"Sophia
Loren is an actress of narrow range, but under skilful
direction she is an actress of enormous depth." – Time magazine
CHRONICLES
1962
"Sophia
Loren is an actress of narrow range, but under skilful
direction she is an actress of enormous depth." – Time magazine
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 FILMS AND FILMING Five Miles to Midnight France, December 11, 1961 - February 1962 The World
of Sophia Loren
France, Italy, December 1961 - February 1962 The
Condemned of Altona
West Germany, East Germany, Italy, May - September FILM PROJECTS The Victors Carl Foreman signs Sophia for the movie in April but when he finds out she might be tied up in a possible court case, he feels he has to take precautions and hires other Italian star Rosanna Schiaffino for the role in June. The VIP's Originally announced to co-star with Richard Burton, at writer Terence Rattigan's request, Sophia is replaced by Elizabeth Taylor who does not want see her man (Burton) near Sophia stating "Let Sophia stay in Rome." MOVIE PREMIERES
ITALY Boccaccio '70 Milan (Capitol) February 22 The Condemned of Altona Milan, October 30 (I sequestrati di Altona) Five Miles to Midnight Rome, June 30 (Il coltello nella piaga) USA Boccaccio '70 New York City (Cinema I & II), June 26 (Boccaccio '70) FRANCE Boccaccio '70 Cannes, May 7 (Boccace 70) Paris, August 29 (Boccace '70) Madame Sans-Gêne Paris, May 25 Five Miles to Midnight Paris (Colisée), December 12 (Le couteau dans la plaie) WEST GERMANY Boccaccio 70 August 3 (Boccaccio 70) Madame Sans-Gêne March 23 (Madame Sans-Gêne) El Cid May 25 (El Cid) Five Miles to Midnight December 21 (Die dritte Dimension) SPAIN Madame Sans-Gêne Madrid, April 6 (Madame Sans-Gene) Five Miles to Midnight Madrid, April 6 (Un abismo entre los dos) La Ciociara Madrid, May 14 (Dos mujeres) UNITED KINGDOM Five Miles to Midnight London, December 13 AWARDS & ACCOLADES
New York Film Critics Circle (USA) Best Actress Award - January 20 Sophia attends the event at Sardi's restaurant Bambi Award (West Germany) Most Popular Foreign Actress, Karlsruhe, May 13 American Legion (France)
Medal for devotion and loyalty - March 9 Bravo
Otto (West Germany)
Bronze Award for third most popular actress - March British
Academy Awards (UK)
Best Foreign Actress in La Ciociara - April 5 Oscar (USA) Best Actress Award for La Ciociara - April 9 Sophia becomes the first and still the only female Oscar winner to win for playing a character in a foreign language film Victoire Award
(France)
Most Popular Actress, Paris Hollywood's Grauman Chinese
Theater (USA)
Hand print - July 26 Caricaturists Society of America (USA) Most Beautiful Woman of the World, New York City, August 30 "In addition to everything else, she has what must be the most beautiful eyes in the world." ENDORSEMENTS
Lux Soaps PUBLIC APPEARANCES
Award in New York - January 20 Chosen Best Actress of 1961 for her role in La Ciociara by the New York Film Critics Circle, Sophia make a quick trip to America in order to attend the award presentation at Sardi's restaurant, on West 44th Street, in the heart of New York's Theater District. She flies back the next day to the set of Five Miles to Midnight in Paris. Barthet's Hat Collection - January 10 Sophia is in Paris for the
presentation of new hat collection by French milliner Jean Barthet.
Maria Marries
Mussolini - March 3Dior Spring Collection - January 29 Sophia takes one day off her
filming schedule from the Five Miles
to Midnight set and attends Dior
fashion show where she meets her designer Marc Bohan.
Boccaccio '70 Premiere - January 22 Sophia flies from Orly to Linate in order to attend the world premiere of Boccaccio '70 in Milan where she is accompanied with her director and friend Vittorio De Sica, Carlo and her sister Maria. Sophia's sister, Maria,
marries Romano Mussolini, at the Sant'Antonio church in
the town of
Predappio which is in complete chaos on that day, filled with
paparazzi,
fascist lunatics and curious onlookers. Romano even faints dead away
before the ceremony and is revived by a doctor who injects him a
stimulant. Sophia goes to the event
despite the Italian government's warning it will try her for bigamy if
she returns to her country. To make things worse, as her driver is
trying to
leave the scene, after the ceremony, Sophia's Rolls-Royce hits a
young teacher riding a Vespa who dies from his injuries. "It was a
horrible day",
says Sophia, "and
it took me a long time to recover."
