Trivia

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.

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).

Godmother of Drew Barrymore.

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

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.

She had her marriage annulled to save Carlo Ponti from bigamy charges 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 Two Women (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.

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.

The Best Actress Oscar she won for Two Women (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.

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.

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

She did not get along with Marlon Brando during the shooting of A Countess from 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?".

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

Sophia first learned of her Oscar win for Two Women (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).

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

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.

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

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.

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

Turned down roles that went to Joan Collins on Dynasty (1981) and Gina Lollobrigida on Falcon Crest (1981).

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).

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

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

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

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.

(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.

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 Cleopatra (1963) in 1960 but El Cid (1961) was released to theaters first.

She and Marcello Mastroianni appeared in 11 movies together: Too Bad She's Bad (1954), The Miller's Wife (1955), La fortuna di essere donna (1956), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963), Marriage Italian Style (1964), Sunflower (1970), The Priest's Wife (1970), La pupa del gangster (1975), A Special Day (1977), Blood Feud (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 A Special Day (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.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#25) (1995).

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 Two Women (1960).

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.

Turned down an offer to appear in the Western comedy 4 for Texas (1963) and a $1-million fee for four weeks' work.

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. (June 2007)

While filming Boy on a Dolphin (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 Doctor Zhivago (1965), which ultimately went to Julie Christie.

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