Everyone knows the iconic photograph of Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield, taken 57 years ago. Sophia was just becoming an international star and Jayne Mansfield was seen by many as a budget Marilyn Monroe. Jayne was a fun lady, though, and that night – the night of the iconic photograph – Jayne was trying to steal some attention away from Sophia. When Jayne sat down beside Sophia and Jayne’s breasts almost came tumbling out of her low-cut dress, Sophia threw one of the best side-eyes in history. There was horror, amusement and anger in that side-eye. It was great. And Sophia spoke to Entertainment Weekly about that iconic photo:
All these years later, Loren spoke to EW on the phone from her home in Switzerland. In the days before the AFI Fest’s tribute to her and the release of her memoir Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: My Life, 80-year-old Loren shares the story behind the stink eye.
EW: This photo was taken when you were still very new to Hollywood.
SOPHIA LOREN: Yes, Paramount had organized a party for me. All of cinema was there, it was incredible. And then comes in Jayne Mansfield, the last one to come. For me, that was when it got amazing.What did she do when she got there?
She came right for my table. She knew everyone was watching. She sat down. And now, she was barely… Listen. Look at the picture. Where are my eyes? I’m staring at her nipples because I am afraid they are about to come onto my plate. In my face you can see the fear. I’m so frightened that everything in her dress is going to blow—BOOM!—and spill all over the table.I’ve seen other photos from that same moment when you’re laughing and more light-hearted.
No, no. Well, there may be other photos, but this is the picture. This is the one that shows how it was. This is the only picture.Can you remember the last time you saw it?
Actually, many, many times I am given this photo to autograph it. And I never do. I don’t want to have anything to do with that. And also out of respect for Jayne Mansfield because she’s not with us anymore.
I remember reading an interview with Sophia at one point where she claimed that she was genuinely upset that Jayne had come in and made the evening all about her breasts. I guess Sophia isn’t so upset at this point. I love that she says “For me, that was when it got amazing.” And of course, Sophia never autographs that photo. Because it’s just too “amazing,” right?
Honestly, though, I’ve heard that Jayne was actually a pretty lovely person. Mariska Hargitay – Jayne’s daughter – always talks about how Jayne was a great mom and that her parents just adored each other.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty, Fame/Flynet.
I’ve always loved this picture. I would think that Sophia could get a better looking wig for herself now though!
that is a seriously budget wig. I’m really surprised that she’d be OK with that, knowing what a glamorous person she is.
i was surprised by the cheap look of it too. she could do way better, for old time’s sake.
Raquel Welsh has some really nice ones.
My grandmother took me to a mall once to see Sophia Loren, who came to the top of the second tiered esclator and waved to the fans waiting down below to see her and my gramps said to me at the time, She’s gorgeous but why is she wearing such a bad WIG ( and that had to be 25yrs ago….)
She was wearing a bad wig that day too, but the most beautiful dress and gorgeous face and figure.
She looks wonderful at 80 though ,wow, amazing bone structure.
Is that a home kit face lift I’m seeing there? Wow!
The woman is eighty.
Leave her alone. She’s lovely.
Like Nicole said. She’s 80. I hope I look that good at her age. She’s beaitiful. Leave her be.
I think she looks great……just bad wig, but gorgeous lady, still.
LMAO! Meow! She looks great for her age. Not as preserved as Rachel Welsh, but great nonetheless.
Raquel is younger & had a much easier early life, as a high school beauty queen in La Jolla. Sophia lived in near-starvation at times in Italy during WW2.
“Mariska Hargitay – Jayne’s daughter – always talks about how Jayne was a great mom and that her parents just adored each other.”
Jayne Mansfield divorced her Mariska’s Dad the year she was born so I doubt they “adored” each other at that point. Also, Jayne died when Mariska was 3-4 so maybe she just remembers her Dad saying good things about her because she had passed?
that is neither here nor there, but i had no idea that mariska was jayne’s daughter. sad that she lost her mom so young.
She was in the back seat when her mother died.
Yes, Jayne was decapitated in that accident and Mariska was in the back seat of the car.
