Laura Betti
Acting
Born: May 1, 1927 · Casalecchio di Reno, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Died: July 31, 2004 (aged 77)
Highest Rated
Biography
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.
Known for
La Dolce Vita
1960
1900
1976
Theorem
1968
A Bay of Blood
1971
Oedipus Rex
1967
Fat Girl
2001
The Canterbury Tales
1972
Slap the Monster on Page One
1972
The Beaches of Agnès
2008
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
1963
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
1970
The Witches
1967
Photos (2)
Movies (73)
La Dolce Vita
Laura
A Bay of Blood
Anna Fossati
Theorem
Emilia, the Servant
The Witches
Male Tourist (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna")
Oedipus Rex
Jocasta's Maid (uncredited)
Fat Girl
Fernando's Mother
Marx Can Wait
Irina (archive footage) (uncredited)
1900
Regina
The Canterbury Tales
The Wife from Bath
Art of Love
Clio
A Man Called Sledge
Sister
Widow's Walk
Keli
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
Sonia, the 'Diva' (segment "La ricotta")
The Cousin
Rosalia Scuderi
Jane B. by Agnès V.
Lardy
Gallant Ladies
Catherine de Medicis
The Gang
Felicia
That Night of Varennes
Virginia Capacelli
Slap the Monster on Page One
Rita Zigai
Class Relations
Brunelda
Raul - Right to Kill
Usuraia
With Closed Eyes
Beatrice
Private Vices, Public Virtues
Teresa
Allonsanfan
Esther Imbriani
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
Mildred Harrington
Sonny and Jed
Betty
Escape by Night
Teresa
Paulina Is Leaving
Hortense
The Great Pumpkin
Aida
The Woman with Red Boots
Léonore
Sweets from a Stranger
Jolanda
Mario, Maria and Mario
Laura
Lovers and Liars
Laura
The Defective Detective
Carlotta Batticelli
La ribelle
Sister Valida
In the Name of the Father
Franco's Mother
Renzo e Lucia
Madre Superiora
Happiness Costs Nothing
Suora guardiana
Butterfly on the Shoulder
Mme Carrabo
Marianna Ucrìa
Giuseppa
Caprice Italian Style
Desdemona
The Murri Affair
Tisa Borghi
What Are the Clouds?
Desdemona
Blame it on Paradise
direttrice
Woman Buried Alive
Giovanna la Pazza
Household Accounts
Contessa Celi Sanguineti
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
un turista
The Little Archimedes
La signora Bondi
Pasolini and the Secret Humiliation of Chaucer
Interviewee
La ricotta
1963
Noi siamo le colonne
La cantante annoiata (no acreditado)
Suffocating Heat
Laura
At Night All Cats Are Crazy
Jacqueline
Fratella e Sorello
Presidente Del Tribunale
I cammelli
Milena
The Carpathian Mushroom
Olympia
Un eroe borghese
dott.ssa Trebbi
Stop the World... I Want to Get Off!
1970
Far from Manhattan
Madame Hanska
The Protagonists
Judge
Gli astronomi
Pavoncella
Mother Ebe
Lidia Corradi
The Seagull
Irina
The Last Day of School Before Christmas
Passenger coach
We Free Kings
Una delle ragazze del coro
Red Lips
The Painter
Pier Paolo Pasolini : vivre et encore plus
Elle-même
RARA
1969
Jenatsch
Mademoiselle von Planta
The Return
Clara
Le rose blu
La donna con la rosa blu
Venise en hiver
Mme Poli
Orgy
Donna
