Who Are ThoseGal? - Laura Betti

Laura Betti was born Laura Trombetti in Casalecchio di Reno, Emilia Romagna, Italy on May 1 1927. Her childhood was spent in Bologna under the ominous shadow of Mussolini's Fascist repression. But when the Second World War ended and freedom was finally restored in Italy, Laura Trombetti first rebelled by shortening her name to Betti. Soon she was gathering a sulphurous reputation in the new hot spots of Rome's café society as it reveled once more in social and artistic freedom.

 

This blonde and flamboyant actress started her career as a jazz singer. 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, for whom she made a documentary after his death. Under Pasolini's direction she proved a wonderful talent, in many films like “La ricotta” (1963) and “Teorema” (1968). In 1976, she portrayed a cruel and erotic-maniacal fascist in “1900”, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. She remained the keeper of Pasolini’s flame to the end, and even wrote a novel about him, Teta veleta (1979). Her readings kept his memory alive, and in 2001 she issued a documentary about him, presented at the Venice Film Festival. She oversaw the issue of restored versions of all his films, and on April 24, 2004, ceremoniously presented all of Pasolini's archives to Bologna's film library.

Since the 1960s, she had 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.

 

Laura appeared in three Euro-westerns: “Companeros”, “A Man Called Sledge” (both 1970) and “Sonny and Jed” (1972). Laura also appeared as herself in the western documentary “Arrivano i vostro” (1984).

 

Later in her career she became a TV and voice actress before dying in Rome, Italy on July 31, 2004.

 

BETTI, Laura (Laura Trombetti) [5/1/1927, Casalecchio di Reno, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - 7/31/2004, Rome, Lazio, Italy] - singer, stage, TV, voice actress.

Companeros! – 1970 [Italian voice of Karin Schubert]
A Man Called Sledge - 1970 (sister)
Sonny and Jed - 1972
Arrivano i vostri (TV) - 1984 [herself]