda, Sofia, and Maria lived with Loren's grandmother in Pozzuoli, near Naples.[10][11]

During the Second World War, the harbour and munitions plant in Pozzuoli was a frequent bombing target of the Allies. During one raid, as Loren ran to the shelter, she was struck by shrapnel and wounded in the chin.[12] After that, the family moved to Naples, where they were taken in by distant relatives. After the war, Loren and her family returned to Pozzuoli. Loren's grandmother Luisa opened a pub in their living room, selling homemade cherry liquor. Romilda played the piano, Maria sang, and Loren waited on tables and washed dishes. The place was popular with the American GIs stationed nearby.[citation needed]

Loren, age 15, as Sofia Lazzaro during a beauty pageant

Pageantry

At age 15, Loren as Sofia Lazzaro entered the Miss Italia 1950 beauty pageant and was assigned as Candidate No. 2, being one of the four contestants representing the Lazio region. She was selected as one of the last three finalists and won the title of Miss Elegance 1950, while Liliana Cardinale won the title of Miss Cinema and Anna Maria Bugliari won the grand title of Miss Italia. She returned in 2001 as president of the jury for the 61st edition of the pageant. In 2010, Loren crowned the 71st Miss Italia pageant winner.[13][14]

Career

Early roles

Loren in It Started in Naples (1959), in which she sang "Tu vuò fà l'americano"

Sofia Lazzaro enrolled in the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the national film school of Italy and appeared as an uncredited extra in Mervyn LeRoy's 1951 film Quo Vadis, when she was 16 years old.[15][16]

That same year, Loren appeared in the Italian film Era lui... sì! sì!, in which she played an odalisque, and was credited as Sofia Lazzaro. In the early part of the decade, she played bit parts and had minor roles in several films, including La Favorita (1952).[17]

Carlo Ponti changed her name and public image to appeal to a wider audience as Sophia Loren, being a twist on the name of the Swedish actress Märta Torén and suggested by Goffredo Lombardo. Her first starring role was in Aida (1953), for which she received critical acclaim.[18]

After playing the lead role in Two Nights with Cleopatra (1953), her breakthrough role was in The Gold of Naples (1954), directed by Vittorio De Sica.[18] Too Bad She's Bad, also released in 1954, and La Bella Mugnaia (1955) became the first of many films in which Loren co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni. Over the next three years, she acted in many films, including Scandal in Sorrento, Lucky to Be a Woman, Boy on a Dolphin, Legend of the Lost and The Pride and the Passion (1957), the latter film a Napoleonic era war-epic set in Spain starring Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra.

International stardom

Loren in 1959
Drawing of Loren by Nicholas Volpe after she won an Oscar for Two Women (1961)

Loren became an international film star following her five-picture contract with Paramount Pictures in 1958. Among her films at this time were Desire Under the Elms with Anthony Perkins, based upon the Eugene O'Neill play; Houseboat, a romantic comedy co-starring Cary Grant; and George Cukor's Heller in Pink Tights, in which she appeared as a blonde for the first time. In 1960, Loren starred in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women, a stark, gritty story of a mother who is trying to protect her 12-year-old daughter in war-torn Italy. The two end up gang-raped inside a church as they travel back to their home city following cessation of bombings there. Originally cast as the daughter, Loren fought against type and was eventually cast as the mother (actress Eleonora Brown would portray the daughter). Loren's performance earned her many awards, including the Cannes Film Festival's best performance prize, and an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first major Academy Award for a non-English-language performance or to an Italian actress. She won 22 international awards for Two Women. The film was extremely well received by critics and a huge commercial success. Though proud of this accomplishment, Loren did not show up to this award, citing fear of fainting at the award ceremony. Nevertheless, Cary Grant telephoned her in Rome the next day to inform her of the Oscar award.[19] During the 1960s, Loren was one of the most popular actresses in the world, and continued to make films in the United States and Europe, starring with prominent leading men. In 1961 and 1964, her career reached its pinnacle when she received $1 million to appear in El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire. In 1965, she received a second Academy Award nomination for her performance in Marriage Italian-Style opposite Marcello Mastroianni.[20]

Among Loren's best-known films of this period are Samuel Bronston's epic production of El Cid with Charlton Heston, The Millionairess (1960) with Peter Sellers, It Started in Naples (1960) with Clark Gable, Vittorio De Sica's triptych Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni, Peter Ustinov's Lady L (1965) with Paul Newman, Arabesque (1966) with Gregory Peck, and Charlie Chaplin's final film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) with Marlon Brando.