@PunkyMomma She wasn’t decapitated–that became part of the lore of the story. She was returning from a show she was performing in and one of the wig stands (basically a floating ‘head’) was found in the wreckage. That gave rise to the tale that she was decapitated.
According to her death certificate she suffered a “crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain”. So she was not decapitated, she was scalped. Just a horrible little tidbit of info for you fine folks.
That’s horrible. I’ve always heard the lore. My apologies.
I had no idea she was Jayne Mansfield’s daughter. This is good trivia to know.
I think Mariska looks like Jayne, in glimpses sometimes when watching her on TV,she has a lot of her mom’s face and figure,
I’ve always loved that photo too! It’s cool to hear her perspective.
Her breasts were no way near her plate, although they do look ready to spill out of the dress.
I don’t think that photo above is the one they are talking about. There’s one from that night where Mansfield is sitting next to Sophia Loren and Sophia is definitely looking at Mansfield’s breasts and they definitely were ready to spill onto a plate.
The Original Queen of The Easy Shade
It is my Onlyest wish to be as shady as Sofia Loren….Or Rihanna!
I don’t know. In some way, I think she is trying to deflect from her obvious look of disdain in that photo. Mansfield’s boobs stole her thunder, at her party, and she looks positively pissed that they one (or two) upped her own cleavage situation.
“one (or two) upped”…LMAO.
and THIS is why we love you, Kiddo.
Sure she was pissed. “Look at my fun-bags!” is a cheap, easy attention grabber. It deserves some shade and eye rolls.
Meh. Sophia made her career out of “Look at my funbags”, too.
Hmmm, I don’t know if she’s trying to deflect from anything. She’s not really telling us how she felt except afraid that the goods were about to be spilled. She’s saying “Look at the picture. It’s all there.” And it really is. I love that picture more than I can say. It’s gold I haven’t seen a side-eye like that since.
And one of Mansfield’s signature moves was “accidentally” falling out of her dresses. It’s tacky and cheap, and I don’t blame Loren for being all “simmer down, Tits McGee!”
Totally agree with Kiddo on this one. Yeah, Ms. Mansfield was wearing some side-eye worthy cleavage that night, all for the attention. Don’t tell me Ms. Sophia Loren hasn’t been doing that her entire career! She may have done it with a little more finesse, but she was no less overt.
Also, side note to Kaiser: you can still seek sexual attention AND be a lovely person!
Sophia made her career out of winning an Oscar for “Two Women”. See that before you denigrate her.
Sophia Loren has proven her talent long ago: she has worked with the legendary directors of her time in movies which still today are considered masterpieces.
Whoa, who denigrated anyone? The truth is that she started her career by using her assets. What happened with her career later is not disputed. But it still doesn’t change the overall content of that photo.
Also, pulling a similar maneuver in her older years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Loren#mediaviewer/File:Sophia_Loren_in_London.jpg
Wouldn’t you be pissed if someone showed up to your party in a dress that was so low that her nipples kept popping out? In a pretty blatant attempt to steal your thunder?
She’s 80 and I think she looks beautiful. She sounds like an amazing woman.
Sophia inspired haters. In Bob Colacello’s book he tells a story of Liz Taylor clowning her because Sophia got dressed up to meet her and Liz just wore jeans.
I love Liz Taylor but Liz could be quite bitchy, but also funny bitchy too.
I hadn’t realized how much what’s her name from Modern Family (mind is blank – no sleep last night) resembles vintage Sophia Loren.
And her name is Sofia, no less. They do resemble each other.
Sofia Vergara is a Sophia Loren copycat.
JM was also an incredibly intelligent woman. She knew exactly what she was doing and we’ll be talking about it forever. This photo is iconic.
Sophia is Divine.
Yup, They say she had a extremely high IQ…..the silly giggles ,was all an act.
I remember how surprised i was finding out the first time that Jayne is Mariska’s mother! Lol. But now, I can see some similarities.
I don’t think she was concerned of the boobs popping out of Jayne’s dress. She looks pissed Jayne got a lot of attention.
