Forever Young Italian Diva Sophia Loren Turns 80

Sophia Loren, Italy's most renown movie star, was born on September 20, 1934. The Archbishop of Genoa once said that while the Vatican opposes human cloning, "an exception might be made in the case of Sophia Loren."
Above: Sophia Loren, late 1950s-early 1960s archieve photo.

Sophia Loren has been awarded a Grammy Award, five special Golden Globes, a BAFTA Award, a Laurel Award and an Honorary Academy Award. The movie 'Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1964.
Above: Scene from Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow movie with Sophia Loren.

She first met her future husband and producer, Carlo Ponti, when she was 15 and he was 37. Ponti was a married man and at that time Italy did not recognize divorce, so he and Loren married in secret in Mexico. Ponti was only able to obtain a divorce from his first wife in 1965, and on April 9, 1965 Ponti and Loren became officially married.
Above: Carlo Ponti kissed by Sophia Loren before she receives Oscar Award, 1969.

The Gold of Naples (L'Oro di Napoli) is a black-and-white Italian anthology by Vittorio De Sica which consists of six episodes. The movie was released on December 3, 1954.
Above: Scene from the Gold of Naples by Giacomo Furia with Sophia Loren, 1954.

Two women (La Ciociara; Italy, 1960) is a war drama by Vittorio De Sica. It is a story of two women during WWII: Cesira, a widowed Roman shopkeeper, and Rosetta, her religious 13-year old daughter. The film won Academy Award for Best Actress for Loren, who became the first actress to receive this award for a non-English-speaking performance.
Above: Sophia Loren, Eleonora Brown in the film La Ciociara, 1960.

Marriage Italian-style (Matrimonio All'Italiana)- a movie by Vittorio De Sica (1964) starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

Sunflower (1970) became the first Western movie to be filmed in the USSR.
Above: Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren in "Sunflower".

In 2007 the 72-year old movie star Loren became the oldest model to pose for the legendary Pirelli calendar.
Above: Sofia Loren in Pirelli Calendar 2007.