Loren received four Golden Globe Awards between 1964 and 1977 as "World Film Favorite – Female".[21]

Sophia Loren in a still from Judith (1966)

Continued success

Loren appeared in fewer movies after becoming a mother in 1968. During the next decade, most of her roles were in Italian features. During the 1970s, she was paired with Richard Burton in the last De Sica-directed film, The Voyage (1974), and a remake of the film Brief Encounter (1974). The film had its premiere on US television on 12 November 1974 as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame series on NBC. In 1976, she starred in The Cassandra Crossing. It fared extremely well internationally, and was a respectable box office success in the US market. She co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni again in Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977). This movie was nominated for 11 international awards such as two Oscars (best actor in leading role, best foreign picture). It won a Golden Globe Award and a César Award for best foreign movie. Loren's performance was awarded with a David di Donatello Award, the seventh in her career. The movie was extremely well received by American reviewers. Following this success, Loren starred in an American thriller Brass Target. This movie received mixed reviews, although it was moderately successful in the United States and internationally. In 1978, she won her fourth Golden Globe for "world film favorite". Other movies of this decade were Academy Award nominee Sunflower (1970), which was a critical success, and Arthur Hiller's Man of La Mancha (1972), which was a critical and commercial failure despite being nominated for several awards, including two Golden Globes. Peter O'Toole and James Coco were nominated for two NBR awards, in addition the NBR listed Man of La Mancha in its best ten pictures of 1972 list.[18] Loren headlined the action thriller Firepower (1979) co-starring James Coburn and O. J. Simpson, whom she had previously worked with on The Cassandra Crossing.

Loren in 1979

In 1980, after the international success of the biography Sophia Loren: Living and Loving, Her Own Story by A. E. Hotchner, Loren portrayed herself and her mother in a made-for-television biopic adaptation of her autobiography, Sophia Loren: Her Own Story. Ritza Brown and Chiara Ferrari each portrayed the younger Loren. In 1981, she became the first female celebrity to launch her own perfume, 'Sophia', and a brand of eyewear soon followed.[18]

Loren acted infrequently during the 1980s, preferring to devote more time to raising her sons.[22][23] In 1981 she turned down the role of Alexis Carrington in the television series Dynasty. Although she was set to star in 13 episodes of CBS's Falcon Crest in 1984 as Angela Channing's half-sister Francesca Gioberti, negotiations fell through at the last moment and the role went to Gina Lollobrigida instead. She played the title role in the 1984 TV movie Aurora, in which she acted alongside her 11-year-old real-life son Edoardo Ponti.

Loren has recorded more than two dozen songs throughout her career, including a best-selling album of comedic songs with Peter Sellers; reportedly, she had to fend off his romantic advances. Partly owing to Sellers's infatuation with Loren, he split with his first wife, Anne Howe. Loren has made it clear to numerous biographers that Sellers's affections were reciprocated only platonically. This collaboration was covered in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers where actress Sonia Aquino portrayed Loren. The song "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" by Peter Sarstedt was said to have been inspired by Loren.[24][25]

Loren in 1986, photo by Allan Warren

Later career

In 1991, Loren received an Academy Honorary Award, which described her as "One of the genuine treasures of world cinema who, in a career rich with memorable performances, has added permanent luster to our art form." In 1995, she received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award,[26] a similar honorary award, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.

She presented Federico Fellini with his honorary Oscar in April 1993. In 2009, Loren stated on Larry King Live that Fellini had planned to direct her in a film shortly before his death in 1993.[27] Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Loren was selective about choosing her films and ventured into various areas of business, including cookbooks, eyewear, jewelry, and perfume. She received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Robert Altman's film Ready to Wear (1994), co-starring Julia Roberts.

