Lea Massari
Born: 1933-06-30 in Roma, Lazio, Italy
Died: 2025-06-23
Known For: Acting
Biography
Anna Maria Massetani better known as Lea Massari (30 June 1933 — 23 June 2025) was an Italian actress. When she was 22, she changed her name to Lea Massari after the death of her fiancé Leo. She studied architecture in Switzerland. Massari became a celebrity in art cinema for two roles, the missing girl Anna in Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura (1960), and as Clara, the mother of a sexually precocious 14-year-old boy named Laurent (Benoît Ferreux) in Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heart (1971). She worked in both Italian and French Cinema. Her career includes Sergio Leone's debut Il Colosso di Rodi, and international commercial films such as Les choses de la vie. She was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975. She won Nastro d'Argento as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Francesco Rosi's Christ Stopped at Eboli.
Filmography
2017
- Monica Vitti, une étoile dans la nuit as Self (archive footage)
2014
- Il était une fois Sergio Leone as Self
1990
- Journey of Love as Zaira
1988
1985
- Secrets Secrets as Marta
1984
- The Seventh Target as Nelly
1983
- Sarah as Carla Angelli
- Return to Lisca Bianca Island as Anna (voice) (archive footage)
1981
- La Flambeuse as Louise
1979
- Christ Stopped at Eboli as Luisa Levi
- Le Divorcement as Rosa
1978
- The Meetings of Anna as Anna's mother
- Sale rêveur as Joséphe
1977
- A Dog Called... Vengeance as Muriel
- Antonio Gramsci: The Days of Prison as Tania
- Violette & Francois as Cécile Levene
- Faces of Love as Cecilia
- Edipo Re as Iocasta
1976
- Chi dice donna, dice donna as Gilbert
- Stream Line as Amanda Treves
- The Probability Factor as Gloria
1975
- Midi Première as Self
- Les Rendez-vous du dimanche as Self
- The Night Caller as Norah Elmer
1974
- Spécial cinéma as Self
- Allonsanfan as Charlotte
- Anna Karenina as Anna Karenina
- Bloody Murder as Helene Noblet
1973
- The Silent One as Maria
- The Woman in Blue as Aurélie
- Impossible Object as Hippolyta
- The Son as Maria
1972
- Midi trente as Self
- Indian Summer as Monica
- And Hope to Die as Sugar
1971
- Murmur of the Heart as Clara Chevalier
- Devil's Ransom as Britt
- Paolo e Francesca
1970
- The Things of Life as Catherine Bérard
- Céleste as Hélène
1969
- The Brothers Karamazov as Agrafena Aleksàndrovna
1968
- I Want Him Dead as Aloma
- Volver a vivir as María
1967
- Garden of Delights
- The Misanthrope as Célimène
1965
- Made in Italy as Monica (segment "1 'Usi e costumi', episode 3")
- The Camp Followers as Toula
1964
- The Unvanquished as Dominique Servet
- Weeping for a Bandit as María Jerónima
1962
- The Four Days of Naples as Maria
- Paris Pick-Up as Marthe Dravet
- Conquered City as Lelia Mendores
1961
- The Colossus of Rhodes as Diala
- A Difficult Life as Elena Pavinato
- Dreams Die at Dawn as Anna Miklos
1960
- L'Avventura as Anna
- From a Roman Balcony as Freya
1958
- Resurrection as Maria Pawlowa
1957
- I sogni nel cassetto as Lucia Moretti
1955
- Forbidden as Agnese Barras