The legendary beauty of Sophia Loren is accompanied by a bit of mystery.
Like so many other stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, there's a lot going on with Sophia Loren
below the surface that most people don't know about.
Naturally, when she admitted to keeping personal diaries that she later burnt, it sent many
folks into a bit of a tizzy.
But it's not as if Loren hasn't been fairly transparent about the brunt of her personable
life.
In fact, she's been fairly forthcoming about her relationship with actor Cary Grant.
In her 2015 autobiography, Loren told a rather no-holds-barred version of her life story,
and all of her fans should be grateful for that.
They say that a woman never reveals all of their secrets.
And for Sophia, that old adage definitely rings true.
That being said, we've learned a lot about the 87-year-old actress and model in the seven-plus
decades that she's been active.
As of 2022, Loren is one of the last surviving film stars from Hollywood's Golden Age.
It's pretty wild that she is still making films at her age, but then again we should
never underestimate a woman as talented and empowered as Sophia Loren is.
It's no secret that one of Sophia's biggest assets has always been her beauty.
Since the 1950s, when she started appearing in films as a sexually emancipated woman,
she has been known as one of the best sex symbols of all time.
Join Facts Verse as we take a peek at a handful of Seductive Photos of Sophia Loren That are
Simply Too Hard to Resist.
Sophia Loren's Rise To Fame
Loren was born in Rome, Italy, in 1934.
The Italian actress rose to fame, clawing her way out of poverty in wartorn Naples,
to become one of the most universally recognized and celebrated Italian movie stars of all
time.
Before she worked in the film industry, Sofia Scicolone, as she was known then, changed
her surname to Lazzaro to work in the fotoromanzi – a popular variety of pulp magazines that
used still photos to depict romantic tales.
Sophia's first film role was as an extra in the American film Quo Vadis in 1951.
Under the mentorship of producer Carlo Ponti, who would eventually become her first and
only husband, Lazarro was transformed into the Sophia Loren we all know and love.
Her career was kickstarted by appearing in a number of low-budget comedy films before
she garnered critical acclaim with her performance in 1953s Aida.
Memorably, in that flick, she lip-synched the singing of the legendary Renata Tebaldi
in the film's titular role.
Cannes Film Festival – 1955
Sophia had her big breakout moment when she was 20 years old in 1955.
That year, she attended the famed Cannes Film Festival to promote Vittorio De Sica's The
Gold Of Naples.
The film had been one of her earliest starring roles after 1953s Aida.
It didn't take Loren long to realize that she was one of the most photographed p[eople
at the festival that year.
She told reporters that the public was applauding her in the street as they would with actresses
that have very famous names.
At that moment, she finally believed that she just might have a chance to make it in
cinema.
The Jayne Mansfield Side-Glance - 1957
They might not have known each other at the time, but Loren and the late blonde bombshell
Jayne Mansfield will forever be humorously bonded by this infamous photo.
Talking about that fateful snapshot, Loren admitted that she had been concerned that
at any given moment, everything in Mansfield's dress was going to spill out all over the
table.
So, yes.
Her eyes were indeed firmly fixated on precisely the location as they appear in this glorious
still.
Houseboat – 1958
While shooting 1957's The Pride and The Passion, Loren and actor Cary Grant struck up a romance.
Although she declined his marriage proposal, Grant continued to shmooze her during the
filming of this classic comedy.
Loren told Entertainment that she finds this photo particularly beautiful because of how
it reminds her of the kind of man that Grant was.
She still views Grant as one of the most remarkable people ever to enter her life.
She found him funny, respected how vulnerable he could be with her, and revealed that they
remained friends and talked on the phone regularly until the day he died.
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And don't go anywhere just yet.
We've still got quite a few seductive photos of Sophia Loren to share with you.
Elvis Presley – 1958
While she never had a romantic relationship with him, nor did they ever share a close
friendship, in this photo, Loren is seen sitting in Elvis' lap while playing with his hair.
The two were both making films at Paramount at the time, and after seeing him enjoying
his lunch at the cafeteria, she decided she wanted to go up and meet him.
Loren says that she and Elvis laughed like two school kids while she joked about all
the women screaming for him.
De Sica's Two Women – 1960
In 1960, Loren starred in yet another one of Vittorio De Sica's masterpieces, Two Women.
The film told the nitty-gritty story of a mother who was desperately trying to protect
her young 12-years-old daughter in war-torn Italy.
The mother-daughter duo end up getting sexually assaulted inside a church while they were
en route to their home after the bombings had ceased.
Loren was initially cast as the daughter, but she fought hard against this casting choice
and was ultimately given the role of the mother instead.
