When Sophia Loren is trending, social media is momentarily beautiful.
People on X, formerly Twitter, lined up to give the Oscar winner her flowers on Thursday as TCM spotlighted the actress and her incredible career.
For all of August, TCM has honored a different star — from Paul Newman to Doris Day to James Stewart to Loretta Young to Barbara Stanwyck. Some, like Debbie Reynolds and Lucille Ball, are household names. Others, like the Nicholas Brothers, are being rediscovered by modern audiences.
But some — like Sophia Loren — inspire another level of adoration.
The Italian actress, now 88, was celebrated across all corners of social media thanks to TCM’s Summer Under the Stars programming.
On Wednesday, the network aired a gorgeous barrage of her films, from Lady J (1965) to The Pride and the Passion (1957) to Arabesque (1966) to A Special Day (1977) to Ghosts — Italian Style (1969) to Two Women (1960), the film that earned Loren her Best Actress Oscar.
The network also dug into its archive to air 2016’s Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival: Sophia Lauren.
Fans flocked to Twitter to share their favorite images of one of the most photogenic human beings to grace the screen.
“Italian actress and bona fide screen goddess Sophia Loren made over 100 films in her 50-year career, remaining one of the most beloved and recognizable figures in the international film world,” TCM noted.
“Yes she was beautiful, but she was also a great actress,” added one fan.
“Not only a great actress, but an exceptional human being,” said another.
“Watch A Special Day,” another fan recommended. “She will move you even when her back is turned to you. Stellar. I love her.”
In 2020, Loren, who is now 88, returned to the screen for the first time in a decade for the Netflix drama The Life Ahead,” in which she played a Holocaust survivor who bonds with a Sengalese immigrant boy. The film, directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, adapted Romain Gary’s novel La vie devant soi.
She was vital to the 2021 Netflix documentary What Would Sophia Loren Do?, directed by Ross Kauffman, which follows Nancy Kulik, who idolizes Loren.
Editor’s Note: Corrects typo
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