Sofia Villani Scicolone, known professionally as Sophia Loren, is a great actress from the golden age of Hollywood cinema. A quality that she always quotes about herself is “I always think positively. It is very rare that you will find me in a mood that is sad or melancholic.’’
Family Background
Sophia Loren was born on 20 September 1934 in Rome, Italy. Her father was a construction engineer and her mother was a piano teacher. He refused to marry her mother and left her and the children to fend for themselves. This event had a negative impact on her mind so she always knew the importance of being a strong woman both financially and emotionally.
Sophia has a sister and two paternal half-brothers. They all lived with Sophia’s maternal grandmother in Naples. Due to financial constraints, Sophia had to wait on tables in a pub opened by her grandmother.
Professional Career
She took part in a beauty pageant in 1950 when she was just sixteen years old. This marked the onset of her acting career. She launched her international career when she signed a five-picture contract with Paramount. Her movies include ‘The Pride and the Passion’, ‘Houseboat’, ‘It Started in Naples’, ‘Grumpier Old Men’, ‘Between Strangers’, ‘Nine’, and ‘A Countess from Hongkong.’ At one point she was the lead actress in most of the US and European films. She was offered $1 million to appear in the movie’ The Fall of the Roman Empire”, which marked a milestone in her career.
Other than movies, she made a mark in the beauty industry by becoming the first female celebrity to launch her own perfume. She also recorded more than two dozen songs in her career. She even ventured into other business areas including cookbooks, eyewear, jewelry, and perfume.
Awards and Acknowledgement
In her career, she has received many awards including the Academy Honorary Award, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Golden Palm Star, a Special Grand Prix of the Americas Award, a BAFTA award, and the Laurel Award.
Carlo Ponti
Sophia Loren had a flourishing career but she faced a lot of trials and tribulations on the personal front. She met Carlo Ponti when she was 15 and he was 37. They both wanted to marry each other but Ponti was not legally divorced at that time. They both got married in 1957 but this marriage had to be annulled in 1962 to escape bigamy charges. The two stayed together and finally in 1966, Ponti got a divorce from his ex-wife. He died in 2002 and left Sophia and her two sons behind.
Also Read: All About Audrey Hepburn
Sophia Loren’s carrier spans over six decades. She is enormously admired and celebrated to date. She is the first actor to win an Oscar for a foreign-language performance for the movie ‘Two Women’. Currently, she lives in Geneva and feels that the world is a beautiful place to live. She is a very positive person by nature and has lived a life she should be boastful about. In 2014, her autobiography, ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: My Life was published.