Mail Wars
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011
In 1957, the Italian post office reported that Sophia Loren was receiving more mail than the president of Italy!
Source: La Loren: A Heavenly Body Becomes a Star, The Milwaukee Sentinel, April 14 1957, Page 62
1. Taylor 2. Brando 3. Loren
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Marlon Brando did not always get along with his female costars. In at least two cases egos clashed over matters of top billing. A 1957 newspaper reported:
Marlon Brando’s hostility to Elizabeth Taylor during filming of Reflections in a Golden Eye is because even a Brando must take second billing to the 34 going on 35 actress. One of the reasons for the frictions between Sophia Loren and Marlon in the Chaplin picture, A Countess From Hong Kong, was because Sophia was taking second billing to her costar.
Source: Liz Sophia Share Brando’s Hostility, Edmonton Journal, Jan 6 1967, Page 30
Photo: SuperStock
Sophia Loren and the 8 Pound Purse
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
In 1958 Sophia Loren paid a small fortune to have a designer purse shipped from Fifth Avenue in New York City to Spain. It was big, black and bulky and had a jewelry compartment which locked. Also, it weighed 8 pounds – empty! It was so heavy that the handle soon broke under strain. Being that it was so valuable, Sophia took it to her favorite bag shop in Rome to be repaired. Sophia mentioned how much she loved American-made bags and the man pointed to the label. The bag had come from his store in Sophia’s hometown. She could have got the bag for next to nothing in Rome all along!
Source: Sophia Loren and an 8-Pound Purse, St. Petersburg Times, Jun 26 1958, Page 19
Photo: Flash Projects
She Hears Now and Then From Cary Grant
Saturday, June 25th, 2011
We had a Cola in her dressing room at the Titanus Appia studios while she waited to be called to the set for her next scene in Marriage, Italian Style, which she is making with Marcello Mastroianni as her leading man and the great Vittorio de Sica directing. Curled up on puffy old makeshift Italian furniture, we got the girl talk over with first. She was surprised to learn that Warren Beatty had been romancing Leslie Caron. She hears now and then from Cary Grant. She thought is was very sweet of Natalie Wood to take the trouble of accepting the Foreign Film Award for her in the United States.
-Excerpt from Dorothy Kilgallen column
Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal, June 17 1964, Page 7
Photo: M&R Entertainment