Paris American Legion - March 9 The Paris post of the American
Legion awards Sophia, at the mayor's office, a medal for "devotion and
unswerving loyalty to our common ideals" Although nobody seems to know
why she is getting a medal, the Paris post Vice president says it
is because she "furthers Franco-American relations." "I'm not a
soldier", Sophia says, "but I felt like a soldier
when he pinned on the medal. I'm very proud."
British Academy Awards - April 5 Sophia is in London for the British Academy Awards where she receives an award for her performance in La ciociara. After staying up all night at her Oscar-Winning Party - April 14
In the middle of a bigamy charge crisis, Oscar-winning celebration in Blood to the Italian Cross - April 15 A crowd of 1,000 form in Rome's Piazza Del Popolo where Sophia, wearing mink, appears to give half a pint of her Neapolitan blood to the Italian Red Cross. Police clear a path for her to the mobile unit used by the Red Cross in a national blood bank campaign.
Cannes Film Festival
- May
Sophia
arrives
in Nice on May 7 with
Romy Schneider who also stars in the movie Boccaccio '70 in a
segment directed by Luchino Visconti. A
huge gala for the press and industry VIP's is scheduled the same day
for the
presentation of the film, which opens the festival amid confusion, with
Sophia and Romy as the focus point. A tribute to Sophia had been
previously announced "to make up for the snub Italy gave
one of its greatest actresses" but is cancelled at the last minute because, according to Festival spokesman, "it is not in the tradition of the festival". Festival dates: May 7 through May 23. Bambi Award - May 13 Sophia is in Karlsruhe, West Germany, where she and Rock Hudson receive at the Schwarzwaldhalle the Most Popular Foreign Actress/Actor award. Boccaccio '70 in New York - July 25 Sophia is at New York City's Four Seasons Hotel attending a party to celebrate the success of Boccaccio '70. Hollywood's Grauman Chinese Theater - July 26 Radiant and wiggly in a silk dress and smiling sweetly at 700 howling fans, Sophia Loren presses her palms into the gooey cement in the foyer of famed Grauman's Chinese Theater. She follows up with her footprints, pressed in with a twist, and then scrawls an Italian motto: "Solo per sempre" (only forever). Hollywood Oscar Party
-
July 26
Party
at the
Beverly Hills Hotel is given in honor of Sophia for the award she won
in
April. "I feel like I'm receiving the Oscar on the night every one else
got it", Sophia
says after being presented the award by Geoffrey
Sturlock, vice president of the Motion Picture Academy. Joe Levine picks up the $10,000-bill for the supper. Boccaccio '70 in San Francisco - July 27 Sophia is at the Fairmont San Francisco attending a luncheon and a party to celebrate the success of Boccaccio '70. Literary Prize in Viareggio - August 10 Sophia and Maximilian
Schell attend the ceremonies of the Viareggio Literary Prize with
Giorgio Bassini as the winner with his novel I giardini dei Finzi
Contini.
Condemned of Altona Premiere - October 30 Sophia attends the Italian premiere of her second film of the year under De Sica's direction. Following the screening, Sophia, Carlo, Maximilian Schell and other guests gather at the famous Biffi restaurant near La Scala for a celebration dinner. Five Miles to Midnight Premieres - December 12-13 Sophia attends both the Paris and the London premieres of the movie. MAGAZINE COVERS
Italy Amica, Confessioni, Cronaca, Epoca, L'Europeo, La Fiera del Cinema, Incom, Lunapark, Maschere, Oggi, Rotosei, Settimo Giorno, Sorrisi e Canzoni TV, Lo Specchio, Successo, Tempo, Vie Nuove e  e West Germany Annabelle, Bild und Funk, Bravo, Bunte Illustrierte, Constanze, Film Revue, Film Spiegel, Frankfurt Illustrierte, Neue Illustrierte, Quick, Revue, Sonne, Stern e e France Almanach du Rail, Capri, Cinémonde, Festival, Ici Paris, Jeunesse Cinéma, Jours de France, Martini Magazine, Paris Match, La Semaine Spain Blanco y Negro, Cine en 7 Días, Fotogramas, Gaceta Ilustrada, Garbo, Hola, Lecturas, Marisol, Sissi, Triunfo e e UK Parade, Photoplay, Today, Weekend e e USA Coloroto Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Hollywood Tattler, Movies Today, National Enquirer, Private Affairs, Screen Stories, Show, Time, TV Magazine, Vogue, Whisper e e LATIN AMERICA Cine Album, Cine Avance, Cine Radio Actualidad, El Día Magazine, Ecran, Filmelândia, Leo Plan, Mundo Uruguayo, Paquita, Radiolandia, Radiomanía TV SHOWS
The World of Sophia Loren - February 27 TV special broadcast on NBC across America Cinema d'oggi - April 12 Guest star interviewed
by director Mario Blasetti on RAI TV.