Actress Eleonora Brown ended up portraying the daughter.
Loren's powerful performance in that film garnered much acclaim and won her many awards,
including the Canne Film Festival's Best Performance accolade.
Additionally, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress.
In fact, this was the first major Academy Award that went to non-English language performance.
Although she was very proud of her achievement, Loren did not attend the Oscars that year.
When asked why she said that she feared fainting at the ceremony.
The day after the awards, Cary Grant called her in Rome to inform her that she had won.
Carlo Ponti – 1961
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Life Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt has shot Loren for seven magazine covers.
He also took this photo of the actress playfully rebuking her film producer hubby, Carlo Ponti.
The two met when Loren was 15, and they got married in 1957.
The couple remained together until Ponti's death in 2007.
El Cid – 1961
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Charlton Heston once said that Sophia Loren never complained about the cold weather or
having to wear skimpy little outfits during the production of this epic film.
And, of course, neither did he.
Speaking of this chapter of her film journey and her decidedly scanty wardrobe at the time,
Loren joked that she obviously likes to suffer.
Heston remained a lifelong friend of Loren's, although if you ask her, they were enemies.
"That's my philosophy – for understanding people, it's easier that way" Loren said of
their relationship.
At Home With Her Oscar - 1962
With the first bit of money that she received after winning her Best Actress award for Two
Women, Loren bought the house seen in this picture.
On the right is her mother, Romilda.
On the left, her sister Maria.
Touching on why she skipped out on the ceremony that year, Loren said that she didn't even
think she had a chance to be in the top five.
At that time, there had never been an actress in a foreign-language feature, especially
an Italian one, who had won an Oscar.
Loren Was One Of The Most Beloved Actresses In the World
Throughout the 1960s, there wasn't a person on the planet that didn't know Sophia Loren's
name.
She was one of the most famed actresses of her time and certainly one of the decade's
most alluring sex symbols.
Over the course of the decade, she continued to make films in the US and Europe, often
starring alongside some of the film industry's most prominent male leads.
Her career peaked in 1964 when she received a whopping $1 million to appear in the film
The Fall of the Roman Empire.
The following year, she received her second Academy Award nomination for her performance
in Marcello Mastroianni-fronted film Marriage Italian-Style.
Loren and Mastroianni did 14 films together.
Up until his death in 1996, Marcello was Sophia's most beloved and popular co-star.
In addition to Marriage Italian-Style, the two appeared in comedies like Yesterday, Today
and Tomorrow and Too Bad She's Bad.
They also co-starred in A Special Day.
Years later, in 1994, they reunited in Robert Altman's Ready to Wear.
In the latter, it was Marcello's idea to redo the notorious striptease sequence from Yesterday,
Today, and Tomorrow.
The scene even used the same music and Marcello's dog-like howling.
But this time around, he was snoring by the end of it.
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Sophia Loren Today
Beginning in the mid-80s, Loren chose to make fewer film appearances.
Since then, she has appeared in notable films like 1994s Pret-a-porter, 1995s Grumpier Old
Men, and 2009s Nine.
In 2014, she emerged from retirement to appear in Jean Cocteau's one-act film The Human Voice.
In the 24-minute short film, which was directed by Loren's son Edoardo Ponti, she played a
woman alone in an Italian villa speaking to a man she once had a romance with via a spotty
phone connection.
In 2016, She appeared in the documentary Sophia Loren: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival.
She followed that up with a performance in the Netflix-released drama The Life Ahead
in 2020.
The film is a contemporary adaptation of the novel La vie devant soi, which Romain Gary
published under the pseudonym Emile Ajar, The book and movie is about a Holocaust survivor
named Madame Rosa who offers daycare for the children of local sex workers.
In the process, she takes in an immigrant child named Momo after he swiped her purse
at the market.
Despite their difference in culture and age, the two bond in a heartwarming way.
Through that relationship, the audience sees numerous facets of Madame Rosa's character
and past as well as her hard-to-watch descent into dementia.
Most recently, Sophia showed up in the 2021 American documentary short What Would Sophia
Loren Do?
The film follows a mother and grandmother named Nancy Kulik as she finds joy and strength
through her idol, Loren.
Hopefully, you've enjoyed seeing all of these saucy, seductive, and sensual photos of the
great Sophia Loren.
We're just about out of time, but we'd love to hear from you.
Did you know that Sophia Loren and Cary Grant had an affair in 1957 and that Sophia is still
making films today at the age of 87?
Share your thoughts and favorite memories of Sophia Loren in the comments section down
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