Sophia Loren was born Sofia Villani Scicolone on September 20, 1934, in a poverty-stricken part of Rome, Italy. Her father, Riccardo Scicolone, refused to marry her mother, Romilda Villani, but allowed Sofia and her younger sister Maria to take his surname. Loren began her career portraying sexy vamps in the pages of Italian photo mags known as fumetti. This fiery bombshell burned up the silver screen to become the epitome of the European sexpot. Her full lips and hourglass physique did to men what Pamela Anderson did in the ’90s.