Remembered by the public and the entertainment world for his characteristic timbre and the strong personality Laura Betti was a great Italian actress. Let’s discover the story of his life by retracing his career and relationship with Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Who was Laura Betti
Laura Betti, pseudonym of Laura Trombetti (Casalecchio di Reno, 1 May 1927 – Rome, 31 July 2004), was an Italian actress. He grows up with his parents, whose father Ettore Trombetti is remembered, a lawyer as well as a man active in politics. He soon became passionate about the dynamics of entertainment world and he launched himself as a young jazz singer and later with cabaret shows alongside Walter Chiari.
Then a theater with “Il crogiuolo” by Arthur Miller under the direction of Luchino Visconti followed by several different shows.
With “Giro a bianco”, a recital made with numerous Italian artists, he plays a tour throughout Italy followed by a French tour which saw the approval of surrealist artists such as André Breton.
Laura Betti’s film career
It makes itself known towards the end of 1960 with “The ballad of the poor man” together with Paolo Poli where he plays the role of storyteller among the various episodes of the Rai drama “Tutto da rifare pover’uomo”. Also in these years he takes part in numerous films including “Red lips”, “It was night in Rome” by Roberto Rossellini, but above all “The sweet life” by Federico Fellini.
To determine a turning point in his career, however, is themeeting with Pier Paolo Pasolini who chooses it for his “La ricotta” and then in “Teoroma” with which he also gets the prize as best actress at the Venice Film Festival. Through his important character he often manages to get noticed more than the protagonists themselves.
In fact, his parts are memorable in the films “Beat the monster on the front page”, “Allonsanfàn” and “Novecento” by Bernardo Bertolucci where he plays the role of antagonist most loved of his entire career. This part is followed by numerous ones on the same style; she also plays the role of villain in “Candy from a stranger”, “The big watermelon” and “A bourgeois hero” by Michele Placido. Furthermore, among the last parts, the one in “Happiness costs nothing”, a project of 2003 with which he obtains one, is also recolded nomination for the Nastro d’Argento for Best Supporting Actress.
Laura Betti and the relationship with Pier Paolo Pasolini
As already known, Pasolini was a fundamental man in Betti’s life. In 1983 the actress creates and directs the “Pier Paolo Pasolini Fund” based in Rome. In addition, in 2003 she created the “Pier Paolo Pasolini Archive Study Center” in the Cineteca di Bologna, where she donated all the documentation she managed to collect with her collection.
Their report was presented in “Qsomething written ” by Emanuele Trevi who with this narration also obtained the second place of the Strega Prize. Even Betti herself has left evidence of her life, and therefore of this relationship, in her autobiography “Teta Veleta” with a preface by Pasolini.
Finally, she also took care of the volume “Pasolini judicial news, persecution, death” with the collaboration of Giovanni Raboni published in 1977 by Garzanti.