Description
Born in 1934 in Rome, Loren began appearing in films both in her native Italy and in Hollywood, popping up in several titles that played more to her incredible beauty than her acting chops. That all changed with “Two Women” (1961), a stirring drama from Italian neorealist Vittoria De Sica that cast her as a mother protecting her daughter from the horrors of World War II. The role brought her international acclaim and Oscar, BAFTA and Cannes Film Festival victories as Best Actress, making her the first performer in a foreign language film to win at the Academy. She earned additional Oscar and Golden Globe bids for De Sica’s “Marriage Italian Style” (1964), which cast her opposite frequent leading man Marcello Mastroianni.
Though her cinematic output grew sparser after she started a family with producer and husband Carlo Ponti, Loren did pop up in films from time to time, earning a Golden Globe bid for her supporting performance in Robert Altman‘s “Ready to Wear” (“Pret-a-Porter”) in 1994 and a SAG Ensemble nomination for Rob Marshall‘s “Nine” (2009). She won a Grammy in 2004 for the spoken word children’s album for “Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf,” plus an Honorary Oscar in 1991. She earned an additional Golden Globe bid for her leading performance in “It Started in Naples” (1960).
The song is a piece of non politically correct nonsense that does not even feature in the film it was intended to promote, yet ‘Goodness Gracious Me’, recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren at London’s Abbey Road Studios in 1960, is still played and loved all over the world. The song ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ was written by David Lee and Herbert Kretzmer and was conceived as a way to publicise the release of the 1960 film The Millionairess, in which Loren played a spoilt, rich socialite who woos a reluctant Indian doctor, played by Sellers.
– Donna Del Fiume, La
– Boy On A Dolphin
– Houseboat
– Ciociara, La
– It Started In Naples
– El Cid
– Boccaccio ’70
– Millionairess, The
– Ieri, Oggi, Domani
