Carlo Ponti (11 December 1912 – 10 January 2007) was an Italian film producer with over 140 production credits, and the husband of Italian movie star Sophia Loren.

Career[link]

Ponti was born in Magenta, Lombardy and studied law at the University of Milan. He joined his father's law firm in Milan and became involved in the film business through negotiating contracts.^[1] Ponti attempted to establish a film industry in Milan in 1940 and produced Mario Soldati's Piccolo Mondo Antico there, starring Alida Valli, in her first notable role. The film dealt with the Italian struggle against the Austrians for the inclusion of northeastern Italy into the Kingdom of Italy during the Risorgimento. The film was successful, because it was easy to see "the Austrians as Germans" during World War II.^[2] As a result, he was briefly jailed for undermining relations with Nazi Germany.^[3]

Ponti accepted an offer from Lux Film in Rome in 1941, where he produced a series of commercially successful films featuring the comedian Totò.^[4] In 1954 he had his greatest artistic success with the production of Federico Fellini's La strada. However, Fellini denied Ponti's role in its success and said that "La Strada was made in spite of Ponti and De Laurentiis".^[4] He produced Visconti's Boccaccio '70 in 1962, Marriage Italian Style in 1964, and Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow in 1965. He produced his most popular and financially successful film, David Lean's Doctor Zhivago in 1965. He subsequently produced three notable films with Michelangelo Antonioni, Blowup in 1966, Zabriskie Point in 1970 and The Passenger in 1974.

Personal life[link]

In 1946 he married Giuliana Fiastri.^[5] Around 1950, Ponti, while serving as a judge in a beauty contest, met a minor actress named Sofia Lazzaro. He subsequently cast her in films such as Anna (1951). In 1952 his friend, Goffredo Lombardo, head of production at Titanus, changed Lazzaro's name to Sophia Loren. In 1957, Ponti obtained a Mexican divorce from his first wife and married Sophia Loren by proxy. Divorce was still forbidden in Italy and he was informed that he would be charged with bigamy if he returned to Italy and Loren would be charged with "concubinage". Ponti co-produced several films in Hollywood starring Loren, establishing her fame, although most were box-office failures. In 1960 Ponti and Loren returned to Italy and when summoned to court, denied being married. Later, they had the marriage annulled in 1962, after which he arranged with his first wife, Giuliana, that the three of them move to France (which at that time allowed divorce) and become French citizens. In 1965 Giuliana Ponti divorced her husband, allowing Ponti to marry Loren in 1966 in a civil wedding in Sèvres.^[1][6][7] They later became French citizens after their application was approved by then French President Georges Pompidou.^[8]

Two unsuccessful attempts were made to kidnap Ponti in 1975, including one involving an attack on his car with gunfire.^[1]

Ponti was tried in absentia in 1979 for smuggling money and works of art abroad and fined 22 billion lire and sentenced to four years in prison. He did not attend the hearing, as his French nationality made him immune from extradition. He was finally cleared of the charges in 1990.^[1]

Art collection[link]

Ponti owned works by, among others, Picasso, Georges Braque, Renoir, René Magritte (including his Lumière du pole from 1927), Salvador Dalí, Henry Moore (including his Figure from 1933), Barbara Hepworth, Giorgio de Chirico and Canaletto. Most importantly, it was the works of Francis Bacon for which his collection was renowned because he had ten of them. They included examples from his early Van Gogh series, triptychs, self-portraits and pope paintings, which were rarely publicised or lent to public exhibitions. In 1977, the Bacon paintings, then valued at an estimated $6.7 million, were seized and turned over by the Italian government to the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan; thirty-three sketches by George Grosz went to a museum in Caserta.^[9] When Ponti reached a deal with the Italian government and was cleared of the charges brought against him in 1990, he regained possession of 230 confiscated paintings.^[10] At some point, the collection is said to have been split between Ponti and Loren.^[11]

Over the years, several works have been sold privately. In 2006, two Bacon paintings that had previously been in the Ponti collection were exhibited in an exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in London. One, a vertical composition of four self-portraits, had already been sold to the American collector Steven A. Cohen. In 2007, another pope painting by Bacon sold by Ponti in 1991, was sold in a private deal brokered by Acquavella Galleries in New York for more than £15 million. That same year, Study for Portrait II (1956) was consigned by Loren at Christie's;^[12] it was auctioned for the record price of £14.2 million ($27.5 million).^[13]

Death[link]

Ponti died in Geneva, Switzerland^[2][3] from pulmonary complications. He was survived by Loren, his sons Carlo (now a music conductor and music director of the San Bernardino Symphony^[14]), film producer Alessandro; film director and former child actor Edoardo Ponti;^[5] and lawyer daughter Guendalina.^[4]

His body rests in Magenta, Lombardy.^{[citation needed]}.

Filmography[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Carlo Ponti 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]