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
- Le divorcement as Rosa
- Christ Stopped at Eboli as Luisa Levi
1978
- Sale rêveur as Joséphe
- The Meetings of Anna as Anna's mother
1977
- A Dog Called... Vengeance as Muriel
- Faces of Love as Cecilia
- Edipo Re as Iocasta
- Violette & Francois as Cécile Levene
- Antonio Gramsci: The Days of Prison as Tania
1976
- The Probability Factor as Gloria
- Chi dice donna, dice donna as Gilbert
- Stream Line as Amanda Treves
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
- Bloody Murder as Helene Noblet
- Anna Karenina as Anna Karenina
1973
- The Silent One as Maria
- The Son as Maria
- Impossible Object as Hippolyta
- The Woman in Blue as Aurélie
1972
- Midi trente as Self
- And Hope to Die as Sugar
- Indian Summer as Monica
1971
- Murmur of the Heart as Clara Chevalier
- Paolo e Francesca
- Devil's Ransom as Britt
1970
- Céleste as Hélène
- The Things of Life as Catherine Bérard
1969
- The Brothers Karamazov as Agrafena Aleksàndrovna
1968
- Volver a vivir as María
- I Want Him Dead as Aloma
1967
- The Misanthrope as Célimène
- Garden of Delights
1965
- The Camp Followers as Toula
- Made in Italy as Monica (segment "1 'Usi e costumi', episode 3")
1964
- The Unvanquished as Dominique Servet
- Weeping for a Bandit as María Jerónima
1962
- Paris Pick-Up as Marthe Dravet
- The Four Days of Naples as Maria
- Conquered City as Lelia Mendores
1961
- The Colossus of Rhodes as Diala
- Dreams Die at Dawn as Anna Miklos
- A Difficult Life as Elena Pavinato
1960
- From a Roman Balcony as Freya
- L'Avventura as Anna
1958
- Resurrection as Maria Pawlowa
1957
- I sogni nel cassetto as Lucia Moretti
1955
- Forbidden as Agnese Barras