Italy's actress Sophia Loren and her son Carlo Ponti walk through an exhibit about Loren's life and work at the Soumaya art museum in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014. The exhibit commemorates Loren's 80th birthday this Saturday, Sept. 20. (Photo: AP)
Sophia Loren turned 80 on Saturday -- a landmark birthday feted across Italy with celebrations of the beauty and talent of the country's revered cinema icon.
Loren herself was spending the day in Mexico City, where telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim had organised a gala dinner to mark the occasion.
Slim, one of the world's richest men, was also hosting an exhibition at his private museum entitled "Yesterday, today and tomorrow".
That is also the title of a new memoir Loren has produced to mark her octogenarian birthday and which is full of anecdotes detailing, for example, how enamoured Cary Grant was of her, and how she once resisted Marlon Brando's amorous advances by hissing at him like an angry cat.
Magazine covers featuring Italy's actress Sophia Loren are displayed at the Soumaya art museum in Mexico City, Thursday Sept. 18, 2014. (Photo: AP)
The illegitimate daughter of an actress, Loren is adored in her homeland for that kind of feistiness -- as well as for her triumph over extremely humble origins, her acting talent and for the voluptuous good looks that made her synonomous with simmering southern sensuality.
Born Sofia Scicolone to an actress single mother, Loren was nicknamed the "toothpick" because she was so thin in her early teens. But she soon filled out sufficiently to be able to earn a living for herself and her impoverished family by winning beauty contests.
At one of them, aged 15, she met Carlo Ponti, a man two decades older than her who was to become her husband, manager and constant companion until his death in 2007.
Italy's actress Sophia Loren and her son Carlo Ponti attend an exhibit about Lorn's life and work inside the Soumaya art museum in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014. (Photo: AP)
Along the way, Loren had two children and picked up an Oscar for best actress for her role in Vittorio De Sica's "Two Women".
Among the events being held to mark her 80th was an exhibition of photographs of her in Milan entitled "Sophia Loren - style icon" which was overlapping with the spring/summer 2015 womenswear shows in the city.
"She is a legend," said Anna Torrente, one of the thousands of visitors to the exhibition this week. "I want to wish her many happy returns. She was lucky in her life but she also made her own way."
A woman takes pictures of the portrait of Italy's actress Sophia Loren at the exhibition about Loren's life and work inside the Soumaya art museum in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014. (Photo: AP)
Eli Laslean, from Romania, said she considered Loren to be the "most beautiful woman in the world".
"For me she was my dream, my princess," she told AFP.
Carlo Mosca, a member of Loren's generation, recalled the impact she had made on him as a young boy. "She was always our dream, for us boys she was our Eros. With that, I have said everything!"
Italian actress Loren looks on during a news conference at the Soumaya museum in Mexico City (Photo: AP)
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