Sophia Loren on LIFE magazine

LIFE always realized the sales value of a little sex. Seldom did an issue of Life miss the opportunity to include partially clad women, sometimes under cover of a story on Hollywood or thinly veiled as a fashion piece on the season’s swimwear. Though this practice opened the magazine to criticism from some fronts, its impact on sales was undeniable. However, in September 1966, the photo of Sophia Loren—the photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt’s favorite model—wearing a negligee made the cover. It caused many Life readers to cancel their subscriptions.

During the 1960s, Loren was one of the most popular actresses in the world, in 1964, she received $1 million to act in The Fall of the Roman Empire. Despite the failure of her films to generate sales at the box office, Sophia Loren was a darling of studios, and worn some of the most lavish costumes ever created for the movies. The above photo was taken on the set for 1964 film Matrimonio all’italiana, starring Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

The Battle of the Bulge

By 1957, when the above pictures are taken, the Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield already had a lot of negative publicity due to her repeated successful attempts to expose her breasts in carefully staged public “accidents”. She had come a long way from the times when the prominence of her breasts led her to lose professional roles. (Mansfield breasts changed in size due to her pregnancies and breast feeding five children. Her smallest measurement was 40D, and largest at 46DD).

In April 1957, Hollywood was hosting a dinner party for the Italian actress, Sophia Loren at the Romanoff’s. Mansfield’s bosom again became the feature of a notorious publicity stunt intended to deflect attention from the Italian star. Photographs of the encounter were published around the world. The most famous image (by Delmar Watson) showed Loren raising an eyebrow at the American actress who, sitting between Loren and her dinner companion, Clifton Webb, had leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline and exposing one nipple.

The next day, the gleeful press termed it ‘the Battle of the Bulge’. Various reenactment followed as well, including one with Anna Nicole Smith (and NY DJ Sky Nellor) and a GQ photo-op with Heidi Klum.