It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Indian national calendar. (Discuss) Proposed since April 2012.

The Shalivahana era, also known as the Saka era, is used with Hindu calendars, the Indian national calendar, and the Cambodian Buddhist calendar. Its year zero begins near the vernal equinox of the year 78.^{[citation needed]}

Western Kshatrapas (35–405 BC) were Saka rulers of the western part of India (Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, Southern Sindh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan). They were successors to the Indo-Scythians who invaded the area of Ujjain and established the Saka era (with Saka calendar), marking the beginning of the long-lived Saka Western Satraps kingdom.^[1]

The Satavahana king Shalivahana (the king titled as Shalivahana is Gautamiputra Satakarni) is credited with the initiation of the era known as Shalivahana Saka to celebrate his victory against the Sakas in the year 78 CE.

A silver coin of the Western Satrap ruler Rudrasena I (200-222). This coin bears a date of the Saka era in the Brahmi script on the reverse: 131 Saka era, corresponding to 209 CE. 16mm, 2.2 grams.

The era was also used by Javanese courts from Old Javanese times until 1633, when it was replaced by Anno Javanico, a hybrid Javanese-Islamic system.^[2]

It is also this particular era which aided historians in dating the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest written document found in the Philippines.

References[link]

Salivahana Caste (also called Kummari (Potter)) in Andhra Pradesh, Salivahana caste is recognized by Govt of India and Govt of AP as per GpO.Ms.No. 28 BCW (M1) Dept., dt 24.6.1995

See also[link]

Kushan Empire -for a more complex description of Kushan-Scythian dating.

• Vedic timeline
• Vikramāditya
• Maratha clan system

This Hinduism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Steve Reeves
Steve Reeves with bodybuilder Melissa Palmer
Born	(1926-01-21)January 21, 1926[1] Glasgow, Montana, USA
Died	May 1, 2000(2000-05-01) (aged 74) Escondido, California, USA[1]
Occupation	Athlete, Actor, Philanthropist. Bodybuilder Legend.
Spouse	Sandra Smith (1955–1956) Aline Czartjarwicz[1] (1963–1989) (her death)

Stephen L. Reeves (January 21, 1926 – May 1, 2000^[1]) was an American bodybuilder and actor. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe.^[2]

Childhood[link]

Born in Glasgow, Montana,^[2] Steve Reeves moved to California at age 10 with his mother Goldie Reeves, after his father Lester Dell Reeves died in a farming accident.^[1] Reeves developed an interest in bodybuilding in high school and trained at Ed Yarick's gym in Oakland. By the time he was 17, he had developed a Herculean physique, long before the general interest in bodybuilding. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Army during World War II, and served in the Pacific.

Acting[link]

After his military service, Reeves invested in an acting career. In 1954 he had a small role in his first major motion picture, the musical Athena^[1] playing the boyfriend of Jane Powell's character. The same year Reeves had a small role as a cop in the Ed Wood film Jail Bait. These two films are the only ones Reeves made where his own voice was used — for the remainder of his career, Reeves acted in Italian-made films where all dialogue and sound effects were added in post-production.

On December 17, 1954, Reeves guest starred in the ABC sitcom with a variety show theme, The Ray Bolger Show. Ray Bolger portrayed Raymond Wallace, a song-and-dance man repeatedly barely on time for his performances. Reeves played a well-built office employee whom Wallace sees in the company of Wallace's girlfriend, Susan, played by Marjie Millar. Others on the series were Richard Erdman, Allyn Joslyn, Betty Lynn, Sylvia Lewis, Gloria Winters, and Verna Felton.^[3]

In 1957, Reeves went to Italy and played the lead character in Pietro Francisci's Hercules, a relatively low-budget epic based loosely on the tales of Jason and the Argonauts, though inserting Hercules into the lead role.^[1] The film was a major box-office success, grossing $5m in the United States alone in 1959.^[4] Its commercial success led to a 1959 sequel Hercules Unchained.

