Classic Desert Island Discs - Sophia Loren

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

Sophia Loren is the first performer to win the Best Actress Academy Award for a role in a foreign language film. She won in 1962 for her performance in Vittorio De Sica’s film Two Women in which she played a mother trying to protect her 12-year-old daughter in war-torn Italy. In 1991, she picked up a second Oscar when the Academy presented her with an Honorary Award for her contribution to world cinema. Born Sofia Villani Scicolone in a hospital ward for unmarried mothers, she was brought up by a single mother in Pozzuoli near Naples during the war years. After success in her first beauty pageant at the age of 15 and starring in photo romance stories for popular magazines, she first came to wider attention in 1953 when she played the title role in the Italian film Aida. She played a pizza seller in De Sica’s The Gold of Naples which is regarded as her breakthrough performance and led to her working on Hollywood movies with a who’s who of co-stars including Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck and Paul Newman. Her most enduring on-screen partnership was with the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni. In 1966 she married the film producer Carlo Ponti and went on to have two children. In her most recent film The Life Ahead, directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, she plays a holocaust survivor and ex-prostitute who cares for the children of local sex workers. DISC ONE: I’ve Got You Under My Skin by Ella Fitzgerald DISC TWO: Debussy: Suite bergamasque, L.75 - 3. Clair de lune composed by Claude Debussy, performed by Tamás Vásáry DISC THREE: Lara Says Goodbye to Yuri by Maurice Jarre DISC FOUR: Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) by Frank Sinatra with The Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Quincy Jones DISC FIVE: Oggi Sono Io by Mina DISC SIX: The Marketplace at Limoges composed by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, performed by Russian National Orchestra, conducted by Carlo Ponti DISC SEVEN: Io Sì by Laura Pausini DISC EIGHT: Caruso by Lucio Dalla BOOK CHOICE: Letters from a Young Father by Edoardo Ponti LUXURY ITEM: A pizza oven CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Caruso by Lucio Dalla Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:04.6	Lauren Laverne here.
0:05.7	We're taking our summer break.
0:07.0	So until we're back on air,
0:08.0	we're showcasing a few programs from our archives.
0:10.9	As usual, the music's been shortened for right reasons.
0:14.4	This week's guest is Sophia Loren.
0:16.9	I cast her away in 2021.
0:30.0	My cast away this week is Sophia Loren.
0:42.3	An icon of the big screen and of Italy itself.
0:45.4	She was the first woman to win a best actressosco
0:48.2	for a foreign language film, earned another
0:50.4	for her outstanding contribution to world cinema
0:53.2	and has won Italy's highest film prize six times
0:56.5	more than anyone in history.
0:58.9	Her illustrious career includes some 100 films
1:01.7	and a list of collaborators that's a who's who
1:04.2	of cinema itself.
1:05.8	She was directed by Charlie Chaplin.
1:07.7	Her co-stars include Clark Gable, Gregory Peck,
1:10.6	Carrie Grant, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman,
1:13.3	Marlon Brando and Richard Burton.
	...

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