Sophia Loren...honored with tribute in Hollywood! Glam Queen still radiant @ 78!

Tonight, legendary beauty - Sophia Loren - is slated to appear at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre where she will be honored with a tribute by her peers.

Billy Crystal hosts the star-studded event which took her by surprise.

"I didn't expect it," Ms. Loren fessed up graciously upon hearing the exciting news.

"It's wonderful because I belong to Italian movies - and generally - we Italians, we don't get these wonderful, great, great honors, even though we deserve it sometimes."

John Travolta and Bob Marshall (who directed her in the musical bomb "Nine") are slated to attend the festive start-studded event.

As I noted in my  own review of the ill-fated musical - unfortunately - Ms. Loren's talents were greatly wasted in that uneven production - which was panned by many relevant critics in the show-biz arena.

Post: 02/02/2010

http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2010/01/ninescripted-material-for-sophia-loren.html

Of course, Ms. Loren is probably best known for starring opposite film greats like Cary Grant, well-received studio features such as "Houseboat".

In that classic flick, Loren demonstrated a definite flair for comedy.

However, the heralded actress has also turned in fine dramatic performances over the course of her illustrious film career, which have also received rave reviews.

For example, in 1961, she starred in Vittorio De Sica's "Two Women" to much acclaim.

The drama - a dark tawdry tale about a mother who is raped while trying to protect her daughter during a conflict in war-torn Italy - showcased her acting gifts to a "t".

That raw heart-wrenching performance won her an Academy Award for Best Actress (in addition to twenty-two other prestigious awards in filmdom around the globe).

In additional to being well received critically, the flick was also a commercial success.

Other awards include an Academy Honorary Award for her contributions to world cinema.

On that celebrated occasion, Officials crowned Loren "one of the world cinema's great treasures".

In 1995, she also received a coveted Cecil B. DeMille Award (Golden Globe).

At 78, Ms. Loren (a grandmother) is still radiant, active, and sexy!

Ms. Loren was born in Rome, Italy.

When she was 14, Loren entered a beauty contest in Naples and was selected as one of the finalists.

Shortly thereafter, she enrolled in an acting class - and subsequently - was cast as an extra in "Quo Vadis" (1951 film by Mervyn LeRoy).

The cameo launched her career!

Tonight, the Academy will screen clips from Ms. Loren's long distinguished film career, and tout her as a film great.

Congrats, Ms. Loren!

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Steven Spielberg...Cecil B. DeMille Award!

The Hollywood Press Association announced that Steven Spielberg will receive the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globe Awards on January 13th, 2008.

Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1947, to Arnold (an electronic engineer and computer expert) and Leah (a former concert pianist).

A self-described "Jewish Nerd", as a youth, Steven borrowed his father's 8mm motion-picture-camera to record family get-togethers.

No doubt, fertile childhood fantasies gave rise to his early creations, which were often based on wild storylines, and rife with unusual camera angles.

The lad's home projects usually starred his three older sisters who often met with unpleasant demises.

"Death, usually," he laughingly recalled years later.

The diminutive director won his first award for a forty-five minute short titled, "Escape from Nowhere".

His early hobby, stargazing, probably fueled his imagination - and surfaced later - in a couple of features, which signaled a curiosity about the possibility of alien life in the galaxy.

The first major career break was with Amblin'.

The tale about two hitchhikers travelling from the Mojave Desert to the Pacific Coast singled out his potential and landed him a seven year contract with Universal.

When the short film was paired in movie houses with the blockbuster hit - "Love Story" - a lot of industry buzz followed.

For a short period, Steven directed segments of popular TV shows of the era.

Imagine that, on "Night Gallery", he coached the legendary film star - Joan Crawford.

His directing hand at "JAWS", a huge hit, put him squarely on the map in Hollywood, and he has never looked back since.

A couple of years later "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was released - an intriguing switcheroo for the alien-invasion genre - after all, the creatures from outer space, unlike past depictions in the Hollywood Cinema, were benevolent.

"Encounters" was not a big financial hit, but "Raiders of the Lost Ark" which followed, was; subsequently, the action-adventure offering changed the creative and financial landscape for Mr. Spielberg considerably.

At this juncture, he became one of the top, in-demand directors, in the business.

To many, Schindler's list - a project close to his heart - is his masterpiece; a work which garnered him his first Oscar for directing.

The sixty-year old director has won six Golden Globes, and three Oscars, along with lifetime achievement honors from the Director's Guild of America, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the American Film Institute, and the Kennedy Center.

The Cecil B. DeMille award has been given out annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association since 1952 and is named after one of the industry's most distinguished filmmakers.