From 1959 through 1964, Reeves went on to appear in a string of sword and sandal movies shot on relatively small budgets,^[1] and although he is best known for his portrayal of Hercules, he played the character only twice: in the 1958 film and its 1959 sequel Hercules Unchained (released in the US in 1960). He played a number of other characters on screen, including Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Glaucus of Pompeii; Goliath, the bane of the barbarians (actually called Emiliano in the Italian version); Tatar hero Hadji Murad; Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome (opposite Gordon Scott as his twin brother Remus); Pheidippides, the famous war-time messenger of the Battle of Marathon; pirate and self-proclaimed governor of Jamaica, Captain Henry Morgan; and Karim, the fabled Thief of Baghdad. Twice he played Aeneas of Troy and twice he played Emilio Salgari's Malaysian hero, Sandokan.

After the box office success of Hercules, Reeves turned down the role that finally went to Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) because he could not believe that "Italians could make a western".^[2] He also claimed to have turned down the James Bond role in Dr. No (1962).^[2] Mr. Reeves mentions in an interview that he was offered only $100,000 to play Secret Agent 007, whereas he was earning $250,000 per film in Italy, and as such was tied with Sophia Loren as the highest paid actor in Europe at the time; thus he turned down the role of James Bond to continue making pepla in Italy.

During the filming of The Last Days of Pompeii, Reeves dislocated his shoulder when his chariot slammed into a tree.^[1][2] Swimming in a subsequent underwater escape scene, he re-injured his shoulder. The injury would be aggravated by his stunt work in each successive film, ultimately leading to his retirement from filmmaking and weightlifting.^[1]

In 1968 Reeves appeared in his final film, a spaghetti western that imitated the Sergio Leone epics, which he also co-wrote, titled I Live For Your Death! (later released as A Long Ride From Hell).^[1] His last screen appearance was in 2000 when he appeared as himself in the made-for-television A&E Biography: Arnold Schwarzenegger - Flex Appeal.

In July 1997, Steve was interviewed by freelance writer, Rod Labbe. Entitled "Demi-god on Horseback," it ran as the cover story in "Films of the Golden Age" magazine #65, dated Summer 2011.

Death[link]

Later in his life, Reeves promoted drug-free bodybuilding and bred horses.^[1][2] The last two decades of his life were spent in Valley Center, California, near Escondido. He bought a ranch with his savings and lived there with his second wife Aline until her death in 1989.^[1][2] On May 1, 2000, Reeves died from complications of lymphoma.^[1][2]

Filmography in chronological order[link]

Films are listed in order of production, by their American theatrical release titles; translation of the original Italian titles are in parentheses following the date....

• Athena (1954) Hollywood film directed by Richard Thorpe
• Jail Bait (1954) Hollywood film directed by Ed Wood
• Hercules (1958) (The Labors of Hercules) released in USA 1959
• Hercules Unchained (1959) (Hercules and the Queen of Lydia) released in USA 1960
• Goliath and the Barbarians (1959) (Terror of the Barbarians)
• The Giant of Marathon (1959) (The Battle of Marathon)
• The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) (The Last Days of Pompeii)
• The White Warrior (1959) (Hadji Murad, The White Devil) directed by Riccardo Freda
• Morgan, the Pirate (1960) (Morgan, the Pirate)
• The Thief of Baghdad (1960) (The Thief of Baghdad)
• The Trojan Horse (1961) (The Trojan War)
• Duel of the Titans (1961) (Romulus And Remus)
• The Slave (1962) (Son of Spartacus)
• The Avenger (1962) (The Legend Of Aeneas) a.k.a. The Last Glory of Troy (sequel to "The Trojan Horse" (1961))
• Sandokan the Great (1964) (Sandokan, the Tiger of Mompracem) directed by Umberto Lenzi
• Sandokan, the Pirate of Malaysia (1964) (The Pirates of Malaysia) a.k.a. Pirates of the Seven Seas, directed by Umberto Lenzi
• A Long Ride from Hell (1967) (I Live for Your Death) directed by Camillo Brazzoni, produced and co-written by Steve Reeves

Reference in other Films[link]

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Lyrics to "Sweet Transvestite" performed by Tim Curry.

