Laura Betti
Born
May 1, 1927
Died
July 31, 2004 (77 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Casalecchio di Reno, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Laura Betti (née Trombetti; 1 May 1927 – 31 July 2004) was an Italian actress known particularly for her work with directors Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Bernardo Bertolucci. She had a long friendship with Pasolini and made a documentary about him in 2001.
Betti became famous for portraying bizarre, grotesque, eccentric, unstable or maniacal roles, like Regina in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900, Anna the medium in Twitch of the Death Nerve, Giovanna la pazza in Woman Buried Alive, hysterical Rita Zigai in Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina, Therese in Private Vices, Public Virtues, Emilia the servant in Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema for which she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, and Mildred the protagonist's wife in Mario Bava's Hatchet for the Honeymoon.
Born Laura Trombetti in Casalecchio di Reno, near Bologna, she grew up to be interested in singing. She first worked professionally in the arts as a jazz singer and moved to Rome.
Betti made her film debut in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960). In 1963, she became a close friend of the poet and movie director Pier Paolo Pasolini. Under his direction, she proved a wonderful talent and played in seven of his films, including La ricotta (1963), Teorema (Theorem, 1968), his 1972 version of The Canterbury Tales, in which she played the Wife of Bath; and his controversial Salo (1975) ("120 Days of Sodom").
In 1976, Betti portrayed Regina, a cruel and eroto-maniacal fascist in Bernardo Bertolucci's Novecento (1900). She also played Miss Blandish in his Last Tango in Paris (1972), though her single scene was deleted.
In 1973 she dubbed the voice of the Devil for the Italian version of William Friedkin's The Exorcist.
From the 1960s, Betti dedicated much of her time to literature and politics. She became the muse for a number of leading political and literary figures in Italy and came to personify the revolutionary and Marxist era of 1970s Italy.
In 2001, she made a documentary about Pasolini, Pier Paolo Pasolini e la ragione di un sogno. She also donated her papers related to their long friendship along with more than 1000 volumes and many documents connected to Pasolini to the archives of the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, thus creating the Centro Studi Archivio Pier Paolo Pasolini. This Centro, strongly wanted by Betti, owns also thousands of photograph and all the works of Pasolini: poetry, literature, cinema and journalism. After her death in 2004 her brother Sergio Trombetti has donated all the personal documents of her career to the Centro that has absorbed them under the name Fondo Laura Betti.
Source: Article "Laura Betti" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Marx Can Wait
Irina (archive footage) (uncredited)
2021
Maresco / Pasolini
Self
2021
Laura's Passion
Self (archive footage)
2011
The Beaches of Agnès
Self (archive footage)
2008
La Rabbia di Pasolini
Self (archive footage)
2008
Pasolini and the Secret Humiliation of Chaucer
Interviewee
2006
Fratella e sorello
Presidente del Tribunale
2005
Raul - Right to Kill
Usuraia
2005
Renzo e Lucia
Madre Superiora
2004
Household Accounts
Contessa Celi Sanguineti
2003
Happiness Costs Nothing
Suora guardiana
2003
Gli astronomi
Pavoncella
2003
Il diario di Matilde Manzoni
Teresa Manzoni Borri
2002
Fat Girl
Fernando's Mother
2001
Pasolini, el poeta en la playa
Herself
2000
The Protagonists
Judge
1999
Marianna Ucrìa
Giuseppa
1997
We Free Kings
Una delle ragazze del coro
1996
Un eroe borghese
Dottoressa Trebbi
1995
With Closed Eyes
Beatrice
1994
Mario, Maria and Mario
Laura
1993
La ribelle
Sister Valida
1993
The Great Pumpkin
Aida
1993
Suffocating Heat
Laura
1991
Gallant Ladies
Catherine de Medicis
1990
The Carpathian Mushroom
Olympia
1990
Le rose blu
La donna con la rosa blu
1990
I cammelli
Milena
1988
Jane B. by Agnès V.
Lardy
1988
Widow's Walk
Keli
1987
Jenatsch
Mademoiselle von Planta
1987
Sweets from a Stranger
Jolanda
1987
Blame it on Paradise
direttrice
1985
Mother Ebe
Lidia Corradi
1985
Cinecittà Cinecittà
Caterina Elisabetta Magrevich · (1 episode)
1985
The Defective Detective
Carlotta Batticelli
1984
Class Relations
Brunelda
1984
The Art of Love
Clio
1983
Venise en hiver
Mme Poli
1982
The Charterhouse of Parma
The Vivandière · (6 episodes)
1982
The Night of Varennes
Virginia Capacelli
1982
Far from Manhattan
Madame Hanska
1982
The Wings of the Dove
Zia Maud · (3 episodes)
1981
Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die
Self
1981
My Name Is Anna Magnani
Self
1980
The Little Archimedes
La signora Bondi
1980
Einzelzimmer
Calogera
1979
Lovers and Liars
Laura
1979
The Word
Maria · (4 episodes)
1978
Butterfly on the Shoulder
Mme Carrabo
1978
At Night All Cats Are Crazy
Jacqueline
1977
The Seagull
Irina
1977
The Gang
Felicia
1977
1900
Regina
1976
Private Vices, Public Virtues
Teresa
1976
Pier Paolo Pasolini : vivre et encore plus
Elle-même
1976
Abicinema
Self
1975
The Last Day of School Before Christmas
1975
The Woman with Red Boots
Léonore
1974
The Murri Affair
Tisa Borghi
1974
Allonsanfan
Esther Imbriani
1974
The Cousin
Rosalia Scuderi
1974
The Return
Clara
1973
Woman Buried Alive
Giovanna la Pazza
1973
Slap the Monster on Page One
Rita Zigai
1972
The Canterbury Tales
The Wife from Bath
1972
Sonny and Jed
Betty
1972
In the Name of the Father
Franco's Mother
1971
A Bay of Blood
Anna Fossati
1971
A Man Called Sledge
Sister
1970
Stop the World... I Want to Get Off!
1970
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
Mildred Harrington
1970
Paulina Is Leaving
Hortense
1969
RARA
1969
Orgy
Donna
1968
Theorem
Emilia, the Servant
1968
Caprice Italian Style
Desdemona
1968
What Are the Clouds?
Desdemona
1968
Oedipus Rex
Jocasta's Maid (uncredited)
1967
The Witches
Male Tourist (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna")
1967
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
un turista
1967
Ecco
Self
1963
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
Sonia, the 'Diva' (segment "La ricotta")
1963
Escape by Night
Teresa
1960
Red Lips
The Painter
1960
La Dolce Vita
Laura
1960
Discorama
Self · (1 episode)
1959
Noi siamo le colonne
La cantante annoiata (no acreditado)
1956