Sophia Loren has recalled how she refused to have a nose job when a director she was working with hinted that she needed to do something about her profile.
The iconic actress, 86, revealed that she didn’t want to alter her nose because it had plenty of ‘personality’, and had no plans to ever have surgery on it.
Speaking to Variety, Sophia said: ‘I’ve been working without you knowing about it with this nose, which I’m never going to change. My nose is going to stay there forever. I like it. It has a lot of personality.’
No thanks! Sophia Loren has recalled how she refused to have a nose job when a director she was working with hinted that she needed to do something about her profile
One piece of advice that Sophia, born Sofia Villani Scicolone, did take on board was to change her name after a director suggested it.
She said: ‘He was working with an actress from Holland, Märta Torén, who was very well known. He said, “Well, I have to give you a name because people have to know who you are,” so he took Torén’s last name and changed the first letter, anglicizing Sofia’s first name in the process.
‘So from then on, I was called Sophia Loren. And that’s who I am. I am Sophia Loren. It was very normal. They were looking for a name, and they gave me Sophia Loren. Better than nothing.’
Suits me fine: The iconic actress, 86, revealed that she didn’t want to alter her nose because it had plenty of ‘personality’, and had no plans to ever have surgery on it
Sophia, who shares two children with ex-husband Carlo Ponti, Edoardo, 47, and Carlo, 51, also spoke of how she stopped accepting acting roles to focus on her family.
She said: ‘I don’t want to work for stories that I don’t feel because I wouldn’t know how to do it.
‘I really gave myself to my children completely, and it was wonderful, because I spent all my time with the two families [Carlo’s and Edoardo’s] in America, without working, just being with them all the time.’
Stage name: One piece of advice that Sophia, born Sofia Villani Scicolone, did take on board was to change her name after a director suggested it
However her passion of acting is still strong as she said: ‘I wanted to be on the screen. If I hadn’t become an actress, I think I would have died.’
Sophia is set to revive her acting career in new Netflix film, The Life Ahead.
The movie follows the bond between an ageing Holocaust survivor, played by the acting veteran, and a young immigrant.
Nuptials: Sophia recently revealed that her biggest regret is not having a white wedding when she married husband Carlo in 1966 – and she said she still dreams of it
Sophia also has vintage screen credits including Two Women, Houseboat and Marriage Italian Style.
Sophia recently revealed that her biggest regret is not having a white wedding when she married husband Carlo in 1966 – and she said she still dreams of it.
The Italian native said that although she tries to ‘live with no regrets’ and has everything she ‘ever wanted’, she still wishes she ‘married in a white dress’.
Sophia and Carlo went on to have two sons but she said despite her love affair with actor Cary Grant in 1957, he never proposed to her as was rumoured.
Affair: Sophia and Carlo went on to have two sons but she said despite her love affair with actor Cary Grant in 1957, he never proposed to her as was rumoured
Speaking to Radio Times, she said: ‘It’s very hard to say you have no regrets. In life, you always go through so many experiences, but I have always tried to live with no regrets.
‘I think I’ve reached a peaceful life. I have everything I ever wanted, which is a wonderful family with beautiful children and beautiful grandchildren.
‘The only thing I regret a little is that I never got married in a white dress. That was the dream of my life, which is still inside me.’
Movie: The Hollywood legend has made her return to acting in new movie The Life Ahead, which has been directed by her son Edoardo