BETTI, Laura 1934-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born May 1, 1934, in Bologna, Italy; died after a heart attack, July 31, 2004, in Rome (some sources say Bologna), Italy. Actress and author. A former jazz singer turned actress, Betti was best known for films she made with such eminent Italian directors as Frederico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Betti made a big splash in the café society of Italy in the 1950s, where she was noted for her distinctively low singing voice; she was also a stage actor, and her combination of stage personality, blonde hair, good looks, and spike-heeled boots earned her the nickname of "the jaguar." She began starring in films in the 1960s, most notably in Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), but it was her meeting and subsequent close friendship with Pasolini that would mark the most important period of her career. She appeared in such Pasolini films as Hawks and Sparrows (1965) and Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). One of her greatest successes was in the film Teorema (1969), which won her the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. But when Pasolini was murdered in 1975, Betti noticeably began to lose interest in movies, although she gained recognition for her work in a number of horror films in the 1970s and continued to appear in movies as late as 2002. Her most satisfying work after Pasolini's death, though, was her efforts to preserve the director's creations, and she set up a foundation in 1980 designed to keep his films from being forgotten. In 2001, she also produced a documentary about Pasolini, Pier Paolo Pasonili e la ragione di un sogno, that was critically praised.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, August 3, 2004, section 2, p. 10.

Independent (London, England), August 6, 2004, p. 34.

Times (London, England), August 6, 2004, p. 32.

Washington Post, August 3, 2004, p. B5.