Sophia Loren tells Al-Mawed: I burned my personal diaries because they contain things that concern me alone and I do not want anyone to see them
* I grew up in a poor family.
* Cary Grant didn't ask me to marry him.
* I have never worn a white wedding dress in my life.
Sophia Loren came to the interview and looked like a young woman in the way she walked, her movements, her activity and her cheerfulness. She did not look her age, and she is now eighty years old. She was wearing a red suit and a round necklace that matched the earrings in her ears. In fact, I was amazed by her activity, as I expected to see an old lady. I had met her in the seventies, that is, more than forty years ago, and she was at the height of her glory and beauty. We sat and I tried to remind her of her glory and fame, so she laughed and said, “That was a long time ago, and I am currently busy writing this book in order to record my life, as when I was young, we did not have much financial ability as a family. My father left the family and I went with my mother to Rome and tried to find work there to support the family. The first job I got was as an “extra” in the movie “Quo Vadis.” I worked in several other movies until I met the world-famous director Vittorio De Sica, who really pushed me and helped me. I grew up with his help, and I spent time with him.” He has been at work for twenty years of my life and I owe him that.”
She continued, "I grew up during World War II and we were poor, and the war made our lives very difficult until I was able to get several roles in different films, and I made many films."
And I asked her:
- How did you find your way in Hollywood? She said, “My fame in Hollywood was not like it was in my country, Italy. There, my love and my fame were more than in Hollywood.”
And I asked her:
- You acted in many films with many directors, but two years ago you acted in a film directed by your son, “EDUARDO PONTI” (who was present with you in the interview). How was that? Is there a difference when you work with your son as a director and other directors?
She said: “You cannot compare directors, as each film has its own subject and demands, but I was very happy to act in a film in which the director was my son, even though we had to wait a few years to make it, as the story required an elderly woman.”
She asked her son, director EDUARDO PONTI, how she felt when she directed a film in which her mother starred. He said: “The director’s job is to work so that the actors appear in the best possible way. Here, I had to work more to show my mother in the best possible way, and I hope that I succeeded in doing so.”
I asked her: "Do you want to do something in your life that you have never done before? Or maybe you have done it?" She said:
“I always wanted to wear a white wedding dress in my life. Yes, a white wedding dress!!! But I never had that chance and no one in my family got married and wore a white wedding dress!”
I told her that she could wear a white wedding dress now (since her husband CARLO PONTI had died years ago) and she said:
- No, no, no... I will not get married. I have my children and grandchildren now.
I asked her about her relationship with the American actor Cary Grant and why she did not marry him, and she said:
- “Our relationship was during the filming of my first American movie with him. I was 23 years old at the time and he was much older than me. The name of the movie was The Pride and the Passion. There were many things going on in my life at that time and I loved Carlo Ponti. But to put the picture in its place, Cary Grant did not ask me to marry him. Rather, our relationship was strong. After that, when I came to New York and my son was with me and he saw him, our relationship turned into a friendship.”
* Cary Grant didn't ask me to marry him.
* I have never worn a white wedding dress in my life.
Sophia Loren came to the interview and looked like a young woman in the way she walked, her movements, her activity and her cheerfulness. She did not look her age, and she is now eighty years old. She was wearing a red suit and a round necklace that matched the earrings in her ears. In fact, I was amazed by her activity, as I expected to see an old lady. I had met her in the seventies, that is, more than forty years ago, and she was at the height of her glory and beauty. We sat and I tried to remind her of her glory and fame, so she laughed and said, “That was a long time ago, and I am currently busy writing this book in order to record my life, as when I was young, we did not have much financial ability as a family. My father left the family and I went with my mother to Rome and tried to find work there to support the family. The first job I got was as an “extra” in the movie “Quo Vadis.” I worked in several other movies until I met the world-famous director Vittorio De Sica, who really pushed me and helped me. I grew up with his help, and I spent time with him.” He has been at work for twenty years of my life and I owe him that.”
She continued, "I grew up during World War II and we were poor, and the war made our lives very difficult until I was able to get several roles in different films, and I made many films."
And I asked her:
- How did you find your way in Hollywood? She said, “My fame in Hollywood was not like it was in my country, Italy. There, my love and my fame were more than in Hollywood.”
And I asked her:
- You acted in many films with many directors, but two years ago you acted in a film directed by your son, “EDUARDO PONTI” (who was present with you in the interview). How was that? Is there a difference when you work with your son as a director and other directors?
She said: “You cannot compare directors, as each film has its own subject and demands, but I was very happy to act in a film in which the director was my son, even though we had to wait a few years to make it, as the story required an elderly woman.”
She asked her son, director EDUARDO PONTI, how she felt when she directed a film in which her mother starred. He said: “The director’s job is to work so that the actors appear in the best possible way. Here, I had to work more to show my mother in the best possible way, and I hope that I succeeded in doing so.”
I asked her: "Do you want to do something in your life that you have never done before? Or maybe you have done it?" She said:
“I always wanted to wear a white wedding dress in my life. Yes, a white wedding dress!!! But I never had that chance and no one in my family got married and wore a white wedding dress!”
I told her that she could wear a white wedding dress now (since her husband CARLO PONTI had died years ago) and she said:
- No, no, no... I will not get married. I have my children and grandchildren now.
I asked her about her relationship with the American actor Cary Grant and why she did not marry him, and she said:
- “Our relationship was during the filming of my first American movie with him. I was 23 years old at the time and he was much older than me. The name of the movie was The Pride and the Passion. There were many things going on in my life at that time and I loved Carlo Ponti. But to put the picture in its place, Cary Grant did not ask me to marry him. Rather, our relationship was strong. After that, when I came to New York and my son was with me and he saw him, our relationship turned into a friendship.”