In 1994, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.[28]

In Grumpier Old Men (1995), Loren played a femme fatale opposite Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, and Ann-Margret. The film was a box-office success and became Loren's biggest US hit in years.[18] At the 20th Moscow International Film Festival in 1997, she was awarded an Honorable Prize for contribution to cinema.[29] In 1999, the American Film Institute named Loren among the greatest female stars of American film history.[30] In 2001, Loren received a Special Grand Prix of the Americas Award at the Montreal World Film Festival for her body of work.[31] She filmed two projects in Canada during this time: the independent film Between Strangers (2002), directed by her son Edoardo and co-starring Mira Sorvino, and the television miniseries Lives of the Saints (2004).

Loren in 2009

In 2009, after five years off the set and 14 years since she starred in a prominent US theatrical film, Loren starred in Rob Marshall's film version of Nine, based on the Broadway musical that tells the story of a director whose midlife crisis causes him to struggle to complete his latest film; he is forced to balance the influences of numerous formative women in his life, including his deceased mother. Loren was Marshall's first and only choice for the role. The film also stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Penélope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard, and Nicole Kidman. As a part of the cast, she received her first nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

In 2010, Loren played her own mother in a two-part Italian television miniseries about her early life, directed by Vittorio Sindoni with Margareth Madè as Loren, entitled La mia casa è piena di specchi (My House Is Full of Mirrors [it]), based on the memoir by her sister Maria. In July 2013 Loren made her film comeback in an Italian short-film adaptation of Jean Cocteau's 1930 play The Human Voice (La voce umana), which charts the breakdown of a woman who is left by her lover – with her younger son, Edoardo Ponti, as director. Filming took under a month during July in various locations in Italy, including Rome and Naples. It was Loren's first theatrical film since Nine.[32] She returned to feature-length film, as Holocaust survivor Madame Rosa, in Ponti's 2020 feature film The Life Ahead. In 2021 she received AARP Best Actress and AWFJ Grand Dame awards for her role.[33] After turning 90 in September 2024, despite having been inactive since the release of The Life Ahead, Loren dismissed rumors about her retirement and expressed her hopes to star in new productions.[34]

Loren in 2016

On 16 November 2017, Loren received a star at Almeria Walk of Fame in Spain for her work on White Sister.[35][36][37] She received the Almería Tierra de Cine award.[38]

Personal life

Loren is a Roman Catholic.[39] Since 2006 her primary residence has been in Geneva, Switzerland.[40] Her real estate portfolio has included a ranch in Hidden Valley, California,[41] an apartment in the Hampshire House building in Manhattan,[42] a condo on Williams Island in South Florida,[43] and a villa in Rome.[42]

Loren is an ardent fan of the football club S.S.C. Napoli. In May 2007, when the team was third in Serie B, she (then aged 72) told the Gazzetta dello Sport that she would do a striptease if the team won.[44] She had recently posed for the 2007 Pirelli Calendar.[45]

In February 2021, she was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and chose a pizza oven as her luxury item. Her musical choices included Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin" as sung by Ella Fitzgerald, and Debussy's "Clair de lune" as played by Tamás Vásáry.[46] She revealed that fellow actor Richard Burton was furious with her for cheating at Scrabble.[47][48]

On 24 September 2023, Loren received emergency surgery following fractures to her hip and femur sustained from a fall at her home in Switzerland.[49]

Marriage and family

Ponti and Loren in 1958

Loren first met Carlo Ponti in 1950, when she was 15 and he was 37, and they soon began an affair. Since divorce was not permitted in Italian law at the time, Ponti was not legally divorced from his wife, Giuliana Fiastri, when Loren married him by proxy (two male lawyers stood in for them) in Mexico on 17 September 1957.[50] The couple had their marriage annulled in 1962 to escape bigamy charges, but continued to live together. In 1965, they became French citizens after their application was approved by then French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.[50] Ponti then obtained a divorce from Giuliana in France, allowing him to marry Loren on 9 April 1966.[51] The marriage lasted until Ponti's death on 10 January 2007 from pulmonary complications, aged 94.[52]