See also[link]

• List of male professional bodybuilders

References[link]

• Chapman, David. "On The Cover: Steve Reeves", Hardgainer, November 1992.

External links[link]

• An Interview with Steve Reeves by Roy Frumkes, from The Perfect Vision Magazine, Volume 6, Issue #22, July 1994
• How Steve Reeves Trained by John Grimek, Muscular Development November 1964, account of how Reeves trained to prepare for the 1950 Mr. Universe competition at the York Barbell Club gym
• http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/hercules.html
• Steve Reeves at the Internet Movie Database
• Steve Reeves at the Internet Broadway Database
• Steve Reeves at Find a Grave
• Feature Films: Hercules
• Feature Films: Hercules Unchained
• Steve Reeves Gallery

Sylva Koscina (born August 22, 1933, Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia — died December 26, 1994, Rome, Italy) was an Italian actress.

Biography[link]

Born in Zagreb as Silva Košćina of a parents from Split and Trogir ("Košćina" in čakavian Croatian means "a great bone"; Košćina was a family name of the owner of the first greater shipyard in Split, established 1831^[1]). Her publicity agents invented that she was born Sylva Koskinon of a Greek father and a Polish mother. She may be best-remembered for her role as Iole, the bride of Hercules (Steve Reeves) in Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained (1960). She also played Paul Newman's romantic interest in The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968).

During the Second World War when she was a teenager, she moved to Italy to live with her sister, who had married an Italian citizen.^[2]

Koscina had an extensive film career there. She also starred in the 1967 comedy caper Three Bites of the Apple with David McCallum, and Deadlier Than the Male (1967), in which she and Elke Sommer portrayed sophisticated professional killers dueling with Bulldog Drummond. She also played Danica in the Yugoslavian movie The Battle of Neretva, in 1969. She played a German doctor, Bianca, in Hornets' Nest with Rock Hudson.

Koscina had studied physics at the University of Naples, was Miss Di Tappa at the Tour of Italy bicycle race in 1954, as well as being a fashion model. She made a fleeting appearance in the part of an aspiring actress in Siamo uomini o caporali? [Are we men or corporals?] (1955) before making a flying catch at her great opportunity: she portrayed Giulia, daughter of the train engineer Andrea, in Pietro Germi's Il ferroviere [The Railroad Man] (1956). Koscina immediately confirmed her talent in Guendalina (1957), where she had no difficulty playing the part of a young mother.

A lead player in popular comedies, such as Nonna Sabella [Grandmother Sabella] (1957), Ladro lui, ladra lei [He a thief, she a thief] (1958), and Poveri millionari [Poor millionaires] (1958), Koscina alternated cleverly between roles as vamp and ingenue. She represented women in search of social upward mobility, the image of an Italy that had left its worst problems behind.

Koscina was suited to sophisticated comedies like Mogli pericolose [Dangerous wives] (1958), where she made a direct sentimental challenge to poor Giorgia Moll. But she also seemed at ease draped in a peplum: she made a marvelous fiancee for Hercules in Le fatiche di Ercole [Hercules] (1958), a prototype of this kind of film. A true-life example of her popularity in Italy occurred when, in order to win her over, a police officer let her go without issuing a traffic ticket. Sylva was later a guest on a television program, where thanked him on the air, thus getting him into lots of trouble with the police department. The incident and its aftermath inspired the movie Il vigile [The policeman] (1960), where she played herself.

In the first half of the sixties, Koscina married her lover, Raimondo Castelli, a small producer connected with Minerva Films. She managed to keep well afloat with roles in Damiano Damiani's Il sicario [The hired killer] (1961). In La lepre e la tartaruga [The Tortoise and the Hare], an episode in Le quattro verita [The Three Fables of Love] (1963), the director Blasetti constructed a duel between Koscina and Monica Vitti. In 1965, Koscina appeared in Giulietta degli spiriti. She was also a television personality, as she was often the special guest on variety shows.

