Swiss resident Sophia Loren celebrates 90th birthday

Sophia Loren celebrates her 90th birthday today Keystone-SDA

Cinema legend Sophia Loren, who has lived in Switzerland for decades, celebrates her 90th birthday today.

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“My family is keeping the details a secret from me. But I’m sure there will be lots of love, laughter, music and good food,” she said in the “Corriere della Sera”, according to the “Blick”.

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“Switzerland is and remains my home,” Loren enthused about her adopted country, adding: “In Geneva, I find joy in small things. I spend my time thinking, reading and writing.” Since the 1980s, Loren has mostly lived in her villa in Geneva due to her husband Carlo Ponti’s poor health. Geneva became her main residence in 1981.

Swiss links

The fact that Loren is so attached to Switzerland has nothing to do with her career, but with her as a mother. Loren and Ponti, who discovered her at the Miss Rome pageant in 1950, married in 1957.

It was a long time before the longed-for offspring arrived. “I had wanted children since I was 16. I had Carlo Jr. at 34, Edoardo at 38. You can imagine how I suffered,” says the actress.

After two miscarriages in 1963 and 1967, she was about to give up hope. But then she consulted Hubert de Watteville, then Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Geneva. He diagnosed her with oestrogen deficiency and treated her successfully.

Sophia Loren’s first son was born by caesarean section on December 29, 1968. Four years later, the professor also helped her with the birth of Edoardo. The latter later became a director, Carlo Ponti Jr. a conductor.

Rags to riches

Born Sofia Villani Scicolone in 1934, Sophia Loren grew up fatherless in poor circumstances near Naples. At 16, her participation in a beauty contest opened the door to a global career.

Ponti was wealthy and had connections. In 1945, he founded the company Lux Films, which he merged with the company of Dino De Laurentiis (1919-2010) in 1951.

Ponti produced almost 150 films in his lifetime, including cinema milestones such as “La Strada” in 1954. With his help, Loren went to Hollywood in 1957. There she made her breakthrough with the comedy “Houseboat” alongside Cary Grant (1904-1986), who proposed to her.

But Loren chose Ponti and security. There was just one small problem: Ponti was already married and had two children. Although he divorced Giuliana Fiastri by mutual consent in Mexico in 1957 and married Loren, the divorce was not recognized in Italy.

Celebrated acting career

Ponti and Loren finally took French citizenship with Fiastri and legalised their divorce and remarriage there in 1966. Loren’s career was crowned for the first time at the age of 28: she received the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the war drama And Yet They Live in 1962 – followed by a second for her life’s work in 1991.

Loren has appeared in more than 100 films. Her last leading role to date was in 2020 in You Have Life Ahead of You, directed by her son Edoardo, and her last film appearance to date was in 2021 in What Would Sophia Loren Do?.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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