Lea Massari

Lea Massari
Massari in the movie L'Avventura (1960)
Born
Anna Maria Massetani

(1933-06-30) 30 June 1933 (age 91)
Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active1954–1990
Spouse
Carlo Bianchini
​
​
(m. 1963; div. 2004)​
[1]

Anna Maria Massetani (born 30 June 1933), known professionally as Lea Massari, is an Italian actress and singer.

Massetani was born in Rome and studied architecture in Switzerland. She adopted her stage name at the age of 22, after the sudden death of her fiancé Leo.

Massari became known 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).[2]

Massari worked in both Italian and French cinema. Her career includes Sergio Leone's debut The Colossus of Rhodes (Il Colosso di Rodi, 1961)[3] and international commercial films such as The Things of Life (Les choses de la vie, 1970).

Massari was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975.[4]

Massari won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress award for her appearance in Francesco Rosi's Christ Stopped at Eboli (Cristo si è fermato a Eboli, 1979), .

  1. ^ Gosetti, Giorgio (29 June 2024). "Lea Massari, il compleanno di un'antidiva ribelle" (in Italian). ANSA. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  2. ^ Monahan, Mark (9 March 2002). "Film-makers on film: Wes Anderson". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  3. ^ "The Colossus of Rhodes". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 October 2006. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  4. ^ "Cannes Film Festival Goes on Despite Bombing ". St. Petersburg Times. 10 May 1975. Retrieved 27 November 2009.