From the early 1960s, she invested most of her considerable salaries as a star in a luxurious villa, in the well-to-do district of Marino, Rome, complete with 16th-century furniture and artistic paintings. That lasted until her spending overcame her dwindling income, and she had to face a tax evasion inquest, when she was forced to sell her house in 1976. Living with Raimondo Castelli since 1960, she did not marry due to then Italian law and because his wife Marinella refused him an annulment. Castelli and Koscina married in Mexico in 1967, but that marriage was not recognized in Italy.

After passing thirty, she partnered with actors such as Kirk Douglas in A Lovely Way to Die (1968) and Paul Newman in The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1967), but without any luck. Her fame being a bit tarnished, it was given a boost in the second half of the sixties when she was photographed bare-breasted in the Italian edition of Playboy magazine. Mauro Bolognini's L'assolute naturale (1969) was released complete with a "chaste" full nude shot.^{[citation needed]}

Personal quotes[link]

• On her infamous love scene – "Of course, if it had not been for the director, I wouldn't have done this film."

Death[link]

Sylva Koscina died in Rome in 1994, aged 61, from breast cancer.^[3]

Selected filmography[link]

• Swordsman of Siena (1962)
• Hot Enough for June (1964)
• The Dictator's Guns (1965)
• Deadlier Than the Male (1967)
• Kampf um Rom I (1968)
• The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968)
• I See Naked (1969)
• Kampf um Rom II (1969)
• Hornet's nest as Dr. Bianca with Rock Hudson(1970)
• Sunday Lovers (1980)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sylva Koscina at the Internet Movie Database

Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren in June 2009
Born	Sofia Villani Scicolone (1934-09-20) 20 September 1934 (age 77) Pozzuoli, Italy.
Residence	Geneva, Switzerland and Naples, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Other names	Sofia Lazzaro Sofia Scicolone
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–present
Spouse	Carlo Ponti (m. 1957-62, annulled; 1966-2007, his death)
Children	Carlo Ponti, Jr., Edoardo Ponti
Relatives	Alessandra Mussolini (niece)

Sophia Loren, OMRI (born Sofia Villani Scicolone; 20 September 1934) is an Italian actress.^[1]

In 1962, Loren, among 21 other awards, won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance. Loren has won several international awards, including one Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Laurel Award. Her other films include: Houseboat (1958), El Cid (1961), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963), Marriage Italian-Style (1964), and A Special Day (1977). She has received critical and commercial success in TV movies such as Courage (1986) and in American blockbusters such as Grumpier Old Men (1995), and Nine (2009). In 1994 she starred in Robert Altman's Ready to Wear, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination the same year. In 1995 she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements. In 2011 she dubbed one of the characters of Pixar blockbuster Cars 2 for non-English speaking markets.

In 1999, Loren was listed by the American Film Institute on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars as #21 of 25 American female screen legends of all time. In 2002, she was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) at its annual Anniversary Gala and was inducted into its Italian American Hall of Fame. In 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized her as "Italy's Most Awarded Actress".^[2] In 1991, she received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievements.

The same year, the Republic of France awarded her a Distinction of la Légion d'honneur (the Legion of Honor) with the grade of Chevalier (Knight). In 1994, she was awarded with the Honorary Golden Bear at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.^[3] In 1997, Loren was invested Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic). In 2010, she was awarded the Praemium Imperiale by the Imperial Family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association.^[2]

Early life[link]

I'm not Italian, I am Neapolitan! It's another thing!

