In February 1958, 23-year-old Elvis Presley was eating lunch at the Paramount Studios commissary in Hollywood when one of the world’s most famous actresses spotted him.
Sophia Loren walked over, introduced herself and, according to photographer Bob Willoughby, promptly sat on Elvis’s lap.
Then she kissed him and began playfully messing with the carefully styled pompadour that had already become part of his image. Willoughby was there with his camera and captured the extraordinary encounter.
Elvis was at Paramount working on King Creole, while Loren was also working at the studio. According to an account from Willoughby’s estate, Loren noticed Elvis during lunch and immediately went over to him. Within moments, she was sitting on his lap, hugging him and ruffling his hair.
For someone famous for protecting his hairstyle, Elvis apparently did not put up much resistance.
Willoughby later remembered Elvis as being self-conscious during the encounter, but joked that there was not much he could do when Sophia Loren decided to mess with his hair.
When Elvis Presley Met Sophia Loren
The meeting also produced a surprisingly candid conversation.
Loren reportedly asked Elvis whether he ever wished his screaming fans would quiet down.
Elvis said no.
He joked that the screams sometimes helped him onstage because if he thought he might miss a difficult note, he could make a sudden movement and the audience would scream loudly enough to cover it.
There was another reason Elvis may have been particularly happy about the encounter.
He was already a Sophia Loren fan.
According to Willoughby’s account, Elvis told a reporter that he had seen every movie Loren had made, while she had only seen one of his. At the time, there was even discussion about the possibility of the two stars appearing together in a future project, although that never happened.
Before leaving, Loren reportedly told Elvis she thought he was a very nice boy.
Elvis immediately turned it into a joke, telling her that was about the worst thing she could say about him.
The photographs survived long after that brief Hollywood lunch.
They capture two young stars who were already becoming international icons, laughing together in a moment that apparently happened almost completely by chance.
Sophia Loren simply spotted Elvis Presley eating lunch, walked over and within minutes was sitting on the King of Rock and Roll’s lap while messing up his most famous hairstyle.