Lea Massari
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.
Also Known As
Movie Appearances
Resurrection
as Maria Pawlowa
1958
The Things of Life
as Catherine Bérard
1970
Devil's Ransom
as Britt
1971
L'Avventura
as Anna
1960
The Night Caller
as Norah Elmer
1975
Christ Stopped at Eboli
as Luisa Levi
1979
Murmur of the Heart
as Clara Chevalier
1971
The Colossus of Rhodes
as Diala
1961
The Four Days of Naples
as Maria
1962
Made in Italy
as Monica (segment "1 'Usi e costumi', episode 3")
1965
Allonsanfan
as Charlotte
1974
The Camp Followers
as Toula
1965
The Seventh Target
as Nelly
1984
The Silent One
as Maria
1973
A Difficult Life
as Elena Pavinato
1961
And Hope to Die
as Sugar
1972
Monica Vitti, une étoile dans la nuit
as Self (archive footage)
2017
The Meetings of Anna
as Anna's mother
1978
Garden of Delights
1967
The Probability Factor
as Gloria
1976