That’s my take. I think she declines autographing the photo not out of ‘respect’ for Jayne, but because she was upstaged and obviously not happy about it, her jealousy was caught in the imagery.
Good God that dress is low cut!!! I’d be pissed too.
That wig….gracious.
Jayne may have been a lovely person, but that doesn’t mean she’s above stealing spotlight. As mentioned, she was seen as Marilyn Monroe light, meaning less talented/charismatic, albeit more stacked.
That was Jayne’s thing, stealing spotlight on public outings.
The thing about her ,She was quite intelligent,an extremely high IQ, that was well known in Hollywood,she was smart, but she kept trying to be the new Marilyn and she was quite successful for awhile, but the image she created for herself made it hard to break away from it, she stereotyped herself in people’s minds.
Her last few years were bad,she had grown tired of the image she created,many have said,but she wanted to work so she kept doing the same persona.
That picture of her in red is amazing. No fillers, cheek implants, lip extenders. She retains her individuality.
I like that Sophia connected not autographing that specific pic out of respect for Jayne
I kept asking myself “What side eye to Jayne?” So I googled it. The above pic isn’t the one Loren’s talking about, though it’s from the same night. I’m sorry I don’t know how to link it, but you HAVE to see it! Very funny 🙂
FYI, it’s linked in the first line of text of the post.
This picture made me laugh out loud. Hilarious. And wow mariska really looks like her mom in the photo here.
But…she’s not even looking at her in that photo. She’s looking pretty much straight ahead and it looks like she’s looking at someone out of camera view–but not Jayne. Am I missing something? Is it a different photo we’re talking about?
http://www.amazon.com/Jayne-Mansfield-Sophia-Romanoffs-Beverly/dp/B00DZZMAEQ
Thanks for the link, NYC_girl. That’s the photo I remember. Gold.
This is not the “side-eye” photo. If you search, I’m sure you’ll find it. It is priceless. They are both seated in the pic mentioned.
this is the side-eye pic. it’s hilarious.
http://dlisted.com/2014/11/04/sophia-loren-finally-explains-the-legendary-side-eye-she-threw-at-jayne-mansfield/
it’s linked in the first line of text of this post.
Hi themummy, I believe this is the pic. It is pretty funny!
http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/11/03/sophia-loren-jayne-mansfield/
I have that photo in my screensaver collection – I adore it – so it was fun to read what Sophia had to say about it. 🙂
Random thought – I never realized how much Angelina Jolie resembles Sophia when she was a younger woman. Not identical, but they could definitely pass for sisters.
The iconic photo is linked to in the first sentence of this post. I don’t understand the confusion.
Well, doofus was kind enough to explain it twice. ( Kaiser, I don’t understand why you didn’t just use the photo in question instead of a related one.) but thanks for all the entertainment you bring with your writings, Kaiser!!
I like that picture, but it’s nothing to lose your head over.
ouch…
Oh come on, it was a little funny. 🙂
Love Sophia! At this point she can say whatever, the woman has earned it!
I’d side-eye her too! It wasn’t a coming out party for her breasts.
I’d side eye any woman walking around me with her tits out like that, party for me or no.
Jayne might have been many things, but this was a cheap move. It’s the equivalent of showing up at someone’s birthday party or wedding in an outfit engineered to draw all attention away from the person(s) being feted. I think most people would be pissed or mortified.
This is hilarious. Jayne Mansfield’s stunt is on par with Rihanna’s necklace dress or whatever it was and certainly better than Miley’s awful nipple stickers.
in the photo mentioned (linked in the article), you can see Jane Mansfield’s areola. Sofia’s side eye was awesome.
The second picture in the following link is the absolute best from that night!
http://mbtimetraveler.com/2013/10/23/sophia-loren-and-jayne-mansfield-the-story-behind-the-picture/
Wow, even funnier
Its pretty obvious looking at that picture above..that Jayne’s intent was to upstage Sophia…and that slinky revealing dress did the trick. I’m guessing the only regret Sophia has looking back now is that she didn’t have her girls out on display as well! A little tit for tat…pardon the pun!