Sophia Loren

By Kathryn Dixon

Sophia Loren, with a career spanning six decades, is without doubt one of the grandes dames of cinema, but she was not limited to that accomplishment. She has acted in numerous television roles, authored multiple cooking and beauty books, and recorded several chart-topping musical hits—but never acted on stage because of stage fright. Her face has sold millions of magazines—from the ribald European tattler sheets to the very tame Ladies’ Home Journal, and her personal and professional life has been profiled in book form, television interviews, television documentaries and autobiographical drama. Sofia Villani Scicolone, as Sophia Loren was christened, is Italy’s most famous actress. She was the first Best Actress Oscar winner to reach that pinnacle in a non-English speaking part for her role in Two Women , and she has won almost too many awards to list both in the U.S. and in her native Europe. She enjoyed a lifetime of love and support from her husband, Carlo Ponti. The mother of two sons and the grandmother of four, Sophia Loren is an inspiration to all women both professionally and personally. Perhaps symbolically, her last major film role was in the musical Nine where she appeared in the role of Mamma, a sophisticated and attractive woman of a certain age for all the ages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TAJ Books International
• Release date: Jan 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781844063024

Kathryn Dixon

Kathryn Dixon was born and raised in South Carolina. She has lived in New York City, Los Angeles, Barcelona, and Geneva. Until this book, her writing and editing have been strictly related to financial matters, having worked in investment management for over 20 years. Having a dual US/Swiss nationality, Ms. Dixon shares Audrey Hepburn’s deep affection for the French-speaking cantons of Switzerland that border Lac Leman. She currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband. Their newly blended family comprises three grown children: Isabella, Thomas, and Jessica.

Book preview

SOPHIA LOREN

Sophia Loren, with a career spanning six decades, is without doubt one of the grandes dames of cinema, but she was not limited to that accomplishment. She has acted in numerous television roles, authored multiple cooking and beauty books, and recorded several chart-topping musical hits—but never acted on stage because of stage fright. Her face has sold millions of magazines—from the ribald European tattler sheets to the very tame Ladies’ Home Journal, and her personal and professional life has been profiled in book form, television interviews, television documentaries and autobiographical drama.

As a singer, Sophia enjoyed a Top 5 hit with Peter Sellers for their Goodness Gracious Me duet to promote The Millionairess. In 2004, Sophia was co-winner of a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for the combined performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Beintus’s Wolf Tracks. In 1992 her international status was recognized when she accepted the role of United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, visiting Kenya to increase public attention on the refugees from Somalia, wracked by drought and famine.

Sophia rubbed elbows, albeit briefly, with two of the biggest personalities of recent history—Jack Kennedy, when still a Massachusetts senator, and Elvis Presley—and co-starred in the 1950s and 1960s, the heyday of her career, with the major male stars of her day—Marcello Mastroianni, Jean Paul Belmondo, Maurice Chevalier, Omar Sharif, Peter Sellers, Richard Burton, John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, Cary Grant, Paul Newman, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando, and Daniel Day-Lewis. Surprisingly, her pairing on film with many of her co-stars did not ignite the fire that burned so vividly in her off-screen persona and consequently triggered several expensive flops. Among those who doused her flame were Anthony Quinn, which whom she made three films early in her career; Anthony Perkins, Charlton Heston, Alan Ladd, Clark Gable, and Marlon Brando.

Sofia Villani Scicolone, as Sophia Loren was christened, is Italy’s most famous actress. She was the first Best Actress Oscar winner to reach that pinnacle in a non-English speaking part and she has won a hatful of top awards including a BAFTA, seven Bambis, six Davids for Best Actress, four Henrietta Golden Globe Awards as World Film Favorite—Female as well as many awards for lifetime achievement including a career Academy Award in 1991, an Honorary César in 1991, an Honorary Golden Berlin Bear in 1994, a career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1998, the Pietro Bianchi Award in 2002, a career David in 1999, the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes in 1995, a Bambi Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, as well as a star on the Walk of Fame at 7050 Hollywood Boulevard.

At the peak of her acting prowess in the 1950s and 1960s—the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave Sophia the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite in 1964, 1965, and 1969 because of her outstanding versatility in epics such as El Cid with Charlton Heston; in thrillers such as Arabesque alongside Gregory Peck; in disaster movies such as The Cassandra Crossing; in comedies such as Charlie Chaplin’s last directorial outing, A Countess from Hong Kong, with Marlon Brando; and in gritty neorealistic films such as her standout role in Two Women.

It is not uncommon for a movie star of Sophia Loren’s stature to receive a small statue (such as an Oscar), but it is