
Laura Betti
Acting • Born 1927-05-01 – Died 2004-07-31
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.
Filmography
87 credits
Fat Girl
Movie • 2001
Fernando's Mother

1900
Movie • 1976
Regina

Happiness Costs Nothing
Movie • 2003
Suora guardiana

Theorem
Movie • 1968
Emilia, the Servant

A Bay of Blood
Movie • 1971
Anna Fossati

The Canterbury Tales
Movie • 1972
The Wife from Bath

Raul - Right to Kill
Movie • 2005
Usuraia

Hatchet for the Honeymoon
Movie • 1970
Mildred Harrington

That Night of Varennes
Movie • 1982
Virginia Capacelli

Far from Manhattan
Movie • 1982
Madame Hanska

Mother Ebe
Movie • 1985
Lidia Corradi

Private Vices, Public Virtues
Movie • 1976
Teresa

At Night All Cats Are Crazy
Movie • 1977
Jacqueline

Allonsanfan
Movie • 1974
Esther Imbriani

Paulina Is Leaving
Movie • 1969
Hortense

The Great Pumpkin
Movie • 1993
Aida

Butterfly on the Shoulder
Movie • 1978
Mme Carrabo

Blame it on Paradise
Movie • 1985
direttrice

Mario, Maria and Mario
Movie • 1993
Laura

Escape by Night
Movie • 1960
Teresa

Lovers and Liars
Movie • 1979
Laura

Marianna Ucrìa
Movie • 1997
Giuseppa

The Woman with Red Boots
Movie • 1974
Léonore

The Gang
Movie • 1977
Felicia

La ribelle
Movie • 1993
Sister Valida

Orgy
Movie • 1968
Donna

Fratella e Sorello
Movie • 2005
Presidente Del Tribunale

We Free Kings
Movie • 1996
Una delle ragazze del coro

Widow's Walk
Movie • 1987
Keli

The Witches
Movie • 1967
Male Tourist (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna")

Suffocating Heat
Movie • 1991
Laura

I cammelli
Movie • 1988
Milena

Oedipus Rex
Movie • 1967
Jocasta's Maid (uncredited)

Caprice Italian Style
Movie • 1968
Desdemona

Pier Paolo Pasolini : vivre et encore plus
Movie • 1976
Elle-même

The Seagull
Movie • 1977
Irina

Marx Can Wait
Movie • 2021
Irina (archive footage) (uncredited)

Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die
Movie • 1981
Self

Le rose blu
Movie • 1990
La donna con la rosa blu

Class Relations
Movie • 1984
Brunelda

Renzo e Lucia
Movie • 2004
Madre Superiora

Un eroe borghese
Movie • 1995
Dottoressa Trebbi

The Protagonists
Movie • 1999
Judge

Stop the World... I Want to Get Off!
Movie • 1970

Jane B. by Agnès V.
Movie • 1988
Lardy

The Defective Detective
Movie • 1984
Carlotta Batticelli

Red Lips
Movie • 1960
The Painter

Gallant Ladies
Movie • 1990
Catherine de Medicis

The Carpathian Mushroom
Movie • 1990
Olympia

The Return
Movie • 1973
Clara

Laura's Passion
Movie • 2011
Self (archive footage)

The Beaches of Agnès
Movie • 2008
Self (archive footage)

Gli astronomi
Movie • 2003
Pavoncella

Art of Love
Movie • 1983
Clio

Pasolini and the Secret Humiliation of Chaucer
Movie • 2006
Interviewee

With Closed Eyes
Movie • 1994
Beatrice

Sweets from a Stranger
Movie • 1987
Jolanda

In the Name of the Father
Movie • 1971
Franco's Mother

The Murri Affair
Movie • 1974
Tisa Borghi

My Name Is Anna Magnani
Movie • 1980
Self

Slap the Monster on Page One
Movie • 1972
Rita Zigai

Einzelzimmer
Movie • 1979
Calogera

The Earth As Seen from the Moon
Movie • 1967
un turista

Ro.Go.Pa.G.
Movie • 1963
Sonia, the 'Diva' (segment "La ricotta")

What Are the Clouds?
Movie • 1968
Desdemona

Ecco
Movie • 1963
Self

Pasolini, el poeta en la playa
Movie • 2000
Herself

The Cousin
Movie • 1974
Rosalia Scuderi

A Man Called Sledge
Movie • 1970
Sister

The Little Archimedes
Movie • 1980
La signora Bondi

Household Accounts
Movie • 2003
Contessa Celi Sanguineti

La Dolce Vita
Movie • 1960
Laura

Woman Buried Alive
Movie • 1973
Giovanna la Pazza

Sonny and Jed
Movie • 1972
Betty

RARA
Movie • 1969

Il diario di Matilde Manzoni
Movie • 2002
Teresa Manzoni Borri

Abicinema
Movie • 1975
Self

Maresco / Pasolini
Movie • 2021
Self

Jenatsch
Movie • 1987
Mademoiselle von Planta

Noi siamo le colonne
Movie • 1956
La cantante annoiata (no acreditado)

Venise en hiver
Movie • 1982
Mme Poli

The Last Day of School Before Christmas
Movie • 1975
Passenger coach

The Word
TV • 1978
Maria

The Charterhouse of Parma
TV • 1982
The Vivandière

Discorama
TV • 1959
Self

The Wings of the Dove
TV • 1981
Zia Maud

Cinecittà Cinecittà
TV • 1985
Caterina Elisabetta Magrevich