Rare, Never-Before-Seen Photos of Sophia Loren Released
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tagging along on the 1961 boating trip off Naples , Eisie captured the actress looking positively giddy in the bow beside Carlo Ponti. But there's a funny story behind the photo -- hinted at, perhaps, by the firm grip Loren has on the railing. "Sailing? I never enjoyed sailing," she confesses to LIFE.com. "My husband bought a speedy boat and I liked to go, but he was going so fast that by a year or two years after we had it, he had to sell it because I didn't want to jump on it anymore. I was afraid of [speaking rapid Italian] -- of when you go very fast. I like to live, and I don't like these kinds of things that make my life in danger." Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com <a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/59821/sophia-loren-20-unpublished-photos" target="_blank">Click here for more unpublished photos of Sophia Loren</a>
LIFE's Alfred Eisenstaedt, who photographed Loren numerous times and became close friends with her, captures the actress after a meal. <a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/60011/sophia-loren-at-her-sexiest" target="_blank">Click here for more photos of Sophia Loren at her sexiest.</a> Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com
Actress Sophia Loren in a scene from the 1961 movie "A Countess from Hong Kong ."<br> Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com
This unpublished photo of Loren cruising in a curve-hugging one-piece swimsuit is certainly sexy -- but then, Eisenstaedt was quite adept at capturing that side of Loren. This photo of her, for example, wearing sheer black lingerie during the filming of Marriage Italian Style, made for one of LIFE's most memorable (and controversial) covers ever. Loren recalls the day she visited Eisie in New York , and saw the photo blown up in his office: "There I was, so tall, so big, a huge picture of me, and he showed it to me with a great pride. . . . Oh, it was beautiful! I was very proud, because generally when you show pictures of lingerie like this, it can become a little bit naughty and vulgar -- but there's nothing vulgar about it. It was really a very nice image of a young woman being happy and sexy." <a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/59821/sophia-loren-20-unpublished-photos" target="_blank">Click here for more unpublished photos of Sophia Loren</a> <br> Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com
Carlo Ponti Jr. was a little more than 6 months old when Eisenstaedt dropped in on Loren to witness her embracing a new role: motherhood. Here, the star beams at her baby, as her longtime secretary Ines Bruschia (left) and another helper surround him with toys. (Both women, Loren says, still work with her today, helping out with her grandchildren.) Seeing this 1969 photo sparks happy memories for Loren, but it also reminds her of a deeply personal triumph. "It was a very hard moment of my life, because I didn't have children easily," Loren tells LIFE.com. "I couldn't get pregnant easily, and so when I did, I was always in danger of losing my child. . . . When I knew I was pregnant, the doctor told me to be in bed for the whole pregnancy, and that's what I did." How did it feel to finally have a son, after having suffered multiple miscarriages? "Like I won a battle," Loren says. "Like, My God, what did I do? It's beautiful. I fought for life and for my children."<br> Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com <a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/59821/sophia-loren-20-unpublished-photos" target="_blank">Click here for more unpublished photos of Sophia Loren</a>
Though they are very close, "my sister is completely different from me," Loren says of her younger sibling Maria Scicolone (left), who once was married to the musician son of Benito Mussolini. "She's somebody very, very out. I'm not at all like this -- I'm very closed in myself. I like to stay at home, I like my privacy. I like to be with my children. Maybe because my profession takes me out most of the time and between a lot of people, when I am not working, I like to be at home, in a very causal way. And I like to enjoy a nice sunset, and I like to enjoy music. I like to read. I like to do things that many people who are accustomed to my kind of life, they like to do." <a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/59821/sophia-loren-20-unpublished-photos" target="_blank">Click here for more unpublished photos of Sophia Loren</a>
Although Ponti dreamed of one day providing guests with wine and olive oil produced from the grounds surrounding their home, Loren enjoyed the simplicity of picking roses for Ponti's office desk.<br><a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/23361#index/0" target="_blank">Click here more photos of Sophia at her Italian villa.</a> Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com
Loren and Ponti began restoring their Italian villa together in 1960. "A house is like a person, you must be together for awhile to be comfortable," Loren said about the villa she called her "first real home." <a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/23361#index/0%20" target="_blank">Click here for more of Sophia Loren at her Italian villa.</a> Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com
Disco Nap: Sophia Loren, 1957 <a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/23361#index/0" target="_blank">Click here for more photos of Sophia Loren at home.</a> Photo: Keystone Features/Getty Images
"Of all the actresses I have met, Sophia Loren has always seemed to be the hardest-working and easiest to get along with," wrote LIFE staffer Alfred Eisenstaedt, who captured this image of Loren in 1961 and photographed her countless times over his career. <a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/60011/sophia-loren-at-her-sexiest" target="_blank">Click here to see more of Sophia Loren at her sexiest.</a> Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com