—Sophia Loren -interview with Barbara Walters ^[4]

Loren was born in the Clinica Regina Margherita in Pozzuoli Italy ^[5][6] daughter of Romilda Villani (1914–1991) and Riccardo Scicolone, a construction engineer.^[7] Scicolone refused to marry Villani, leaving her, a piano teacher and aspiring actress, without support.^[8] Loren's parents had another child together, her sister Anna Maria Villani Scicolone, in 1938. Loren has two younger paternal half-brothers, Giuliano and Giuseppe.^[9] Romilda, Loren, and Maria lived with Loren's grandmother in Pozzuoli, near Naples, to survive.^[10]

During World War II, the harbour and munitions plant in Pozzuoli was a frequent bombing target of the Allies. During one raid, as Loren ran to the shelter, she was struck by shrapnel and wounded in the chin. After that, the family moved to Naples, where they were taken in by distant relatives.^{[citation needed]}

After the war, Loren and her family returned to Pozzuoli. Grandmother Luisa opened a pub in their living room, selling homemade cherry liquor. Villani played the piano, Maria sang and Loren waited on tables and washed dishes. The place was very popular with the American GIs stationed nearby.

When she was 14 years old, Loren entered a beauty contest in Naples and, while not winning, was selected as one of the finalists. Later she enrolled in acting class and was selected as an extra in Mervyn LeRoy's 1951 film Quo Vadis, launching her career as a motion picture actress.

Career[link]

1950-1957(beginnings and Hollywood stardom)[link]

After being credited professionally as Sofia Lazzaro, she began using her current stage name in 1952's La Favorita. Her first starring role was in Aida (1953), for which she received critical acclaim.^[11] After playing the lead role in Two Nights with Cleopatra (1953), her breakthrough role was in The Gold of Naples (1954), directed by Vittorio De Sica.^[11] Too Bad She's Bad, also released in 1954, became the first of many films in which Loren co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni. Over the next three years she acted in many films such as Scandal in Sorrento (1955) and Lucky to Be a Woman (1956). In 1957, Loren's star had begun to rise in Hollywood, with the films Boy on a Dolphin (her U.S. film debut), Legend of the Lost with John Wayne, and The Pride and the Passion in which she starred opposite Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra.

International fame[link]

Sophia Loren star on Walk of Fame

Sophia Loren in It Started in Naples, where she sang Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano

Loren in the trailer for Five Miles to Midnight (1962)

Loren became an international film star following her five-picture contract with Paramount Pictures in 1958. Among her films at this time were Desire Under the Elms with Anthony Perkins, based upon the Eugene O'Neill play; Houseboat, a romantic comedy co-starring Cary Grant; and George Cukor's Heller in Pink Tights, in which she appeared as a blonde for the first time.

In 1961, she starred in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women, a stark, gritty story of a mother who is raped while trying to protect her daughter in war-torn Italy. Originally cast as the daughter, Loren fought against type and was re-cast as the mother (actress Eleonora Brown would portray the daughter). Loren's performance earned her many awards, including the Cannes Film Festival's best performance prize, and an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first major Academy Award for a non-English-language performance and to an Italian actress. She won 22 international awards for Two Women. The film proved to be extremely well accepted by the critics and it was a huge commercial success.

Loren is known for her sharp wit and insight. One of her most frequently quoted sayings is a quip about her famously voluptuous figure: "Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti." However, on the December 20, 2009, episode of CBS News Sunday Morning, Loren denied ever quoting the line.

During the 1960s, Loren was one of the most popular actresses in the world, and she continued to make films in both the U.S. and Europe, starring with prominent leading men. In 1964, her career reached its pinnacle when she received $1 million to appear in The Fall of the Roman Empire. In 1965, she received a second Academy Award nomination for her performance in Marriage Italian-Style.

Among Loren's best-known films of this period are Samuel Bronston's epic production of El Cid (1961) with Charlton Heston, The Millionairess (1960) with Peter Sellers, It Started in Naples (1960) with Clark Gable, Vittorio De Sica's triptych Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni, Peter Ustinov's Lady L (1965) with Paul Newman, the 1966 classic Arabesque with Gregory Peck, and Charlie Chaplin's final film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) with Marlon Brando.

