Limelight: Living -- Italian style By Lubna Abdel-Aziz To cinefiles he is a legend, to viewers he is a prolific film producer, to star-struck fans he is the husband of Sophia Loren. Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti was all this and more! The celebrated film producer died last week in his chateau in Geneva at the age of 94, with his four children and his wife of 50 years by his side. His long and fascinating life was more colourful, more eventful, more romantic than any of his 140 film productions. His was a life well-lived! Born 1912, in Magenta Italy, Carlo inherited a fiery ambition and a bullish determination. He studied law at the University of Milan, and skilfully negotiated many contracts for clients in the film industry, in his father's law office. Totally captivated by this fantasy world of make-believe, he entertained notions of entering show business. His first motion picture Picolo Mondo Antico (Old Fashioned World, 1941), an anti- fascist film, directed by Mario Soldati, made a star of its young leading lady, Alida Valli, but sent Ponti to jail for its controversial theme. It was the first of many clashes with the Italian courts of justice. Undaunted, Ponti was more determined than ever to make his mark on the Italian film industry. He always conceived the impossible, and made it possible. He discovered and launched the careers of new stars, writers, actors, and especially directors. By the end of the war years, Ponti had worked on some of the earliest neo-realist films, such as Pietro Germi's Giovent� Perduta (Lost Youth 1947), Lattuada's Senza Pietà (Without Pity, 1948). Post-war Italy experienced the second rise of Rome. Everyone craved all things Italian. Tourism flourished and Hollywood moved to Cinécitta studios attracted by the fun, the sun, and the very low cost of making movies. Carlo was on a roll, and by 1950, he had launched the career of Gina Lollobrigida, joined forces with Italy's other great producer Dino de Laurentis, forming the production company Ponti-de Laurentis. The vigorous duo tried to copy a page from Hollywood, producing big budget, big box-office films, with big names like popular comedian Toto, and Silvana Mangano, Laurentis' wife. Now a popular celebrity, Ponti was often invited to judge beauty contests. It was at one of these pageants that he saw her -- the sublime, statuesque Neapolitan beauty. Only 15, once an ugly duckling, she had turned into a beautiful swan. Radiant, vibrating with emotion, her huge eyes dreamed of stardom. Ponti was spellbound. He took her under his wing, gave her a screen test, moved her from a simple "extra" in films, to bit parts in minor pictures. She went by the name of Sofia Scicolone or Sofia Lazzaro in more than a dozen films. As a favour to friend Carlo, producer Goffredo Lombardo cast Sofia as his leading lady, changed her name to Sophia Loren, and a star was born. Ponti had the financial means, the relentless drive, and the dogged tenacity, to make Sophia Loren, Italy's first international film star. With one eye on his new creation, Ponti together with partner de Laurentis had his other eye on Hollywood. Following their outstanding success and Oscar win for Federico Fellini's La Strada (1954), the duo pursued big budget projects, with big Hollywood stars, to win a share of the American market. Their ambitious project Dostoevsky's masterpiece War and Peace, (dir King Vidor 1956) with Audrey Hepburn, was their biggest box office flop, and their partnership was dissolved. Ponti however, was thrilled with the attention his stunning new star was getting in '' Attila the Hun'' opposite Anthony Quinn, and in Vittorio de Sica's L'oro di Napoli (Gold of Naples, 1954). Romance blossomed between the divinely beautiful Sophia, and the short, pudgy, bald Ponti. Shocking as it may seem, the Pygmalion syndrome is quite common and quite real, especially in show business. The amorous couple wished to marry, but for a minor problem. Ponti was already married, had two children, and wife Guiliana had no intention of divorcing him. A quick Mexican divorce and Mexican marriage by proxy in 1957, was considered illegal in Italy, and condemned by the Vatican. Ponti was charged with bigamy, Loren with "concubinage ". They remained in Hollywood with Ponti taking every pain to ensure his star's success. It was surprising to discover, that despite her vast fame and glamour, Loren's films were box-office failures. Indeed, none of her 100 films, 37 produced by Ponti, were hits except for a handful of Italian productions, directed by de Sica. In order to return to Italy to make " La Ciociara", they negotiated a deal with the Italian authorities, by which their Mexican marriage was annulled. Loren's performance in La Ciociara (Two Women, 1960), garnered Best Actress in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and the first major Oscar in a foreign language film. Seizing on that success, Ponti teamed Loren in a series of de Sica projects opposite Marcello Mastroianni, like Ieri, Oggi, Domani (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow 1964) Matrimonio All'Italiana (Marriage Italian Style) which were international favourites. Ponti produced films in Italy, France, England and the US, but he will always be remembered for a film, which did not star his wife, and was far removed from Italy. It was David Lean's adaptation of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, a major universal blockbuster winning five Academy Awards, making Ponti an undisputed international film mogul. After much suffering and humiliation he was able to re-wed the goddess of his heart, by assuming French citizenship, almost 10 years after their first wedding, 1966. They have remained together for half a century, living with grace and decency, surviving ridicule, imprisonment, miscarriages, kidnapping, rumours, and heartaches. Illustriously fortunate, Carlo Ponti lived a life of dedication, consecration, and celebration. A sharp intellectual with tremendous drive, he also possessed a profound and decent grace. In typical characteristic fashion, he remained by de Sica's side despite a series of financial disasters, paid for his medical bills and funeral expenses. Long, lavish and legendary, his life was a paradise won, many times over, deserving all our admiration and reverence. He received honourable and noble rewards for an honourable and productive life. "The ultimate measure of a person, is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand in times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-1968)
