Italian idol

Sophia Loren celebrates 90: secret family party!

Marcello Mastroianni kisses Sophia Loren: She celebrates her 90th birthday.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Douglas Pizac / AP)

Italian diva Sophia Loren turns 90 on Friday and numerous celebrations are planned. Her family has been planning a secret mega-party for some time. The city of Rome is honoring the great film actress at the Space Cinema Moderno. She herself is looking forward to everything and is sure there will be "lots of laughter, music and good food". 

When Sophia Loren won her first Oscar in 1962, she was lying in bed. She had stayed in Rome despite being nominated because no foreigner had ever won the award for best leading role in a foreign film in Hollywood. Moreover, the competition was enormous: Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" alone. But then the phone rang in Rome at night. It was Cary Grant on the line, shouting into the receiver: "Sophia, you've won, won, won."

That was one of the great moments of happiness in Sophia Loren's life. Considering her background, there were plenty of them. Sofia Villani Scicolone, born on September 20, 1934 in Rome, raised near Naples, without a father, in poor circumstances, in the middle of the war, became a world star. Three decades after the war drama "And Yet They Live", for which she won an award in 1962, she received another Oscar: for lifetime achievement. 

Sophia Loren with her Oscar in 1962

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Everett Collection)

More than 100 films
And there is no question: she is a true diva, perhaps the last of the great era of cinema. All in all, Loren made more than 100 films, from Italian comedies to European auteur cinema and Hollywood. Her classic scene: a tall, beautiful woman with cat eyes and a generous cleavage, walking in giant strides on high heels.

She was the embodiment of grandeur, self-confidence and sex appeal. She never shot nude photos. "I'm not exactly tiny," she explained. "If Sophia Loren is naked, that's a lot of nudity."

Marriage to Carlo Ponti
She could even afford to turn down a marriage proposal from the great heartbreaker Cary Grant. Instead, she married a fellow countryman, 20 centimetres shorter and 21 years older than her: film producer Carlo Ponti, who had discovered her in the 1950 "Miss Rome" competition. (She came second).

The two were together for more than half a century. After Ponti's death in 2007, she said: "I chose Carlo because he belonged to my world, to my people. Marrying someone who is not Italian, not from my home town: I would have been completely lost."

Sophia Loren in "Pride and Passion" in 1957

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Ronald Grant Archive / Mary Evans)

Sophia Loren was one of the erotic icons of the fifties

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Tony Vaccaro / akg-images)

Her favorite film partner was Marcello Mastroianni, who was also Italian and another heartbreaker of international cinema. The two made 13 films together, including "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", "Wedding in Italian" and "Prêt-à-Porter". And "A Special Day": May 3, 1938, when Adolf Hitler comes to Rome for a meeting with the other fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Meanwhile, the wife (Loren) of a Roman fascist meets a gay man (Mastroianni) who is about to be deported. She describes this movie as her best.

Despite all her success, there were also difficult phases in her life. Ponti was initially married to someone else and divorce was still taboo in Italy at the time. It was not until 1966 that they entered into a legally binding marriage. Both of them took French citizenship. It also took some time before they had children. Loren had several miscarriages, which she made no secret of.

Always wanted children
She once told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper: "I had wanted children since I was 16 and only had my first child at 34, Eduardo at 38. You can imagine how long I suffered." She had to lie in bed for eight months with both pregnancies. Carlo Ponti junior is now a conductor. Eduardo became a director and also filmed with his mother.

Her unpleasant experiences also included being sent to prison for 18 days in 1982 for tax evasion. At 73, she had herself photographed in erotic poses for the legendary Pirelli calendar. For some years now, however, Loren has done very little filming. One of her last appearances was in the Netflix film "What Would Sophia Loren Do?": an encounter with a US housewife for whom she is a great role model.

Now she spends most of her time in her villa on Lake Geneva. A restaurant chain bears her name and she also publishes cookbooks. This gives her the opportunity to repeat her decades-old saying about her own figure: "I owe everything you see to spaghetti."

"Laughter, music and good food"
A year ago, shortly after her 89th birthday, she suffered several fractures to her hip in a fall at her villa and had to have an operation. Since then, she has been very quiet. Last month, however, she spoke out again in an interview in the daily newspaper "Corriere della Sera". Naturally, it also dealt with the question of what her 90th birthday would look like. Loren's answer was very Italian. "My family is keeping the celebrations a secret. But I'm sure there will be lots of love, laughter, music and good food."