Anecdotes

Her mother won an all-Italy Greta Garbo lookalike contest run by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1932; but, being only 17 years old, her mother would not allow her to pursue her Hollywood dream. Soon after, she became pregnant with Sofia.

Hating beauty salons, she does her hair and nails herself.

Suffered from stage fright and, therefore, never appeared in a theatrical production.

Godmother of Drew Barrymore.

Received an honorary citizenship in her hometown of Pozzuoli, Italy on June 22, 2005 (she gave up her Italian citizenship and became a French citizen years ago because of legal and tax problems she and her husband incurred in Italy).

She may have been the voluptuous sex goddess as an adult. But until age 14, she was a skinny child and considered an ugly duckling. Her nicknames were "The Stick" and "Toothpick".

Is one of 14 Best Actress Oscar winners to have not accepted their Academy Award in person, Loren's being for Deux femmes (1960). The others are Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Judy Holliday, Vivien Leigh, Anna Magnani, Ingrid Bergman, Anne Bancroft, Patricia Neal, Elizabeth Taylor, Maggie Smith, Glenda Jackson and Ellen Burstyn.

At times, male actors have been hesitant to appear with her, on account of the fact that she stands nearly 5' 9" and wears towering heels and tall hair that can make her look over six feet tall.

Attended the September 1992 funeral of former co-star Anthony Perkins.

Is one of five performers to win an Oscar playing a character that spoke mostly in a foreign language. The other are Marion Cotillard, Robert De Niro, Roberto Benigni and Benicio Del Toro.

She had her marriage annulled to save Carlo Ponti from bigamy charges in Italy.

She did not get along with Marlon Brando during the shooting of La comtesse de Hong Kong (1967), especially after the day they were doing a love scene and he commented, "Did you know you have hairs up your nostrils?".

Sophia first learned of her Oscar win for Deux femmes (1960) from erstwhile co-star and paramour Cary Grant who called her home in Italy from Los Angeles with the news. Greer Garson had accepted the statuette on her behalf (Santa Monica Civic Auditorium / April 9, 1962).

The Best Actress Oscar she won for Deux femmes (1960) was stolen by thieves from her Italian villa. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) later replaced it for a small fee.

Had two miscarriages before her first-born son Carlo Ponti Jr. Because of these complications, she had to have complete bed rest throughout her first and second successful pregnancies.

Her mother named her after her paternal grandmother. When Sophia's father abandoned her, her maternal grandmother began calling her "Lella". She met her paternal grandmother only once when she was a teenager. The elder Sofia was hospitable, offering her a glass of milk.

For her 80th birthday in 2014, her son, Carlo Ponti Jr., commissioned a symphony to be written by Daniel Brewbaker. "Sinfonietta per Sofia" ("for love and laughter") was performed in the Napa Valley in 2014 with Carlo Ponti Jr. conducting the orchestra.

Her sister Maria Scicolone was once married to dictator Benito Mussolini's son, Romano Mussolini.

(September 17, 1999) Filed a lawsuit against 76 websites for using "fraudulent photographs" of her on adult sites.

Cited as one of Drew Barrymore's early role models. Loren was close friends with Drew's godmother Anna Strasberg (wife of famed acting coach Lee Strasberg). Anna would bring young Drew--from age 8 until she was 12--to Sophia's ranch outside Los Angeles, where Drew would spend summers with Loren's two sons (Jane magazine interview March 2007).

Has appeared in the 2007 edition of the famous Pirelli Calendar at age 72, making her the oldest model in its history.

Turned down roles that went to Joan Collins on Dynasty (1981) and Gina Lollobrigida on Sous le signe du faucon (1981).

She served an 18-day prison sentence in Italy in 1982 for tax evasion.

(September 17, 1957) Carlo Ponti obtained a Mexican divorce from his first wife and married Sophia by proxy, while she was in Hollywood, filming La péniche du bonheur (1958) - and dating co-star Cary Grant.

Her "Best Actress" Academy Award was the first Oscar ever given for a performance in a "foreign-language" film.

Being one of the contestants at the 1950 Miss Italia competition, she earned the second place and was awarded "Miss Eleganza".

