Sophia Loren, the timeless diva with a 88-year career and two Oscars, turns 70.
Ambassador of Italian beauty in the world as well as the most beloved diva in the history of international cinema, a name that has entered the Walk of Fame: Sophia Loren turns 88. Seventy years of career, two Oscars and 5 Golden Globes, the actress, registered as Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone, was born in Rome on September 20, 1934 to Romilda Villani, a piano teacher, and Riccardo Mario Claudio Scicolone, a real estate businessman. Her father acknowledged the paternity of the child, but always refused to marry Romilda, who took care of her daughter's education alone.
She was noticed at a very young age at a beauty contest by Carlo Ponti, who would later become her husband – by proxy in Mexico in 1957 – amidst a thousand controversies in Italy given that the producer was already married and divorce was not yet permitted. It was Ponti himself who offered her her first contract and advised her to use a stage name: Sofia Lazzaro first and then Sophia Loren. It is with this name that she made her first successful films alongside Alberto Sordi, playing 'Cleopatra' and that of her lookalike in 'Two Nights with Cleopatra' by Mario Mattoli in 1953.
The following year it was the turn of 'L'oro di Napoli', an episodic film directed by and starring Vittorio De Sica with Totò, Silvana Mangano and Eduardo De Filippo and 'Miseria e nobiltà', an adaptation of the work by Vincenzo Scarpetta, alongside Totò. Regarding De Sica, Sophia told an anecdote centered on the hunger she suffered as a young girl.
In an interview with Repubblica he said: “I have to thank my husband and De Sica. I started from nothing. My mother was a poor lady, we were starving and we went to Rome.
Without people who believe in you, you don't go anywhere. I met Carlo Ponti, my future husband, and he introduced me to Vittorio De Sica. I carry him in my heart. He was supposed to do 'L'oro di Napoli', we were in De Laurentiis' office, I didn't dare say a line. I understood that he liked me from the way he spoke to me: 'Since I'm leaving for Naples, I'll give you an audition right away, if it goes well you can be a pizza chef'. I started crying. 'Come on set tomorrow'. And so it was. De Sica was adorable, a man with a heart. Unique. He believed in me”.
With De Sica she made a total of 8 films, often paired with Mastroianni, forming one of the most famous and long-lasting partnerships in the history of cinema. She recounts Toto's story in her autobiography 'Sophia Loren. Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. My Life', about her first meeting: “Hesitantly, I approached him to introduce myself: 'Scicolone Sofia, very honored'. He was sweet, smiled at me and offered me some of his precious time. 'What's a little girl like you doing here? Where are you from?'.
'I'm from Pozzuoli, I'm here to make movies.' 'Ah... movies,' he sighed, dedicating one of his famous faces to me. For a moment his ironic, irresistible melancholy was all for me. I drank it, like a glass of fresh water, and I felt stronger. If Totò was giving me a pinch of his attention, it meant that everything was possible. That all the best was already here. But the Prince hadn't limited himself to words. In the end, sensing what I had tried to hide, he had put a hundred thousand lire in my hand. I think he had read the hunger in my eyes: for food, for work, or perhaps more simply for movies. Mommy and I ate for a long time, as if we had won the lottery.'
Her first iconic performance was in 'Pane, amore e…' in 1955, again paired with De Sica. From Dino Risi's film, the fourth highest-grossing film of 55/56, where Loren plays a fishmonger who tries to seduce Marshal Carotenuto (De Sica) so that he will let her stay in his rented house, the scene of the mambo danced by Loren and De Sica remains in the collective iconography. The 60s represented the worldwide consecration of the movie diva. She had actually already arrived in Hollywood in the second half of the 50s, acting alongside Cary Grant, John Wayne and Anthony Quinn. For 'Black Orchid', a 1958 film starring Grant, he won his first David di Donatello and the Coppa Volpi in Venice. At just 26 years old, he was already an icon of Italian cinema in the world, but it was in 1961 that the role of his life arrived. In 1960, directed once again by De Sica, she played the role of Cesira in 'La ciociara' based on the novel of the same name by Moravia, a perfect performance that earned her the Oscar for best actress, the first awarded to a performer in a film not in English. In addition to the award she won in 1962, she took home the Palme d'Or at Cannes, the Bafta, the David di Donatello and the Nastro d'argento with the same film, and TIME dedicated the cover of the April issue of the same year to her. The successes with De Sica, and the partnership with Mastroianni, were repeated in 1963 and 1964 with 'Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow' and 'Marriage Italian Style', which earned her a second Oscar nomination in 1965. Both with Eduardo's contribution: 'Adelina', the first episode of the 1963 film, was written by the great Neapolitan playwright, while 'Matrimonio all'italiana' is the cinematic transposition of 'Filumena Marturano'. Another film that links Loren to De Filippo is 'Saturday, Sunday and Monday', a 90s adaptation directed by Lina Wertmuller based on the work of the same name by Eduardo. The last film of the trio Loren, Mastroianni and De Sica was 'I girasoli' in 1969, while in 1974 she was Adriana de Mauro in the dramatic 'Il viaggio', Vittorio De Sica's last film. She worked again with Mastroianni on Ettore Scola's masterpiece 'A Special Day' in 1977, which won the Golden Globe for best foreign film and for her it was her sixth David di Donatello, her second Nastro d'argento and her first Globo d'oro. In 1982, following long-standing problems with the Italian tax authorities, Loren was arrested on charges of tax fraud. The actress remained in prison for 17 days and, only in 2013, the Court of Cassation excluded her responsibility, attributing it instead to the accountant. In 1991 she received an Oscar for her career and three years later Robert Altman wanted her for his film “Pret a' porter”, where, 30 years later, she re-enacted the famous striptease from 'Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow'. In 1999, Sofia Loren presented the Oscar for Best Foreign Film to Roberto Benigni. Memorable is the scene in which, at the actress's cry “And the Oscar goes to… Robberto” (with two b's), the actor reaches the Academy stage by walking on the backs of the seats. In the new millennium, the actress shot “Cuori estranei”, directed by her son Edoardo Ponti and two years later “Peperoni ripieni e pesci in faccia” by Lina Wertmuller. In 2001, the Neapolitan actress (who has boastfully repeated several times: “I am not Italian, I am Neapolitan”) returned to TV with the television dramas “Francesca e Nunziata”, again by Lina Wertmuller, with Claudia Gerini and Raoul Bova and “La terra del ritorno” (2004), with Sabrina Ferilli. In 2009, after several years of absence on the set, she was called by Rob Marshall to play the protagonist's mother in 'Nine', Rob Marshall's 2009 homage to Federico Fellini's '8 XNUMX/XNUMX'. In 2011, for the first time in her career, she dubbed the Disney-Pixar animated film Cars 2, where she played the role of Mother Mickey. His last performance dates back to 2020 when he starred in 'The Life Ahead', directed by his son Edoardo Ponti.
Article published on 19 September 2022 - 16:57