The couple had two sons, Carlo Ponti Jr., born on 29 December 1968, and Edoardo Ponti, born on 6 January 1973.[11][53] Loren's daughters-in-law are Sasha Alexander and Andrea Meszaros.[9][54] Loren has four grandchildren.[55][56]

In 1962, Loren's sister Maria married the youngest son of Benito Mussolini, Romano, with whom she had two daughters, Alessandra, a former MP and MEP, and Elisabetta.[57]

Cary Grant and Loren in Houseboat (1958)

Affair with Cary Grant

Loren and Cary Grant co-starred in Houseboat (1958). Grant's wife Betsy Drake wrote the original script, and Grant originally intended that Drake would star with him. After he began an affair with Loren while filming The Pride and the Passion (1957), Grant arranged for Loren to take Drake's place with a rewritten script for which Drake asked not to receive credit. The affair ended in bitterness before The Pride and the Passion's filming ended, causing problems on the Houseboat set. Grant hoped to resume the relationship, but Loren decided to marry Carlo Ponti instead.[58]

In 1982, while in Italy, Loren made headlines after serving 17 days in prison on tax evasion charges. Loren said her accountant had made a mistake on her tax return. The matter did not hamper her popularity or career. In 2013, the Supreme Court of Italy cleared her of the charges in a separate decades-long dispute over the tax she should have paid on her 1974 earnings.[59]

In September 1999, Loren filed a lawsuit against 79 adult websites for posting altered nude photos of her on the internet.[60][61]

Filmography

Loren with her Volpi Cup in 1958
Year Title Role Notes
1950 I'm the Capataz Secretary of the Dictator
Bluebeard's Six Wives Girl kidnapped
Tototarzan A tarzanide
The Vow A commoner at the Piedigrotta festival
Hearts at Sea Extra Uncredited
1951 Brief Rapture A girl in the boardinghouse
The Steamship Owner Ballerinetta
Milan Billionaire Extra Uncredited
The Reluctant Magician The bride
Quo Vadis Lygia's slave Uncredited
Era lui... sì! sì! (It Was He!... Yes! Yes!) Odalisque As Sofia Lazzaro
Anna Night club assistant Uncredited
1952 And Arrived the Accordatore Amica di Giulietta
I Dream of Zorro Conchita As Sofia Scicolone
La Favorita Leonora
1953 The Country of the Campanelli Bonbon
We Find Ourselves in the Gallery Marisa
Two Nights with Cleopatra Cleopatra/Nisca
Girls Marked Danger Elvira
Good Folk's Sunday Ines
Aida Aida
Woman of the Red Sea Barbara Lama
1954 A Slice of Life gazzara Segment: "La macchina fotografica"
A Day in Court Anna
The Anatomy of Love The girl
Poverty and Nobility Gemma
Neapolitan Carousel Sisina
Pilgrim of Love Giulietta / Beppina Delli Colli
The Gold of Naples Sofia Segment: "Pizze a Credito"
Attila Honoria
Too Bad She's Bad Lina Stroppiani
The River Girl Nives Mongolini
1955 The Sign of Venus Agnese Tirabassi
The Miller's Beautiful Wife Carmela
Scandal in Sorrento Donna Sofia
1956 Lucky to Be a Woman Antonietta Fallari
1957 Boy on a Dolphin Phaedra
The Pride and the Passion Juana
Legend of the Lost Dita
1958 Desire Under the Elms Anna Cabot
The Key Stella
The Black Orchid Rose Bianco
Houseboat Cinzia Zaccardi
1959 That Kind of Woman Kay
1960 Heller in Pink Tights Angela Rossini
It Started in Naples Lucia Curio
The Millionairess Epifania Parerga
A Breath of Scandal Princess Olympia
Two Women Cesira Academy Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress
1961 El Cid Ximena
Madame Sans-Gêne Catherine Hubscher
1962 Boccaccio '70 Zoe Segment: "La Riffa"
The Prisoners of Altona Johanna Filmed in Tirrenia, Italy
Five Miles to Midnight Lisa Macklin
1963 Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Adelina Sbaratti
Anna Molteni/Mara
1964 The Fall of the Roman Empire Lucilla
Marriage Italian Style Filumena Marturano
1965 Operation Crossbow Nora
Lady L Lady Louise Lendale/Lady L
1966 Judith Judith
Arabesque Yasmin Azir
1967 A Countess from Hong Kong Natasha
More Than a Miracle Isabella Candeloro
1968 Ghosts – Italian Style Maria Lojacono
1970 Sunflower Giovanna
The Priest's Wife Valeria Billi
1971 Lady Liberty Maddalena Ciarrapico
1972 Man of La Mancha Aldonza/Dulcinea
1973 White Sister Hermana Germana
1974 The Voyage Adriana de Mauro Silver Shell for Best Actress
Verdict Teresa Leoni
Brief Encounter Anna Jesson Television film
1975 Sex Pot (la pupa del gangster / Get Rita) Pupa
1976 The Cassandra Crossing Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain
1977 A Special Day Antoinette
1978 Blood Feud Titina Paterno
Brass Target Mara/cameo role
Angela Angela Kincaid
1979 Firepower Adele Tasca
1980 Sophia Loren: Her Own Story Herself/Romilda Villani (her mother)
1984 Aurora Aurora Television film
1986 Courage Marianna Miraldo Television film
1988 The Fortunate Pilgrim Lucia Television miniseries
1989 Running Away Cesira Television miniseries
1990 Saturday, Sunday and Monday Rosa Priore Chicago Film Festival Premiere
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Isabella de la Fontaine
1995 Grumpier Old Men Maria Sophia Coletta Ragetti
1997 Soleil [fr] Maman Levy
2001 Francesca e Nunziata Francesca Montorsi Television miniseries
2002 Between Strangers Olivia
2004 Too Much Romance... It's Time for Stuffed Peppers Maria
Lives of the Saints Teresa Innocente Television miniseries
2009 Nine Mamma
2010 My House Is Full of Mirrors Romilda Villani Television miniseries
2011 Cars 2 Mama Topolino Voice (Italian version)
2014 La voce umana One-woman film role Short film; 2014 Tribeca Film Festival
2016 Sophia Loren:
Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival
Herself Documentary
2015 TCM Classic Film Festival
2020 The Life Ahead Madame Rosa
2021 What Would Sophia Loren Do? Herself Documentary