Loren received four Golden Globe Awards between 1964 and 1977 as "World Film Favorite - Female."^[12]

1970-1988[link]

Once she became a mother, Loren worked less. During the next decade, most of her roles were in Italian features. During the 1970s, she was paired with Richard Burton in the last De Sica-directed film, The Voyage (1974), and a remake of the film Brief Encounter (1974). The film had its premiere on U.S. television on 12 November 1974 as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame series on NBC. In 1976 she starred in The Cassandra Crossing, a classic disaster film featuring such veteran stars as Richard Harris, Martin Sheen, and Ava Gardner. It fared extremely well internationally, and was a respectable box office success in US market. She also co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni in Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977). This movie was nominated for eleven international awards such as two Oscars (best actor in leading role, best foreign picture). It won a Golden Globe award and a César award for best foreign movie. Loren's performance was awarded with a David di Donatello award, the seventh in her career. In addition the movie was extremely well received by American reviewers and was a box office smash.

Following this success, Loren starred in an American thriller Brass Target. This movie received mixed reviews, although it was moderately successful in the US and internationally. In 1978 she won her fourth Golden Globe for "world film favourite". Other movies of this decade were Academy award nominee Sunflower (1970) which was a critical success and Arthur Hiller's Man of La Mancha (1972) which was a critical and commercial failure despite being nominated for several awards including two Golden Globes awards. O'Toole and James Coco were nominated for two NBR awards, in addition the NBR listed Man of La Mancha in its best 10 pictures of 1972 list.

In 1980, after the international success the biography Sophia Loren: Living and Loving, Her Own Story by A. Hotchner, Loren portrayed herself and her mother in a made-for-television biopic adaptation of her autobiography entitled Sophia Loren: Her Own Story. Ritza Brown and Chiara Ferrari each portrayed the younger Loren. In 1981, she became the first female celebrity to launch her own perfume, Sophia, and a brand of eyewear soon followed.^[11] In 1982, while in Italy, she made headlines after serving an 18-day prison sentence on tax evasion charges—a fact that failed to hamper her popularity or career. In fact, Bill Moore, then employed at Pickle Packers International advertising department, sent her a pink pickle-shaped trophy for being "the prettiest lady in the prettiest pickle".

She acted infrequently during the 1980s and turned down the role of Alexis Carrington in 1981 for the TV series Dynasty. Although she was set to star in thirteen episodes of CBS's Falcon Crest in 1984 as Angela Channing's half-sister Francesca Gioberti, negotiations fell through at the last moment and the role went to Gina Lollobrigida instead. Sophia preferred devoting more time to raising her sons.^[13][14] In 1988 she starred in the miniseries The Fortunate Pilgrim.

Loren has also recorded well over two dozen songs throughout her career, including a best-selling album of comedic songs with Peter Sellers; reportedly, she had to fend off his romantic advances. It was partly owing to Sellers' infatuation with Loren that he split with his first wife, Anne Howe. Loren has made it clear to numerous biographers that Sellers' affections were reciprocated only platonically. This collaboration was covered in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers where actress Sonia Aquino portrayed Loren. It is said that the song "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)" by Peter Sarstedt was inspired by Loren.^{[citation needed]}

Later career[link]

Loren in Paris at the César Awards 1991.

Loren in Kenya while serving as Goodwill Ambassador in 1992

In 1991, Loren received the Academy Honorary Award for her contributions to world cinema and was declared "one of the world cinema's treasures." In 1995, she received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.

She presented Federico Fellini with his Honorary Oscar. In 2009 Loren stated on Larry King Live that Fellini had planned to direct her in a film shortly before his death in 1993.^[15]

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Loren was selective about choosing her films and ventured into various areas of business, including cook books, eyewear, jewellery and perfume.

She received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Robert Altman's film Ready to Wear (1994), co-starring Julia Roberts.

In the comedy Grumpier Old Men (1995), Loren played a femme fatale opposite Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, and Ann-Margret. The film was a box-office success and became Loren's biggest U.S. hit in years.^[11]

In 2001, Loren received a Special Grand Prix of the Americas Award at the Montreal World Film Festival for her body of work.^[16] She filmed two projects in Canada during this time: the independent film Between Strangers (2002), directed by her son Edoardo and co-starring Mira Sorvino, and the television miniseries Lives of the Saints (2004).

