Actress Franca Bettoja dies. The popular actress in Pietro Germi’s film “L’uomo di paglia”, wife of actor Ugo Tognazzi, died in Rome at the age of 88. The news of her death was confirmed to Adnkronos by her family.
The marriage with Ugo Tognazzi
In 1972 the actress married Tognazzi with whom she had worked in the film “Il fischio al naso”, directed by him in 1967, and with whom she had already had two children, the actor Gianmarco (1967) and the director Maria Sole (1971). After the marriage her film appearances became increasingly rare: her last appearance on the big screen dates back to 1993 in “Teste rasate” by Claudio Fragasso, where she plays the part of the mother of the character played by her son Gianmarco.
Born in Rome in 1936
Born in Rome on May 14, 1936, Franca Bettoja began her acting career with small parts in the films “Un palco all’opera” (1955), by Siro Marcellini (1955), “Gli amanti del deserto” (1956) by Gianni Vernuccio and “La ritrovatella di Pompei” (1957) by Giacomo Gentilomo (1957). She obtained her first co-starring role with “L’uomo di paglia” (1958) by Germi, presented at the Cannes Film Festival, playing the difficult and tormented character of Rita Fabiani. The role earned her a nomination for the Grolla d’oro as best leading actress.
Acting career
Having gained fame from the television series “La pisana” (1960), Bettooja took part in various genre films shot in Cinecittà, including “Orazi e Curiazi” (1961) by Ferdinando Baldi and Terence Young (1961), “I normanni” (1962( by Giuseppe Vari (1962), “Il Leone di San Marco” (1964) by Luigi Capuano and “Sandokan alla riscossa” and “Sandokan contro il leopardo di Sarawak”, shot one after the other in 1964 with Capuano directing. In 1962 she was nominated for the Nastro d’argento for best supporting actress for the role of Marcella in the film “Giorno per giorno, disperatamente”, the debut of director Alfredo Giannetti. During 1962 she presented the variety show “Tempo di Jazz” for seven months, a programme that was broadcast on the Rai National Channel and in 1963 she starred alongside Vincent Price in the film “The Last Man on Earth” by Ubaldo Ragona, considered a cult of the horror/science fiction genre. Franca Bettoja was then directed by Ettore Scola in “Will Our Heroes Find Their Friend Mysteriously Disappeared in Africa?” (1968) and by Marco Ferreri in “Don’t Touch the White Woman” (1974), her last major film.
Who was Franca Bettoja
Ugo Tognazzi’s widow was a master of elegance on and off the set, as underlined by the exhibition “Franca Bettoja Tognazzi. The fashion of an actress”, which was held from 13 December 2022 to 12 March 2023 in Rome in Castel Sant’Angelo. The exhibition proposed a conspicuous number of evening dresses that marked the social events of Rome and the red carpets of film festivals, in a period of great rebirth and affirmation of Italian cinema from the 1950s to the 1970s. These are the same years that saw the actress participate several times in Italian and foreign films, alongside very famous actors and directors of the time. Her taste, always elegant and at the same time very personal and out of the ordinary, was expressed both through the choice of very famous stylists such as Schuberth and the Fontana Sisters, and through the predilection for preciously embroidered fabrics and personalized models made by famous Roman tailors, the last heirs of a profession of high and refined craftsmanship. Franca Bettoja’s gala wardrobe, in addition to underlining her reserved – but at the same time histrionic – personality, testifies to the taste of an era in which it can be said without a doubt that “the habit made the man”, especially in the world of Cinema. Over eighty of Bettoja’s dresses have been acquired for the Fashion collections of the Boncompagni Ludovisi Museum, which is part of the State Museums Directorate of the city of Rome, where, once the exhibition was over, they were deposited and displayed as part of the already vast collection of 20th century Fashion.