How Sophia Loren became a screen goddess
looks were criticized, and she was told her nose wasn’t right and she had to lose weight.
“It was an interesting nose, which is why I still have never changed it. Sometimes when you are very young, you have to wait for nature to shape you on the face or on the body. Then little by little, people see the nose was much nicer than they thought,” she told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Full length portrait of Sophia Loren, Italian actress, wearing sheer black gown over black underwear, circa 1955. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
Her big break came playing an Ethiopian slave in the movie Aida when she was 19 years old, earning her critical acclaim.
Four years later she co-starred with Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra in The Pride and the Passion and in 1960 her role-playing a mother desperate to provide for her daughter in war-torn Rome in Two Women earned her an Oscar.
The awards didn’t stop there, Loren went on to win five special Golden Globes, a Grammy Award, an Honorary Academy Award and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements, to name a few.
Marriage to Carlo Ponti
Her private life was plagued with stories of affairs and bigamy but she stayed married to Italian film producer Carlo Ponti for 50 years, until his death in 2007.
The couple first met when Sophia was only 16 years old. Carlo offered her a contract, became her mentor, and made sure Sophia reached stardom in Italy before she was 25.
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”It was love at first sight for both of us. We met at a beauty contest in Rome when I was 16, and he was on the jury. He saw me sitting at a table with friends and sent me a note asking me to join the contest,” she said.
Sophia and Carlo tied the knot in 1957, but Carlo’s earlier divorce was not recognized in Italy, and they got charged with bigamy. Carlo was 21 years her senior and he was still married to his first wife when they initially wed.
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As a result, Sophias and Carlo’s marriage was annulled in 1962. The couple solved the issue by becoming French citizens and marrying legally.
They went on to have two sons; Carol Jr., who is an orchestra conductor, and Eduardo, who is a filmmaker. Today, Sophia has four grandchildren.
Sophia Loren poses for a photo on May 30, 2001 in Toronto,
