Laura Betti ( Trombetti; May 1 1934 – 31 July 2004) was an Italian actress known particularly for her work with directors

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

, and

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci ( ; ; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved inte ...

. 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

's ''

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

'', 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''.

Early life

Born Laura Trombetti in Casalecchio di Reno, near

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, she grew up to be interested in singing. She first worked professionally in the arts as a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and moved to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Film career

Betti made her film debut in

's ''

La Dolce Vita ''La Dolce Vita'' (; Italian for 'the sweet life' or 'the good life'Kezich, 203) is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini and written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi. The film stars M ...

'' (1960). In 1963, she became a close friend of the poet and movie director

. 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 ''The Canterbury Tales'' () is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The book presents the tales, which are mostly written in verse, as part of a fictional storytelling contest held ...

,'' in which she played the Wife of Bath, and his controversial '' Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' (1975).Obituary: "Laura Betti"
BBC, 1 August 2004 In 1976, Betti portrayed Regina, a cruel and eroto-maniacal

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

's '' Novecento'' (''1900''). She also played Miss Blandish in his ''

Last Tango in Paris ''Last Tango in Paris'' (; ) is a 1972 Erotic film, erotic Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film stars Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider (actor), Maria Schneider and Jean-Pierre Léaud, and portrays a rec ...

'' (1972), though her single scene was deleted. In 1973, she dubbed the voice of the Devil for the Italian version of

William Friedkin William David Friedkin (; August 29, 1935 – August 7, 2023) was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in doc ...

's ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...

''.

From the 1960s, Betti dedicated much of her time to

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

. She became the muse for a number of leading political and literary figures in Italy and came to personify the revolutionary and

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

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''.

Selected filmography

Discography

LP

* ''Laura Betti con l'orchestra di Piero Umiliani'' (Jolly LPJ 5020, 1960) * ''Laura Betti canta Kurt Weill 1900-1933'' (Ricordi SMRL 6031, 1963) * ''Laura Betti canta Kurt Weill 1933-1950'' (Ricordi SMRL 6032, 1963)

EP

* ''Laura Betti con Piero Umiliani e la sua orchestra''. La commedia è finita/La canzone del giramondo/La canzone del tempo/Una venere ottimista (RCA Italiana A72U0220, 1958) * ''Quattro canzoni con Laura Betti''. Amare vuol dire mentire/ I hate Rome/ Lucciola/ Satellite (Jolly EPJ 3000, 1960) * ''Laura Betti con l'orchestra di Piero Umiliani''. Quella cosa in Lombardia/Piero/Io son' una (Jolly EPJ 3004, 1960) * ''Laura Betti con l'orchestra di Piero Umiliani''. Macrì Teresa detta Pazzia/Valzer della toppa/Cocco di mamma (Jolly EPJ 3005, 1960) * ''Laura Betti con l'orchestra di Piero Umiliani''. Venere tascabile/Vera signora/E invece no (Jolly EPJ 3006, 1960) * ''Laura Betti dal film 'Cronache del '22' ''. Nel '22 sognavo già l'amore/Proprio oggi/Sulla strada che va a Reggio/La prima volta (Jolly EPJ3009, 1961) * ''Laura Betti N.1.'' Je me jette/La parade du suicide/Je hais Rome/La belle Léontine (Chansons d'Orphée 150019, 1962) * ''Laura Betti N.2.'' Je sais vivre/Piero/Maria le Tatuage/Une vraie dame (Chansons d'Orphée, 150021b, 1962) * ''Laura Betti e Paolo Poli''. Doppio EP. La bambinona/Guglielmino/La bella Leontine/Io Corpus Domini 1938/Mi butto/Donna bocca bella/Donna Lombarda/Orrenda madre/La Lisetta/La Ninetta/La Morettina/La Gigiotta (Carosello LC4001/2, 1964) *''Ordine e disordine''. Ai brigoli di Casalecchio/M'hai scocciata, Johnny/Monologo della buca/Solitudine/Lamento del nord (I dischi del sole DS 40, 1965)

Singles

* ''Les pantoufles à papa/L'attesa'' (Rca Italiana N0595, 1957) * ''Venere tascabile/Seguendo la flotta'' (Jolly J 20135, 1960) * ''Ballata dell'uomo ricco/Ballata del pover'uomo'' (Jolly J 20128, 1961) * ''E invece no/Solamente gli occhi'' (Jolly J 20136X45, 1961)

References

External links

*
Il Manifesto Obituaries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Betti, Laura 1934 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Italian actresses Actresses from Emilia-Romagna Italian film actresses Volpi Cup for Best Actress winners Ciak d'oro winners