Franca Bettoia (or Bettoja; born 14 May 1936) is an Italian

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

Life and career

Born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, she made her first film appearance in ''Un palco all'opera ''(1955, by Siro Marcellini). The following year she appeared in ''

Los amantes del desierto ''Desert Warrior'' ( it, Gli amanti del deserto, es, Los amantes del desierto) is a 1957 Italian-Spanish adventure film directed by Goffredo Alessandrini, Fernando Cerchio, León Klimovsky and Gianni Vernuccio and starring Carmen Sevilla, Ricar ...

''("Desert Warrior", a Spanish-Italian desert epic starring

Ricardo Montalban Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugue ...

Carmen Sevilla María del Carmen García Galisteo (born 16 October 1930), in Seville, Spain, known professionally as Carmen Sevilla, is a retired Spanish actress, singer and dancer. She began her career in the 1940s and became one of the most popular and hi ...

and

Gino Cervi Luigi Cervi (3 May 1901 – 3 January 1974), better known as Gino Cervi (), was an Italian actor. He was best known for portraying Peppone in a series of comedies based on the character ''Don Camillo'' (1952-1965), and police detective Jules M ...

. She next appeared opposite

Pietro Germi Pietro Germi (; 14 September 1914 – 5 December 1974) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor, noted for his development of the neorealist and commedia all'Italiana genres. His 1961 film ''Divorce Italian Style'' earned him a Be ...

in '' L'uomo di paglia '' (1958), and opposite Macha Méril and Jacques Charrier in the French production '' La main chaude ''(1960, by Gérard Oury). She appeared as a nun in ''Apocalisse sul fiume giallo'' (''

The Dam on the Yellow River ''The Dam on the Yellow River'' ( it, Apocalisse sul fiume giallo, french: Le dernier train de Shanghai, released in UK as ''Last Train to Shanghai'') is a 1960 Italian-French drama film written and directed by Renzo Merusi. Plot In China, durin ...

'', 1960), an

anti-Communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

propaganda film A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

which portrays the victory of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

as seen through the eyes of an American journalist (Georges Marchal) reporting from the side of the nationalists. In 1961, she starred opposite

Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake ...

in ''

Orazi e Curiazi ''Orazi e Curiazi'' (''The Horatii and the Curiatii'') is an opera by the Italian composer Saverio Mercadante. It takes the form of a ''tragedia lirica'' in three acts. The libretto, by Salvadore Cammarano, is based on the Roman legend of the fi ...

''(''Duel of the Champions''), a

sword and sandals Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pepla plural), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget H ...

adventure set in ancient Rome. In 1964, Bettoia co-starred with

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

in the horror/science fiction film '' The Last Man on Earth ''(1964, by Ubaldo Ragone and

Sidney Salkow Sidney Salkow (June 16, 1911 – October 18, 2000) was an American film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulf ...

), the first screen adaptation of

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science ficti ...

's novel '' I Am Legend''. She then played a princess in the adventure films ' (1964) and ' (1964). In 1967 she appeared as

Ugo Tognazzi Ugo Tognazzi (23 March 1922 – 27 October 1990) was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. Early life Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a travelling clerk fo ...

’s lover in the comedy '' Il fischio al naso ''(''The Seventh Floor'', 1967). Bettoia and Tognazzi married in 1972. They had a daughter, film director

Maria Sole Tognazzi Maria Sole Tognazzi (born 2 May 1971) is an Italian film director. Biography She is the daughter of actor and director Ugo Tognazzi and actress Franca Bettoia. She has a brother, actor Gianmarco, and two half-brothers, actor and director Ricky ...

. Bettoia acted in only three more films after ''Il fischio al naso''. In the comedy ''

Riusciranno i nostri eroi a ritrovare l'amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa? ''Riusciranno i nostri eroi a ritrovare l'amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa?'', internationally released as ''Will Our Heroes Be Able to Find Their Friend Who Has Mysteriously Disappeared in Africa?'', is a 1968 Italian comedy film directed ...

''(1968, by

Ettore Scola Ettore Scola (; 10 May 1931 – 19 January 2016) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He received a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1978 for his film ''A Special Day'' and over the course of his film career was nominated for fiv ...

) she starred alongside

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, voice actor, singer, comedian, director and screenwriter. Early life Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician and the last of five children, Sordi was named in hon ...

and

Bernard Blier Bernard Blier (11 January 1916 – 29 March 1989) was a French character actor. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his father, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute, was posted at the time. Life and career His rotund features an ...

. In ''Touche pas à la femme blanche ''(''Don’t Touch the White Woman''), directed by

Marco Ferreri Marco Ferreri (11 May 1928 – 9 May 1997) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, who began his career in the 1950s directing three films in Spain, followed by 24 Italian films before his death in 1997. He is considered one of t ...

in 1974) she starred alongside Catherine Deneuve, Marcello Mastroianni and Michel Piccoli. Her last film, '' Teste rasate ''(1993) is a drama about

skinhead A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

s, in which her son,

Gianmarco Tognazzi Gianmarco Tognazzi (born 11 October 1967) is an Italian actor. Life and career Born on 11 October 1967 in Rome, the son of actors Ugo Tognazzi and Franca Bettoia,Giorgio Dell’Arti, Massimo Parrini. ''Catalogo dei viventi''. Marsilio, 2009. . ...

, plays the lead role. In 1975, Franca Bettoia and her mother Maris founded the Gran Loggia Femminile d'Italia, the first Italian Masonic obedience exclusively for women which was officially recognized by the

Grand Orient of Italy The Grand Orient of Italy (GOI) ( it, Grande Oriente d'Italia) is an Italian masonic grand lodge founded in 1805; the viceroy Eugene of Beauharnais was instrumental in its establishment. It was based at the Palazzo Giustiniani, Rome, Italy fr ...

.''Lettera aperta di Luca Bagatin alla giornalista de "Il Fatto Quotidiano" Antonella Beccaria a proposito del suo libro "I segreti della Massoneria in Italia"''
/ref>

Selected filmography

*'' Desert Warrior'' (1957) *'' The Last Man on Earth'' (1964) * ''

Sandokan to the Rescue ''Sandokan to the Rescue'' (Italian: ''Sandokan alla riscossa'') is a 1907 adventure novel by the Italian writer Emilio Salgari. It is the seventh in his series featuring the nineteenth century Malayan pirate Sandokan. It is also known by the alt ...

'' (1964) * ''

Sandokan Against the Leopard of Sarawak ''Sandokan Against the Leopard of Sarawak'' (Italian: ''Sandokan contro il leopardo di Sarawak'') is a 1964 historical adventure film directed by Luigi Capuano and starring Ray Danton, Franca Bettoia and Guy Madison.Goble p.939 It was made as a co ...

'' (1964)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bettoia, Franca 1936 births Living people Actresses from Rome