Despite being Italian, she was dubbed by Lydia Simoneschi and Rita Savagnone in the Italian versions of most of her films.

Husband Carlo Ponti was two years older than Sophia's mother.

(February 10, 2006) One of eight women, also among them Susan Sarandon and author Isabel Allende, carrying the Olympic flag at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games' opening ceremony in Turin.

Mother-in-law of Sasha Alexander and Andrea Mészáros.

Derives great pleasure from rolling her bare feet over a wooden rolling pin while watching television.

Won a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for her work in "Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf/Beintus" along with former US President Bill Clinton and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Her adopted surname is a slight variation of "Toren" after the Swedish actress Märta Torén.

With El Cid (1961), she became only the second actress to get one million [U.S.] dollars for a single film role. Elizabeth Taylor was the first for Cléopâtre (1963) in 1960 but El Cid (1961) was released to theaters first.

She and Marcello Mastroianni appeared in 11 movies together: Dommage que tu sois une canaille (1954), La bella mugnaia (1955), La chance d'être femme (1956), Ieri oggi domani (1963), Matrimonio all'italiana (1964), I girasoli (1970), La femme du prêtre (1970), La pupa del gangster (1975), Une Journée particulière (1977), Fatto di sangue fra due uomini per causa di una vedova. Si sospettano moventi politici (1978) and Prêt-à-porter (1994).

Because of her love for actor Tyrone Power, she saw the romance drama Blood and Sand (1941) twenty times.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1991).

She played the mother of her real life niece Alessandra Mussolini in Une Journée particulière (1977).

She was awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in Palm Springs, California on January 9, 1994.

Turned down the title role in Barbarella (1968).

Has four grandchildren: Lucia (born May 12, 2006) and Leonardo (born December 20, 2010) from son Edoardo Ponti and his wife Sasha Alexander; Vittorio (born April 3, 2007) and Beatrice (born March 15, 2012) from son Carlo Ponti Jr. and his wife Andrea Meszaros.

Natural daughter of Romilda Villani by Riccardo Scicolone, son of Salvatore Louis, Marchese Scicolone, from a Noble family from Agrigento, Sicily, and wife Sofia Maria Aquilino, of Venetian origin, daughter of Angelo Aquilino and wife Alfonza Licata.

Yvonne De Carlo inspired her to become an actress.

As of 2021, she is the fifth earliest surviving recipient of a Best Actress Oscar nomination, tied with Piper Laurie and behind only Leslie Caron, Carroll Baker, Joanne Woodward, and Shirley MacLaine. She was nominated (and won) in 1961 for Deux femmes (1960).

Turned down an offer to appear in the Western comedy Four for Texas (1963) and a $1-million fee for four weeks' work.

Was named #21 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends.

Is one of six performers with multiple Oscar nominations for foreign language films; the others are Marcello Mastroianni for Divorce à l'italienne (1961), Une Journée particulière (1977) and Oci ciornie (1987) (Italian), Liv Ullmann for Utvandrarna (1971) and Face à face (1976) (Swedish), Isabelle Adjani for L'histoire d'Adèle H. (1975) and Camille Claudel (1988) (French), Javier Bardem for Avant que tombe la nuit (2000) and Biutiful (2010) (Spanish), and Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose (2007) and Deux jours, une nuit (2014) (French). Loren was nominated for her performances in Deux femmes (1960) (for which she won) and Matrimonio all'italiana (1964) (Italian), she and Marion Cotillard are the only atresses to win a Best Actress Oscar for a foreign-language film, they also appeared together in the film Neuf (2009).

Being a huge fan of soccer club S.S.C. Napoli, she told the daily "Gazzetta dello Sport", when the team was just third in Serie B, that she would do a striptease if they achieved promotion to Serie A for the next season. When they managed to achieve promotion, she explained that she had made just a joke. (juin 2007)

While filming Ombres sous la mer (1957), Sophia was required to walk in a trench in order to give audiences the impression that her diminutive co-star, Alan Ladd, was taller than she.

Was amongst those considered for the role of Lara Antipova in Docteur Jivago (1965), which ultimately went to Julie Christie.