Lea Massari
Known for Acting
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
Murmur of the Heart
1971
as Clara Chevalier
The Colossus of Rhodes
1961
as Diala
Indian Summer
1972
as Monica
L'Avventura
1960
as Anna
The Night Caller
1975
as Norah Elmer
The Things of Life
1970
as Catherine Bérard
Allonsanfan
1974
as Charlotte
The Seventh Target
1984
as Nelly
A Dog Called... Vengeance
1977
as Muriel
I Want Him Dead
1968
as Aloma
The Silent One
1973
as Maria
The Meetings of Anna
1978
as Anna's mother
The Camp Followers
1965
as Toula
Resurrection
1958
as Maria Pawlowa
Christ Stopped at Eboli
1979
as Luisa Levi
A Difficult Life
1961
as Elena Pavinato
Chi dice donna, dice donna
1976
as Gilbert
The Four Days of Naples
1962
as Maria
And Hope to Die
1972
as Sugar
The Probability Factor
1976
as Gloria