Stunning actress receives standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival for her inspiring talk
She is one of the most beautiful actresses in the history of cinema, but the award-winning actress, says she nearly gave up her career after being told she must change her face. Sophia Loren’s looks were not always admired by hard-nosed film executives.
The still stunning award-winning actress who is approaching her 80th birthday, was at the Cannes Film Festival to launch a new short film she appears in, directed by her son; her first project in five years, entitled La voce umana.
Her latest role, in La voce umana, tells the story of an older woman who has a final telephone conversation with the man she loves.
She told an audience at Cannes that her nose had been considered too long, her mouth too big and her teeth not straight enough and her face totally unphotogenic.
She also disclosed she resolved to give up acting in the early Fifties, after being told she must change her appearance.
“Beauty is not important,” she said. “You have to be interesting, someone who is different to other people. Otherwise you just turn up and look beautiful, and there’s nothing more to you.”
She continued, “In the film industry, if you’re not photogenic it means you can’t became an actress or actor. But things have got better and better thanks to photographers and others, who know how to portray my face better on the screen. I didn’t change my face at all, they just got better at it.”
“My life has not been easy,” she said. “But I’m surrounded by people who like me, who love me, and I have to be very proud of my 80 years. I’m starting to count the hours, count the seconds; everything is important when you reach my age. Every so often you have to explode back into life.”
She received a standing ovation in Cannes for her inspiring talk, after being interviewed on stage.
Our observation is it’s safe to say, she’s proved everyone that doubted her to be highly wrong.