Recognitions

Awards

Year Organizations Category Work Result
1958 Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup for Best Actress The Black Orchid Won
1960 Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy It Started in Naples Nominated
Academy Awards Best Actress Two Women Won
BAFTA Awards Best Film Foreign Actress Won
Bambi Awards Best International Actress Won
Cannes Film Festival Best Female Interpretation Won
David di Donatello Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Won
Silver Ribbon Awards Best Leading Actress Won
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actress Won
Sant Jordi Awards Best Performance in a Foreign Film Won
1962 TCL Theatre Prints Ceremony Footprints and Handprints Ceremony Honored
1963 David di Donatello Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Won
Silver Ribbon Awards Best Leading Actress Nominated
1964 Academy Awards Best Actress Marriage Italian Style Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Nominated
David di Donatello Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Won
Moscow Film Festival[62] Best Actress Award Won
Golden Laurel Awards Best Actress Won
Silver Ribbon Awards Best Leading Actress Nominated
1967 Silver Ribbon Awards Best Leading Actress More Than a Miracle Nominated
1970 David di Donatello Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Sunflower Won
Fotogramas de Plata Awards Best Foreign Performer Nominated
1974 David di Donatello Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role The Voyage Won
San Sebastián Film Festival Award for Best Actress Won
1977 David di Donatello Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role A Special Day Won
Italian Golden Globe Awards Best Lead Actress Won
Silver Ribbon Awards Best Leading Actress Won
1991 Academy Awards Honorary Academy Award Honored
César Awards Honorary César Lifetime Achievement Award Honored
1994 Hollywood Walk of Fame Hollywood Walk of Fame Star (Motion Picture Category) Honored
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards Best Cast Prêt-à-Porter Won
Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated
1995 Golden Globe Awards Cecil B. DeMille Award Honored
Goldene Kamera Awards Special Achievement Award Honored
1998 Venice Film Festival Honorary Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement Honored
1999 David di Donatello Awards Special David Award for Career Achievement Honored
2004 Grammy Awards Best Spoken Word Album for Children Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf Won
2009 Critics' Choice Awards Best Movie Cast Nine Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Cast in a Film Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Ensemble Nominated
2014 David di Donatello Awards Special David Award La voce umana Honored
2021 AARP Movies for Grownups Awards Best Actress The Life Ahead Won
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards Actress Defying Age and Ageism Award Won
Greatest Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry Award Nominated
KCET Cinema Series Lumière Award Won
Capri Hollywood Film Festival Best Actress Won
CinEuphoria Awards Best Actress Won
David di Donatello Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Won

