When I was growing up, there were women who were supposed to be most beautiful: Marilyn Monroe, Bridget Bardot, among them.
Somehow, though, I was most fascinated by Sophia Loren, the poor Italian girl who became a star. Long before I ever saw her in a full-length film, I’d catch her on some part of a Saturday afternoon movie on TV and was captivated. And I still am.
In Binghamton, there were “art films” at the Robinson Center when I was a teenager, and I’m sure there was a Loren film or two, though I don’t recall specifically which ones.
She was the first performer to win an Oscar for a foreign-language performance, Best Actress in 1962, playing Cesira in Vittorio De Sica’s Two Women.
Here are some links:
The movie Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, directed by her husband, the late Carlo Ponti.
Her IMDB page.
Her life and career, from oscars.org.
A documentary – from biography.com.