As a dedicated fan of classic cinema, I can’t help but feel a profound sense of melancholy upon hearing about the passing of Franca Bettoia, a truly remarkable actress who graced our screens with her captivating performances for over six decades. Born and raised in Rome, she embodied the very essence of Italian cinema, from her breakout role in Pietro Germi’s Man of Straw to her memorable portrayal of Ruth opposite Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth.
88-year-old Franca Bettoia, a renowned Italian actress who shared screen time with Vincent Price in the iconic 1964 sci-fi film “The Last Man on Earth“, has passed away in Rome. This information comes from her family, as reported by the Italian news agency Adnkronos.
Bettoia was the wife of the renowned Italian actor, Ugo Tognazzi, who famously played the role that Robin Williams portrayed in Mike Nichols’ 1996 adaptation of “The Birdcage,” originally depicted in the 1978 film “La Cage aux Folles” – a relationship that lasted from 1972 until Tognazzi’s passing at the age of 68 due to a cerebral hemorrhage in 1990.
In the gripping series, The Last Man on Earth, I play the role of Ruth, a character who, in partnership with Dr. Robert Morgan (portrayed by Price), am battling the chilling consequences of a plague transforming humankind into bloodthirsty beasts, under the skilled guidance of directors Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow.
In Rome, Robert L. Lippert was the producer and American International Pictures handled distribution for a movie that took its storyline from Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel “I Am Legend.” Matheson himself contributed to the script under the pseudonym Logan Swanson (in the 2007 adaptation starring Will Smith, directed by Francis Lawrence.)
As a passionate movie enthusiast, I hail from the eternal city of Rome, born on the 14th of May, 1936. My cinematic journey commenced in 1955, but it was my captivating performance as “the other woman” in Pietro Germi’s masterpiece, “Man of Straw,” released in 1958, that truly catapulted me into the spotlight. This groundbreaking film premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
She also appeared alongside Alan Ladd in “Duel of Champions” (1961), a film co-directed by Terence Young; in “Day by Day, Desperately” (1961), directed by Alfredo Giannetti; in the 1968 movie titled “Will Our Heroes Manage to Find Their Missing Friend in Africa?”; and lastly, she was featured in “Don’t Touch the White Woman” (1974).
Her most recent movie was “Teste Rasate” from 1993, where she portrayed the character as her on-screen son, Gianmarco Tognazzi in real life. Besides her, survivors include her daughter, Maria Sole Tognazzi, who is a film director by profession.
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2024-09-14 17:54