Sofia Costanza Villani Scicolone popularly by her screen name, Sophia Loren was the daughter of Romilda Villani and Riccardo Scicolone, a construction engineer of royal blood. She was born on September 20, 1934, in Rome, Italy.
Although her mother had birthed the two children belonging to her father, he refused to take her as a wife. Instead, he married another woman. Growing up in the slums of Puzzuoli, she didn’t have any support from her father, and she spent a significant part of her childhood as a sad little girl.
At 14, she entered beauty contests and became one of the finalists. This gave her life a great turn as she was able to be noticed by Carlo Ponti, a film producer. She was under his care and guidance, and from here, she began featuring as an extra in some movies; she was often called ‘Sofia Lazzari’ due to her beauty; it was rumoured she could raise Lazarus from the dead.
As she grew older, she began acting in lead roles in many Italian movies before she then moved to the United States to embark on a successful acting career where she starred in some great films such as Legend of the lost in 1957, The pride and passion and a lot more movies.
Sophia began playing significant roles in many Italian features; she had a short but well-publicized relationship with Cary Grant, who was 31 years older than she was. She rejected his marriage proposal and instead got married to Carlo Ponti.
When Sophia was signed to Paramount, she featured in a series of movies; Desire Under the Elms (1958), The Key (1958), The Black Orchid (1958), It Started in Naples (1960), Heller in Pink Tights (1960), A Breath of Scandal (1960), and The Millionairess (1960) before returning to Italy to star in Two Women in 1960.
Her performance in ‘Two Women’ received international recognition and was honoured with an Academy Award for Best Actress. She featured in more movies and gained more comprehensive respect. She also received an Oscar nomination and won five Golden Globe Awards.
On January 10 2007, Sophia lost her husband, Carlo Ponti, who was 94 years old. Sophia is based in Switzerland but frequently travels to the states to spend time with her sons and their families.
