Laura Betti
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- May 1, 1927
- Died
- July 31, 2004 (aged 77)
- Birthplace
- Casalecchio di Reno, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
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
Photos
Filmography
Marx Can Wait
Movie · as Irina (archive footage) (uncredited)
Maresco / Pasolini
Movie · as Self
Laura's Passion
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Beaches of Agnès
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Pasolini and the Secret Humiliation of Chaucer
Movie · as Interviewee
Raul - Right to Kill
Movie · as Usuraia
Fratella e Sorello
Movie · as Presidente Del Tribunale
Renzo e Lucia
Movie · as Madre Superiora
Renzo e Lucia
TV · as Madre Superiora · 2 eps
Happiness Costs Nothing
Movie · as Suora guardiana
Gli astronomi
Movie · as Pavoncella
Household Accounts
Movie · as Contessa Celi Sanguineti
Il diario di Matilde Manzoni
Movie · as Teresa Manzoni Borri
Fat Girl
Movie · as Fernando's Mother
Pasolini, el poeta en la playa
Movie · as Herself
The Protagonists
Movie · as Judge
Marianna Ucrìa
Movie · as Giuseppa
We Free Kings
Movie · as Una delle ragazze del coro
Un eroe borghese
Movie · as dott.ssa Trebbi
With Closed Eyes
Movie · as Beatrice
The Great Pumpkin
Movie · as Aida
Mario, Maria and Mario
Movie · as Laura
La ribelle
Movie · as Sister Valida
Suffocating Heat
Movie · as Laura
Le rose blu
Movie · as La donna con la rosa blu
Gallant Ladies
Movie · as Catherine de Medicis
The Carpathian Mushroom
Movie · as Olympia
I cammelli
Movie · as Milena
Jane B. by Agnès V.
Movie · as Lardy
Widow's Walk
Movie · as Keli
Sweets from a Stranger
Movie · as Jolanda
Jenatsch
Movie · as Mademoiselle von Planta
Mother Ebe
Movie · as Lidia Corradi
Blame it on Paradise
Movie · as direttrice
Cinecittà Cinecittà
TV · as Caterina Elisabetta Magrevich · 1 ep
Class Relations
Movie · as Brunelda
The Defective Detective
Movie · as Carlotta Batticelli
Art of Love
Movie · as Clio
That Night of Varennes
Movie · as Virginia Capacelli
Far from Manhattan
Movie · as Madame Hanska
Venise en hiver
Movie · as Mme Poli
The Charterhouse of Parma
TV · as The Vivandière · 6 eps
Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die
Movie · as Self
The Wings of the Dove
TV · as Zia Maud · 3 eps
My Name Is Anna Magnani
Movie · as Self
The Little Archimedes
Movie · as La signora Bondi
Lovers and Liars
Movie · as Laura
Einzelzimmer
Movie · as Calogera
Butterfly on the Shoulder
Movie · as Mme Carrabo
The Word
TV · as Maria · 4 eps
At Night All Cats Are Crazy
Movie · as Jacqueline
The Gang
Movie · as Felicia
The Seagull
Movie · as Irina
1900
Movie · as Regina
Private Vices, Public Virtues
Movie · as Teresa
Pier Paolo Pasolini : vivre et encore plus
Movie · as Elle-même
ABCinema
Movie · as Self
The Last Day of School Before Christmas
Movie · as Passenger coach
Allonsanfan
Movie · as Esther Imbriani
The Woman with Red Boots
Movie · as Léonore
The Murri Affair
Movie · as Tisa Borghi
The Cousin
Movie · as Rosalia Scuderi
The Return
Movie · as Clara
Woman Buried Alive
Movie · as Giovanna la Pazza
The Canterbury Tales
Movie · as The Wife from Bath
Slap the Monster on Page One
Movie · as Rita Zigai
Sonny and Jed
Movie · as Betty
A Bay of Blood
Movie · as Anna Fossati
In the Name of the Father
Movie · as Franco's Mother
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
Movie · as Mildred Harrington
Stop the World... I Want to Get Off!
Movie
A Man Called Sledge
Movie · as Sister
Paulina Is Leaving
Movie · as Hortense
RARA
Movie
Theorem
Movie · as Emilia, the Servant
Orgy
Movie · as Donna
Caprice Italian Style
Movie · as Desdemona
What Are the Clouds?
Movie · as Desdemona
The Witches
Movie · as Male Tourist (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna")
Oedipus Rex
Movie · as Jocasta's Maid (uncredited)
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
Movie · as un turista
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
Movie · as Sonia, the 'Diva' (segment "La ricotta")
Ecco
Movie · as Self
La ricotta
Movie
Escape by Night
Movie · as Teresa
Red Lips
Movie · as The Painter
La Dolce Vita
Movie · as Laura
Discorama
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Noi siamo le colonne
Movie · as La cantante annoiata (no acreditado)