In 2009, after five years off the set and fourteen years since she starred in a prominent US theatrical film, Loren starred in Rob Marshall's film version of Nine, based on the Broadway musical that tells the story of a director whose midlife crisis causes him to struggle to complete his latest film; he is forced to balance the influences of numerous formative women in his life, including his deceased mother. Loren was Marshall's first and only choice for the role. The film also stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard, and Nicole Kidman. As a part of the cast she received her first nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

In 2010, Loren played her own mother in a two-part Italian television miniseries about her early life, directed by Vittorio Sindoni, entitled La Mia Casa È Piena di Specchi (translated My House Is Full of Mirrors), based on the memoir written by her sister Maria.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Loren in 1986, by Allan Warren

Loren's primary residence has been in Geneva, Switzerland since late 2006.^[18] She also owns homes in Naples and Rome.

In September 1999, Loren filed a lawsuit against 76 adult websites for posting altered nude photos of her on the internet.^[19][20]

Loren is a huge fan of the football club S.S.C. Napoli. In May 2007, when the team was third in Serie B, she told the Gazzetta dello Sport that she would do a striptease if the team won.^[21]

Loren posed scantily-clad at 72 for the 2007 Pirelli Calendar along with such actresses as Penelope Cruz and Hilary Swank.^[22]

Loren is a devout Roman Catholic.^[23]

Marriage and family[link]

Loren first met Carlo Ponti in 1950 when she was 15 and he was 37. They married on 17 September 1957. However, Ponti was still officially married to his first wife Giuliana under Italian law because Italy did not recognize divorce at that time. The couple had their marriage annulled in 1962 to escape bigamy charges.^[24] In 1965, Ponti obtained a divorce from Giuliana in France, allowing him to marry Loren on 9 April 1966.^[25] They later became French citizens after their application was approved by then French President Georges Pompidou.^[26]

The couple had two sons: Carlo Ponti Jr. (born 29 December 1968) and Edoardo Ponti (born 6 January 1973).

Loren remained married to Carlo Ponti until his death on 10 January 2007 of pulmonary complications.^[27]

When asked in a November 2009 interview if she is ever likely to marry again, Loren replied "No, never again. It would be impossible to love anyone else."^[28]

Her daughters-in-law are Sasha Alexander and Andrea Meszaros.^[9][29] Loren has four grandchildren: Lucia Ponti (born 12 May 2006),^[30] Vittorio Ponti (born 3 April 2007).^[9] Leonardo Fortunato Ponti (born 20 December 2010) and Beatrice Lara Ponti (born 15 March 2012).

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sophia Loren

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sophia Loren

• Sophia Loren at the Internet Movie Database
• Sophia Loren at the TCM Movie Database

Jean-Paul Belmondo
Belmondo at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (1933-04-09) 9 April 1933 (age 79) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Other names	Bebel
Spouse	Elodie Constantin (1953–1965) Natty Belmondo (2002–2008)
Awards	Best Actor 1989 Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté

Jean-Paul Belmondo (born 9 April 1933) is a French actor initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s.

Career[link]

Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris, Belmondo did not perform well in school, but developed a passion for boxing and football. Belmondo had a brief, undefeated amateur boxing career from 1949-1950^[1]. "Did you box professionally very long?" "Not very long. I was never a professional, just an amateur." "Did you want to be one?" "Yes, when I was 17, I dreamed of being a champion boxer. I trained at the Avia Club with Pierre Dupain, along with Maurice Auzel, who's now European welter-weight champion." "Why did you quit?" "Because you have to really love it and sacrifice for it, I had other ambitions and didn't want to sacrifice my life for it. To be a champion, you have to sacrifice everything. Since at the time I also loved acting, I thought it would be easier and less dangerous than boxing. It would hurt less. There might be blows to your morale, but in boxing you take blows to your body as well, so I chose just blows to my morale." – 1961^{[citation needed]}

