Sophia Loren Archives - Chronicles 1998

New Choices (USA)
03/98

Sophia Loren
Warren G. Harris

White House Dinner
Washington, DC
Photo: Karin Cooper
06/05/98

Recipes and Memories
American edition
Cover: Alison Harris

Russian National Orchestra
New York
Photo: Marion Curtis / Life
04/08/98

Photo session
Geneva
Photo: Angelo Frontoni

Leone d'oro / Pontis
Venice
10/09/98

Fashion Agency
Rome
Photo: Massimo Di Vita
12/06/98

TV Film (Italy)
02/08//98

En route to New York
Los Angeles (LAX)
Photo: Ron Galella
02/03/98

FILMS AND FILMING

FILM PROJECTS

Marta / Luna di marmellata - October
Sophia is to star in a new film written especially for her by Graziano Diana, Leo Benvenuti and Piero De Bernardi under the direction of Lina Wertmüller. The movie is delayed then canceled following Sophia's health conditions.

Destinazione Verna - November
Sci-fi movie project by veteran Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni is announced. Sophia is to play the part of a woman who buys a ticket to go and live on a distant planet in the film called Destinazione Verna.

MOVIE PREMIERES

USA
Soleil
New York City, January 11
Jewish Film Festival, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center

ITALY
Soleil
Rome (Tor Bella Monaca), July 2 (Soleil)

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

Venice Film Festival (Italy)

Golden Lion for lifetime achievement - September 10

Christopher Columbus Monument (USA)

Name inscription on the monument erected at New Jersey's
Liberty State Park.

ENDORSEMENTS

Zyloware

Desserts by David Glass Inc.
Sophia's lawyers notify David Glass that he cannot use the name Ultimate Sophia Loren Luscious Italian Almond Cake without her consent. An agreement is reached and Sophia receives royalties on the cakes sold.

Telefood 98 - October 17
Sophia joins the Telefood campaign against hunger and in her message of solidarity broadcast she says, "It is outrageous that more than 800,000 million people are denied the most basic of human rights: the right to food."

PUBLIC APPEARANCES

Vienna's New Year Concert - January 1st
Sophia and Carlo attend the traditional New Year's Concert at Vienna's Musikverein with by friend Zubin Mehta conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The televised concert is watched by one billion people around the world.

Liv American Premiere - March 1

American premiere of Edoardo's first film, Liv, in Los Angeles with a long list of notable guests, including Sophia and Carlo Ponti, Robert Altman (executive producer), Quincy Jones, Seal, Jo Champa, George Christy and about one hundred friends who have made the making of the film possible.

Time magazine's 75th Anniversary Party - March 3

Guest at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, sharing table with son Edoardo, Mikhail Gorbachev and wife as well as Kevin Costner. Also on hand were such luminaries as Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Muhammad Ali, Joe DiMaggio and Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's cinematoprapher. Sophia made the cover of Time on April 6, 1962.

Russian National Orchestra - March 16
Sophia chairs a fund-raiser for the Russian National Orchestra at the Metropolitan Club in New York City where about 180 people attend the black-tie gala paying $500 for the privilege. Live performance the next day.

Emporio Armani Collection - April 3

Sophia attends the presentation of Emporio Armani collections at Cipriani Wall Street whose interiors have been transformed into a close copy of the theater in his Milan headquarters, where his shows are normally held. After Armani strutted out close to 75 models, the VIP's head over to dinner at Chelsea's Lot 61.

The Odd Couple II Premiere - April 6
The whole Ponti family attends the premiere at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. Both Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, with whom Sophia did Grumpier Old Men, star in the movie.

White House Dinner - May 6
Official dinner in the honor of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi at the White House Dinner in Washington, with Sophia on the guest list of 158, at the time the Clintons have to deal with the Lewinsky scandal.

Frank Sinatra Memorial - May 20
Funeral of Frank Sinatra, deceased on the 14, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Sinatra's coffin is taken to the Desert Memorial Park in Palm Springs, where he is laid to rest next to his parents.

BookExpo America - May 29 - June 1
Sophia shows up at the largest book show in America, held at the McCormick Center in Chicago in order to promote her upcoming book Recipes and Memories.

Rome Fashion Agency - June 6

Sophia is appointed honorary president of the Agenzia per la moda (Fashion Agency) at the palatial Villa Miani in Rome. Over the years Sophia has migrated from Dior in the seventies to Valentino in the eighties to Giorgio Armani in the nineties.

MAGAZINE COVERS

Conocerte, France Dimanche, Frau im Spiegel, Le Lundi, New Choices,
La Revista, Sette, TV Film, Uśmiechem.

BOOKS

Sophia Loren: A Biography
Biography book by Warren G. Harris is released on January 15. Harris has signed several biography books before, including Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Sophia Loren
First edition in Italian of biography book by Stefano Masi and Enrico Macia is released in March.

Recipes and Memories
Sophia's new cookbook is released on October 1st in the USA. She will soon start a promotional tour in many parts of the world and even on American QVC channel.

Tazio Secchiaroli: Greatest of the Paparazzi
First book by photographer featuring Sophia is released in Italy, France and the USA.

TV SHOWS

Verissimo- October 27
Story on Sophia's health conditions from Geneva on Italian Canale 5.

EDITOR'S NOTES

Visiting Elisabetta for New Born - January 22

Sophia visits her niece Elisabetta who gave birth to a boy (Marco) at San Camillo hospital in Rome.

Carlo, Jr. Arrested - March 23

Carlo, Jr., Sophia's son, is arrested in California for impaired driving. As a first-time offender he does not have to spend time in prison but is under surveillance for 5 years.

Ciao Tazio - July 24

Death of photographer Tazio Secchiaroli at age 73 in his home, in the Centocelle distict of Rome. He was Sophia's personal photographer from 1964 until 1978. Sophia does not attend the the funeral at San Felice da Cantalice in Centocello.

Sophia Hospitalized in New York - August 14

Sophia is taken to the Cornell Hospital in New York City by her friend Anna Strasberg on August 14 after suffering from paroxystic arrhythmia in her friend's house and not - as the rumor has it - after having a heart attack while undergoing plastic surgery. She is released on August 18.

Venice Film Festival - September 10

Sophia is awarded in absentia a Golden Lion for her lifetime achievement, which is accepted by Carlo who made the trip with his two sons. With his eyes reddening Carlo reads out Sophia's message: "Dear friends: I would like to be with you tonight. I've had other prizes before, but this one is the most prestigious. Italy comes first in my heart. I give you all a big hug, with all my gratitude."

Multisala Sofia - September

Inauguration of a cinema complex in Pozzuoli (via Carlo Rosini) named after Sophia who was born in this city in 1934.

Sophia Turns 64 - September 20

Sophia celebrates her birthday in Geneva with Carlo and her two sons.