In the movie "Love Story", Lao Wu played by Zhou Yemang is deeply impressed, and the most important scene in the play is that Lao Wu tells that he had a one-night stand with Sophia Roland when he was young.
Is his story really true? Of course not. Not to mention that Lao Wu is just a person in the play, even if he exists in reality, this story is not credible, for two reasons:
One is that Sophia Rowland had a happy family in her 40s, lived the life she wanted, and couldn't have a one-night stand with a strange man.
The second is that she likes mature men, and the old wu in her 20s is not her dish. Sophia has been devoted to two men in her life, Hollywood star Gary Grant, who is 30 years older than her, and her husband, Carlo Ponty, who is 22 years older than her.
In her memoirs published in 2014, Sophia explained why she would give up the handsome romantic Grant and marry the mediocre-looking Ponty.
Irresponsible fatherhood
Sophia's mother, Romilda, is a piano teacher and actress who looks a lot like the famous actress Greta Garbo. In 1932, MGM Studios held a competition in Italy to imitate Greta Garbo, and the reward for the first place was to go to Hollywood to audition and have the opportunity to be a stand-in for Garbo.
Romilda, 17, won the championship, but her parents didn't allow her to go and collect the award, believing that America was a very dangerous place for a young single woman.
Left picture Giabo, right picture Sophia and Romilda
In order to realize her dream of stardom, Romilda left her hometown of Pozzoli for Rome.
In Rome, she met a high-born architectural engineer named Ricardo Sicoron. Ricardo told Romerda that he could make her a star. She believed him, but he just wanted to play with her. Soon after, she became pregnant with his child, and he refused to marry her.
In 1934, Sofia was born in Rome, and Romilda returned to Pozzoli's parents with the child. Ricardo is still pestering Romerda, and four years later, when she becomes pregnant again, he not only continues to refuse to marry, but also refuses to give his second daughter his last name.
At the outbreak of World War II, Pozzuoli's port and arsenal were targets of Allied bombing, and Lomielda and her two young daughters shared a bedroom with eight people, enduring darkness, fear and hunger, living in extreme poverty.
Sophia had only met her father three times. As an adult, she said she could forgive her father but never forget the impact he had on her childhood and her mother.
Fame
Sophia has been a beauty since childhood, and Romilda is determined to let her daughter realize her dream of stardom for herself. At the age of 14, Sofia participated in the Miss Italy beauty pageant, successfully reached the final, and began to attract people's attention.
Some people did not appreciate her beauty, saying that her face was too short, her facial features were uncoordinated, her mouth was too big, and her nose was too long. Sophia was very assertive and did not agree to make any changes to her body, but changed her name to Sophia Roland.
Since the age of 16, Sophia has played a series of small roles in several films. In 1954, she ushered in her first breakthrough role, becoming famous in the comedy "The Gold of Naples" as a pizza seller who was unfaithful to her feelings.
The film was filmed in the winter, and she contracted pneumonia due to her thin clothing. She said it was all worth it and the role made her feel the joy of acting for the first time.
Stills from The Gold of Naples
Carlo Ponty
In 1950, Sophia met filmmaker Carlo Ponty at a beauty pageant when she was 16 years old and was a contestant, and he was 38 years old and a member of the jury.
The first time he met Sophia, Ponty said, he knew she had a bright future, "I could see at a glance that she was an amazing person." There was something in her that made her shine dazzlingly. ”
In order to promote Sophia, Ponty introduced her to many auditions.
At first, Sophia, who had been deprived of her father's love since childhood, relied on Ponty as a mentor and father, and gradually she became his secret lover. Years later, she said in an interview, "We fell in love at first sight. We started dating, at first friends, and when I was 19 the relationship became serious... We really love each other. ”
Sophia, who grew up in a broken family, dreams of marrying Ponty in the middle of nowhere, "What I want is a legal family, a legal husband, children, a family like everyone else." ”
Catholics were not allowed to divorce in Italy at that time, and although Ponty, who had a wife and children, had been separated from his wife Giuliana for some time, Giuliana was willing to divorce, but they had not been able to go through the divorce procedures.
The old and heavy-handed Ponty never discussed the future of the two with Sophia, but only diligently supported her in her career.
Gary Grant
In 1957, With Ponty's help, Sophia took over the Hollywood film Pride and Passion, playing against A-list star Gary Grant.
Everyone noticed the huge attraction between the two, with newspaper comments saying, "There may be no greater chemistry on the big screen." She was intoxicated by him, and he was fascinated by her. ”
Stills from Pride and Passion
In her third marriage, Grant pursues Sophia, writing letters to her, sending flowers, sending gifts, and inviting her to pray together for their future. He said in a letter: "I will add you to my prayer... If you think and pray with me, for the same thing and purpose, everything will be fine and life will be better. ”
Sophia's heart is very conflicted, whether to stay in Hollywood with Grant, or to return to her home country with Ponty? She is a passionate love for Grant and a strong affection for Ponty, both of which are unforgettable.
"Gary fell in love with me and wanted me to marry him, and that meant I was leaving Carlo and creating a huge scandal. When Ingrid Bergman divorced and married an Italian director, the American media was very cruel to her, and I was worried about how [the media] would react if I left Italy. ”
After thinking about it, she felt that Grant belonged to another world, and Ponty was the harbor of her life.
"I feel like I'll never fit in there [in Hollywood]. Because of my nationality, I will never have a future there. ”
"I have to make a choice, Carlo is Italian, he belongs to my world..."
choose
In 1957, Ponty finally managed to divorce Giuliana in Mexico, and subsequently married Sofia in Mexico through a lawyer's representation.
Their marriage caused an uproar in Italy, and Ponty was accused of bigamy. Sophia called it the saddest day of her life, "I want to be his wife and have his children." We've done our best to formalize the relationship to the extent the law allows, but they call us public sinners and we were supposed to go on our honeymoon, but I only remember crying for hours. ”
Bigamy was a felony, and the duo spent years complaining, and their marriage in Mexico was finally annulled.
In 1965, Ponty and Sofia became French citizens, and the following year they married in France, and Sophia finally officially became Mrs. Ponty.
In the years that followed, they continued to work together in their careers, welcoming two sons, who won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, and continued their film careers into their later years, when they were separated by death until Ponty's death in 2007.
In November 2009, when asked if Sophia would remarry, she replied: "No, I won't get married again, I can't love anyone again." ”
postscript
After Ponty's death, Sophia revealed in her memoirs that she had a relationship with Grant, "I had a deep affection for Gary, but I was only 23 years old at the time and couldn't make up my mind to leave Carlo to marry a giant from another country, and I didn't dare take a big step." ”
The relationship with Grant did not last, and Sophia did not feel regrets, "I have no regrets, I fell in love with my husband, lived a peaceful life, had everything I wanted, and had a wonderful family." 」 ”
As for Grant, who married twice after his third marriage, he said his last wife, Barbara Harris, was the true love of his life. Barbara was 47 years younger than him, and he had completed the last five years of his life in her company.
All the love in the world will be flat after the passion, and only those who know how to enjoy the bland can appreciate what happiness is.
The reason why Sophia gave up grant was that he couldn't give her a sense of security. Compared to Grant's show of mercy, Ponty was single-minded about Sophia, telling the media in 2002, "I did everything I could to love Sophia." I've always believed in her. ”
The reporter asked Sophia what Ponty would think of her relationship with Grant, and she replied somewhat shyly, "My Carlo will only smile slightly." ”
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