Family UfoMcly November 10, 1963
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Twelve years ago, Sophia's Neapolitan accent
was ho strong that someone else's voice had to
be dubbed into her films, including those made in
Italy. Today she speaks almost classic Italian,
and her English is so flawless that when a vis
itor on the set of "The Fall of the Roman Em
pire" remarked about it, Sophia exclaimed, "Do
you want the daughter of Marcus Aurelius to
sound like a Neapolitan street urchin?" Thanks
to her persistence, she even picked up enough
French to make films in that language.
' A heavier cross to bear was her illegitimacy.
"When I was a teen-ager, I never dared have
dates. I was afraid to go out with boys because
I was different. I didn't have a real family of my
own. It gave me such a complex that I felt every
one pointed at me when I went out of the house."
As she grew older, she became more defiant
about it. Rather than avoid what most women
would have considered adverse publicity, she
brought it out in the open. As a result, in 1055,
her father's wife not Sophia's mother dragged
Sophia and her younger sister into court be
cause Sophia insisted that her younger sister
. had the right to use their father's surname. She
won her point.
IT was undoubtedly this family background
that made Sophia defy public opinion when she
married Carlo Ponti, whose Mexican divorce was
declared invalid in Italy and who was subse
quently accused of bigamy. Eager to stay within
the law but unperturbed about what people
thought or said, Sophia and Carlo simply got a
divorce and continued to live together. "The
important thing is not whether the marriage is
recognized but whether or not a woman feels
married.-1 do. Many married people don't," So
phia stated simply. While her point of view is
certainly not shared even by the majority of her
fans, few fail to appreciate her honesty and
straightforwardness.
When Ponti actively took over the management
of Sophia's career, she knew little about' films,
less about the financial aspects of the industry,
and nothing about management.
She remembered a story someone once told her
about an illiterate merchant in Madeira who. ,
along with his competitors, supplied food to the
ships ' that stopped there. The other merchants
used to sneer at him because he could neither
read nor write, but the others went broke and
he was the only one who survived because, be
fore signing any paper, he always took it to his
lawyer. Thus, when Sophia put herself into the
hands of Carlo Ponti, she trusted his judgment
in all financial and contractual matters.
As a result, she and Elizabeth Taylor are the
only actresses who can get $1,000,000 per pic
ture today! And Ponti's careful handling of their
finances has made them multimillionaires, al
though Sophia doesn't like to talk about that.
Sophia isn't quite as unconcerned about pub
. lie opinion as she pretends to be. In spite of her
outspokenness, her illegitimacy has troubled her
a great deal. She seems determined not to accept
such responsibility for any children of her own.
That's why the family she wants so much will
have to wait until she and Carlo can find a legal
solution to their marital status.
"Someday," Sophia sighs, "I want five bam
bini depending on me as their mother. Then 1
will have everything I want . . ."
rurally Wrrlclv. Noprmber 10. IH3