His breakthrough role was in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1960), which made him a major figure in the French New Wave. Later he acted in Jean-Pierre Melville's philosophical movie Leon Morin, Priest (1961) and in Melville's film noir crime film The Fingerman (Le Doulos, 1963) and Godard again with Pierrot le fou (1965). With That Man From Rio (1965) he switched to commercial, mainstream productions, mainly comedies and action films but did appear in the title role of Alain Resnais' masterpiece Stavisky (1974), which some critics regard as Belmondo's finest performance. Until the mid-1980s, when he ceased to be one of France's biggest box-office stars, Belmondo's typical characters were either dashing adventurers or more cynical heroes. As he grew older, Belmondo preferred concentrating on his stage work, where he encountered success. He suffered a stroke in 2001 and had since been absent from the stage and the screen until 2009 when he appeared in Un homme et son chien (A man and his dog).

He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite, promoted Officier (Officer) in 1986 and promoted Commandeur (Commander) in 1994.^[2]

He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur, promoted Officier (Officer) in 1991 and promoted Commandeur (Commander) in 2007.^[3]

In 2010 the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards gave him a Career Achievement award.^[4] Belmondo attended the ceremony and made appearances in the Los Angeles area.

Personal life[link]

Belmondo at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Belmondo's father, Paul Belmondo, was a sculptor who was born in Algeria of Italian descent.^[5][6]

In 1953, Belmondo married Élodie Constantin, with whom he had three children: Patricia (1958), Florence (1960) and Paul (1963). Paul became a Formula One driver; his eldest daughter Patricia was killed in a fire in 1994. In 1966, due to a well-publicized affair between Belmondo and actress Ursula Andress, Belmondo and his wife divorced.

In 1989, Belmondo met Nathalie Tardivel who was 24 at the time, she and Belmondo married in 2002. On 13 August 2003, when he was 70, his fourth child Stella Eva Angelina was born. In 2008, Belmondo and Tardivel divorced^{[citation needed]}.

Cultural references[link]

• Belmondo is saluted in a 1967 episode of the U.S. television sitcom Get Smart. In the episode "The Spirit is Willing" a top agent of the sinister spy agency KAOS is named Paul John Mondebello, an obvious alteration of Belmondo's name.^[7] He is also mentioned in a song about "Masculinity" in the play La Cage Aux Folles, and is mentioned in the Donovan song "Sunny South Kensington" on the Mellow Yellow album.

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• Cinema of France

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jean-Paul Belmondo

• Jean-Paul Belmondo’s fans forum (eng)
• Jean-Paul Belmondo at the Internet Movie Database
• Belmondo Biography on newwavefilm.com
• Jean-Paul Belmondo at Yahoo! Movies
• Jean-Paul Belmondo at AllRovi
• Jean-Paul Belmondo at filmsdefrance.com

v t e César Award for Best Actor 1976 Philippe Noiret · 1977 Michel Galabru · 1978 Jean Rochefort · 1979 Michel Serrault · 1980 Claude Brasseur · 1981 Gérard Depardieu · 1982 Michel Serrault · 1983 Philippe Léotard · 1984 Coluche · 1985 Alain Delon · 1986 Christophe Lambert · 1987 Daniel Auteuil · 1988 Richard Bohringer · 1989 Jean-Paul Belmondo · 1990 Philippe Noiret · 1991 Gérard Depardieu · 1992 Jacques Dutronc · 1993 Claude Rich · 1994 Pierre Arditi · 1995 Gérard Lanvin · 1996 Michel Serrault · 1997 Philippe Torreton · 1998 André Dussollier · 1999 Jacques Villeret · 2000 Daniel Auteuil · 2001 Sergi López · 2002 Michel Bouquet · 2003 Adrien Brody · 2004 Omar Sharif · 2005 Mathieu Amalric · 2006 Michel Bouquet · 2007 François Cluzet · 2008 Mathieu Amalric · 2009 Vincent Cassel · 2010 Tahar Rahim · 2011 Éric Elmosnino · 2012 Omar Sy