Ed Sullivan Show
- April 15
Guest
appearance
EDITOR'S NOTES
Sophia vs. Bronston over El Cid - January 24 Supreme Court Justice Samuel H. Hofstadter denies an injunction sought by Sophia who claimed she was not receive equal billing with Charlton Heston in a sign advertising her new film "El Cid". Sophia vs. Bronston, revisited - February 21 Sophia settles her differences with Bronston over the failure to give her equal billing with Charlton Heston in outdoor sign at the Warner Theater in New York City. The action comes on the eve of a trial in Supreme Court instituted by Sophia. Oscar Nomination - February 28 TV special The World of Sophia Loren is broadcast the day after the Academy announces Sophia is on the list of nominees for Best Actress. This comes as one of the most powerful publicity coups orchestrated by Sophia's press agents in all career. Bürgenstock Bigamy Charges - June 25
Sophia and Carlo are ordered to stand trial on charges of bigamy. If convicted they can be sentenced to up to five years in prison. The specific charge against Sophia is concurrence in bigamy since she has never been married before. Proxy Marriage Void - August 31 Mexican proxy wedding is declared void in a Milan court because Ponti was still a married man at the time of the union. His divorce from her former wife is not recognized since divorce is not legal in Italy. It is good news for Sophia who confesses "it's the most wonderful news I've ever received - more wonderful even than the announcement that I won an Oscar." Interview with Moravia - September Freudian analytic interview called This Is Your Life: Sophia Loren with writer Alberto Moravia is published by several magazines around the world: L'Europeo (Italy), Show (USA), Elle (France). Birthday - September 20 Sophia
celebrates her 28th birthday
in
Paris, and then flies to Rome where she is greeted by her
mother Romilda at the Fiumicino airport.
Ponti Hospitalized - November 6
Carlo is hospitalized in Rome's Villa Carla after hitting his head while he was on Caravelle jet traveling from Paris. His badly cut right ear requires 14 emergency stitches and 45 extra ones in plastic surgery. According to the plastic surgeon's report the operation was successful. Escapade in Bürgenstock - December Short solitary holiday in Bürgentock where Sophia can enjoy peace and rest at the end of a hectic Oscar-winning year. Alessandra Is Born - December 30 Maria
Scicolone gives birth to
Alessandra nine months after marrying Romano Mussolini. The family
lives in a Rome in a house Sophia paid for. Maria's baby girl was born
prematurely and Sophia spends hours with her sister as doctors are
doing their utmost to save the tiny infant.
New Year's Party - December 31 Sophia, Carlo, Peter Sellers, David Niven and other guests all meet at Vittorio De Sica's house to celebrate the New Year. |
 Condemned of Altona / De Sica
Photo: Pierluigi Praturlon 08/62  Boccaccio premiere / Carlo Milan Photo: Pierluigi Praturlon 22/02/62  British Film Academy Award London 05/04/62  Five Miles to Midnight / Perkins 02/62  Cine en 7 Dias (Spain) 26/05/62  La Napoule Castle Cannes Film Festival Photo: Edward Quinn 07/05/62  Boccaccio Premiere Cannes Film Festival Photo: Edward Quinn 07/05/62  Madame Sans-Gêne German poster  Grauman's Chinese Theater Hollywood 26/07/62  Grauman's Chinese Theater Hollywood Photo: Jack Albin 26/07/62  Oscar Party Hollywood Photo: Marty Cole 27/07/62  Lux Soaps Swedish publicity  Gare de Lyon Paris 12/12/62  Time (USA) Illustration: René Robert Bouché 06/04/62  Dior Collection / Chevalier Paris Photo: Jacques Cuinière 29/01/62  Termini Station Rome Photo: Mario Torrisi 15/04/62  The Condemned of Altona Italian poster  Four Seasons Hotel New York City Photo: Arty Pomerantz 25/07/62  Five Miles to Midnight German poster  Greeting Carlo Tirrenia 15/07/62  Winter Holidays Bürgenstock Photo: Pierluigi Praturlon 12/62  Cannes Film Festival 07/05/62 |
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