Her success was hard won. Born Sofia Scicolone in Rome on September 20, 1934, she and her single mother lived in abject poverty in the war-torn slums of Naples. At the age of 14 she began entering area beauty contests, later becoming a model and appearing in a number of uncredited bit parts in films.

After a string of insignificant parts in Variety Lights(1950) and Quo Vadis (1951), Sophia Loren met movie-director Carlo Ponti, some 22 years her senior, whom she later married. Perhaps he was the father figure she never experienced as a child. In 1961 she received an Academy Award for La Ciociara (Two Women). This beautiful lady became one of the major icons of the 1960s, competing with Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda. She was a very close friend of Cary Grant. Sophia gained wider respect with her later movies like El Cid (1961), Yesterday, Today and Tommorow (1963), Marriage Italian Style (1964), Arabesque (1966), A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), Cassandra Crossing (1976), Una Giornata Particolare (1977) and Pret a Porter (1994). A lot of her movies were produced by her husband. In many of her movies she played together with Marcello Mastrionni.

Sophia is still the only performer to win an Oscar for a foreign language film. Sophia earned several laurels for her histrionic skills. She won three Golden Globes in the 1960s as the World's Favourite Film Actress. In 1980, she won an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. In June 1999, she was ranked 21st among the actresses by the American Film Institute in its list of the '50 Greatest Screen Legends' She was sandwiched between Lauren Bacall (at No. 20) and Jean Harlow (No. 22) with Katherine Hepburn as No.1 and Cary Grant (an ex-flame) at No. 2 among the male stars. To her other talents, she adds learning languages. She speaks not only Italian and English but also French.

For the cognoscenti, Sophia's film career offers many interesting glimpses. And it would be good idea to ferret out her old films.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent