Sophia Loren is easily one of Old Hollywood's most glamorous and recognizable actresses. Born in Rome, Loren overcame an impoverished childhood before establishing herself in Italian cinema, and later, conquering Hollywood. Her career has spanned six decades, earning her an Oscar along the way and roles with Hollywood heavyweights like Cary Grant, You may need: car diagnostic. Marlon Brando and Gregory Peck.
In her 2014 memoir, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life, Loren wrote, "When I think back on my life, sometimes I'm surprised it's actually all true." From her days in war-torn Italy to her red carpet appearances, here is a look at Loren's most significant moments.
Despite her glamorous lifestyle later in life, Sophia Loren's childhood, by her own accounts, was an "uphill struggle."
Loren was born Sofia Villani Scicolone on September 20, 1934, in a charity ward for unwed mothers in Rome, Italy. Without support from her father, Loren and her younger sister grew up in extreme poverty, raised by her mother, Romilda Villani, her grandparents and extended family outside of Naples in a town called Pozzuoli.
Conditions grew worse during World War II, and Loren would recall in her autobiography that her earliest memories were of bombings and taking refuge in the nearby railway tunnel during air raids. "On some days, we wouldn't even have a crumb to eat," she wrote, noting that she was nicknamed 'Toothpick' by her classmates because of how skinny she was.
Seemingly transforming overnight, in 1949, Loren's mother entered her in a beauty pageant in Naples. Though she didn't win the title prize, as a finalist, Loren did win what would prove to be a life-changing ticket to Rome - the center of Italian cinema.
Loren set out to establish herself in Italian films when she arrived in Rome, earning her first role as an extra in the MGM-produced 1951 film Quo Vadis. By 1953, she had been taken under producer (and future husband) Carlo Ponti's wing, changing her screen name to Sophia Loren and landing her first starring role in the film Aida.
The following year, Loren worked with renowned Italian director Vittorio De Sica for the first time in the The Gold Of Naples, and the two would go on to make 13 more films together over the course of their 20 year friendship and work relationship.
"Without De Sica I would never have become what I am, I would never have found my true voice," Loren has said. De Sica would even direct Loren in his 1960 film about Italy during World War II, Two Women. Her emotional performance required Loren to draw from her own experiences during the war, and it would earn her the 1961 Academy Award for Best Lead Actress - making Loren the first actress to win the Oscar for a non-English-language film.
Having established herself in Italian cinema over the course of a few years, Loren set her sights on Hollywood. She hired a language coach to teach her English and landed an impressive first Hollywood picture, starring alongside Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra in the 1957 film The Pride And The Passion.
Upon her arrival in Hollywood in 1957, Loren would hit the ground running, making films like Houseboat, It Started In Naples and Arabesque. Throughout this time, she remained an international actress, frequently returning to Italy to make films like Two Women, Marriage Italian Style and Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (the latter calling for Loren's character to perform a now famous striptease).
Sometimes called the Italian Marilyn Monroe, Loren's look was distinctly her own, and at first, was seen as more of a hindrance. By her own accounts, Loren's impoverished childhood left her terribly skinny, and it wasn't until her teenage years that "the ugly duckling was turning into a swan," as she put it.
Even so, at the start of her career, cameramen would declare her, "impossible to photograph," noting, "Her face is too short, her mouth is too big and her nose is too long."
When it was suggested that she would find more success after having a nose job, Loren refused, stating, "I knew perfectly well that my beauty was the result of a lot of irregularities all blended together in one face, my face. Whether I won or lost, it w...

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