Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni in “Marriage Italian Style” (1964) dir. Vittorio De Sica. From an excerpt on LIFE.com: In Marriage Italian Style, Mastroianni and Loren play a star-crossed couple. When their characters meet, she is a prostitute, and she becomes his longtime mistress—with aspirations to become his wife. The movie takes dramatic turns on its rocky way to happily ever after. LIFE’s review of Marriage Italian Style summed it up thusly: “Sophia turns from a high-spirited whore w

Sophia Loren timeless beauty of Italian cinema captivated the world with her elegance talent and passion. Born in Rome in 1934 she rose from poverty in Naples to become an international icon of the 1950s and 1960s starring in masterpieces like Two Women for which she won an Academy Award and Marriage Italian Style opposite Marcello Mastroianni. Her magnetic screen presence made her a symbol of Mediterranean grace and strength proving that true glamour comes from authenticity heart and resilience