Box office rating

In The Motion Picture Herald, both British and American exhibitors voted for Loren within the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll:

  • 1960 – most popular actress (3rd most popular star in UK)
  • 1961 – 2nd most popular actress (2nd most popular star in UK)
  • 1962 – 3rd most popular actress (7th most popular star in UK)
  • 1964 – most popular actress in UK,[63] 24th most popular star in America
  • 1965 – 4th most popular star in UK
  • 1966 – 14th most popular star in America

Honours

Selected discography

Singles

  • 1955 – "Mambo Bacan" (from La Fille du Fleuve) / "Nyves" (RCA 18.350 10" 78rpm)
  • 1956 – "Che m'e 'mparato a fà" / "I wanna a guy" (RCA, A25V-0473, 10" 78rpm)
  • 1957 – "S'agapò" / "Adoro te" (with Paola Orlandi) (RCA, A25V 0585, 10" 78rpm)
  • 1958 – "Bing! Bang! Bong!" (from Houseboat) / "Almost in Your Arms" (Philips PB 857 10" 78rpm)
  • 1960 – "Goodness Gracious Me" / "Grandpa's Grave" (with Peter Sellers) (Parlophone, 45-R.4702 7" 45rpm)[67]
  • 1961 – "Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo" / "Bangers and Mash" (with Peter Sellers) (Parlophone 45-R.4724 7" 45rpm)

Albums

Compilations

  • 1992 – Le canzoni di Sophia Loren (CGD, 2xCD)
  • 2006 – Secrets of Rome (Traditional Line, CD)
  • 2009 – Τι Είναι Αυτό Που Το Λένε Αγάπη – Το Παιδί Και Το Δελφίνι (it:Δίφωνο, CD)

Russian National Orchestra

Bibliography

  • Loren, Sofia (2015). Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow; My Life. Atria Books. ISBN 9781476797434.
  • Loren, Sophia (1998). Sophia Loren's Recipes and Memories, Gt Pub Corp. ISBN 978-1577193678.
  • Loren, Sophia (1984). "Women & Beauty", Aurum Press. ISBN 0-688-01394-5.
  • Loren, Sophia (1972). In the Kitchen with Love, Doubleday, Library of Congress Catalog Card 79–183230.
  • Loren, Sophia (1971), In Cucina con Amore, Rizzoli Editore.

References

  1. ^ "Loren, Sophia". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022.
  2. ^ Stanton, Elizabeth (26 September 2023). "Sophia Loren's devastating injury after complicated journey to become the ultimate golden age sex symbol". Fox News. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  3. ^ EnciclopediaTreccani. "Sophia Loren profile". Treccani.it. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  4. ^ Loren 2015, p. 5.
  5. ^ "YouTube". Archived from the original on 13 April 2020 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ "Interviews of a Lifetime" (1991) – Barbara Walters with Sofia Loren.
  7. ^ Carr, Jay (22 August 1993). "Sophia Loren Now Appearing in 'El Cid', she remains a very human icon". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  8. ^ Arnaldi, Valeria (26 February 2016). "Maria Scicolone confessa: "Mia sorella Sophia Loren ha comprato il mio cognome"". Il Messaggero. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Sophia Loren Archives – Chronicles". Lorenarchives.com. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  10. ^ "Sophia Loren Has a Secret: How She's Managed To Survive". Parade. 18 January 1987.
  11. ^ a b "Sophia Loren". Biography. 23 April 2021. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
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