Actress Franca Bettoja, a popular actress in Pietro Germi’s film “L’uomo di paglia” and wife of actor Ugo Tognazzi, died in Rome at the age of 88. 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 her marriage, her film appearances became increasingly rare: her last appearance on the big screen dates back to 1993 in Claudio Fragasso’s “Teste rasate”, where she played the part of the mother of the character played by her son Gianmarco. 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.
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 normani (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 and directed by Capuano.
In 1962 she was nominated for the Nastro d’argento for best supporting actress for her role as Marcella in the film Giorno per giorno, disperatamente, the debut of director Alfredo Giannetti. During 1962 she presented for seven months the variety show Tempo di Jazz, a program that was broadcast on the Canale Nazionale della Rai and in 1963 she acted alongside Vincent Price in the film L’ultimo uomo sulla terra by Ubaldo Ragona considered a cult of the horror/science fiction genre.
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 presented a large 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. 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 certainly be said that the habit made the man, especially in the world of Cinema. Over eighty Bettoja dresses were 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.
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