Loren rolls back years to be a calendar girl at 72

ITALY's sexiest septuagenarian, film star Sophia Loren, has become the world's oldest pin-up girl, stripping off for the 2007 Pirelli calendar.

Collectors' edition: Sophia Loren in the Pirelli calendar

ITALY's sexiest septuagenarian, film star Sophia Loren, has become the world's oldest pin-up girl, stripping off for the 2007 Pirelli calendar.

Expatriate Australian star Naomi Watts also features in the limited-edition collectors' calendar, along with Spanish actor Penelope Cruz and American Oscar-winner Hilary Swank.

Cropped promotional photographs released by the Italian tyre-maker yesterday show 72-year-old Loren lying on a bed in her negligee.

"When they asked me to do it, I laughed a lot at first," Loren said at the launch in London yesterday. "I was a bit scared and asked lots of questions - what sort of photos would they be? But then I thought, 'Who cares? I'm doing it'."

Awarded an Oscar for lifetime achievements, the curvaceous and sultry Loren has appeared in more than 100 films in her 50-year career. She remains the only Italian-born actor to have conquered Hollywood.

The tasteful black-and-white portraits, shot in California by Dutch fashion photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, are a demure departure from Pirelli's often risque pin-ups of some of the world's most sensual women. Kate Moss posed topless in this year's calendar, which also featured entertainer Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen.

The English-born Watts, who grew up in Australia and lives in Los Angeles, is shot for next year's edition hugging a pillow, in an image Pirelli describes as "sleek and sophisticated".

The much-hyped calendar, reserved for Pirelli's VIP and celebrity customers, was launched as a promotional tool in 1964 and quickly became one of the most coveted commissions for top models and celebrity photographers.