This woman is certainly one of the most beautiful of all time, and she has aged very well. You won't find many women that are still exceptional in their 70's. She would probably still leave me a blubbering idiot if I ever met her.

Anyway, a bit about her very interesting life:

Born: September 20, 1934, Rome, Italy
Birth Name: Sofia Scicolone
Childhood nickname: "Toothpick"
Height: 5' 8" (152 cm)
Measurements: 38C-24-38 (self-described - 1955, and from Edith Head- 1957)
36D-24-37 3/4 (at age 50 - 1985) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Sofia was born in the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome, a ward for unmarried women, the year before Mussolini bombed Ethiopia. She is the illegitimate child of Romilda Villani and Riccardo Scicolone and grew up in the slums of Pozzuoli, just outside Naples Her father refused to marry her mother or to even see her during her pregnancy. For those young-uns here, please remember that in 1934, life in Italy (or most anywhere else) was not particularly rosey for single unwed mothers. "The strict Catholic tenets which governed life in Italy gave no comfort to those who sinned against the chuch's precepts, and having an illegitimate baby was one of the severest sins. In the small town of Pozzuoli, where everybody knew everybody else, illegitimate childbearing was virtually unheard of and certainly would be subject to ostracism and contempt." (Hotchner, p.20, 1979) Sophia became very shy and introverted because of being illegitimate.

In 1940, at age six, she was wounded by shrapnel from an Allied bomb during a raid on Pozzuoli. A couple of years later, Charles Dial, an American GI, helped Sofia gain medical attention for the scarring that resulted from her wound.

Her mother entered her in "The Queen of the Sea" beauty pageant at age 14, where she was selected as one of twelve runner-ups out of more than 200 contestants. In 1951, Sofia placed second in the Miss Rome beauty contest.

At age 23, she took the Best Actress prize at both the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals for The Black Orchid. In 1961 she received an Academy Award for La Ciociara (Two Women). She was nominated for an Oscar again in 1964 for Marriage Italian-Style. She became one of the major sex symbol of the sixties, competing with Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda.

Chosen in 1991 by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world.
Chosen in 1995 by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#25).
In 1999, People magazine called her "one of the world's most stunning and age resistant women."
Also in 1999, Loren placed sixth in Playboy's 100 Sexiest Women Of The Century.
Again, in 1999, Sophia, the 65-year-old actress, won a victory for maturity by beating a host of younger stars for the world's most beautiful woman (UK beauty company Beautiko).

References

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000047/
http://www.sophialoren.com/home.htm

And now for the photos. And by the way, do remember that hers are real, not a shread of plastic!

First, three common fakes (from the Fake Detective):



A few magazine photos through time:



A few public photos:

Sitting next to Jayne Mansfield. Love the look on Sophia's face.



On the beach:



And a few more: