Known for roles in L’Avventura and A Difficult Life, Lea Massari, 91, passed away in Rome. She retired decades ago and remained a private figure ever since
Lea Massari. Pics/AFP
Veteran Italian actress Lea Massari, famous for her roles in Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura (1960), Dino Risi's A Difficult Life (1961), and Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heart (1971), has passed away. She was 91.
Massari died at her home in Rome on Monday, The Hollywood Reporter stated, citing Italian media reports.
Italian actress Lea Massari, French actors Laurent Terzieff (C) and Gerard Blain (R) are pictured on the set of the movie "La flambeuse" directed by Rachel Weinberg on October 3, 1980 in Paris
In a decades-long career that spanned films, television, and theater, Massari played alongside the likes of Alain Delon, Jean Paul Belmondo, Michel Piccoli, and Omar Sharif. She was a critical and audience favorite, but shunned the spotlight. After retiring from acting, more than 30 years ago, she rarely appeared in public.
Born Anna Maria Massatani on June 30, 1933 -- she took the stage name Lea in honor of her fiance Leo, who died in a tragic accident shortly before they were to be married -- her childhood was spent across Europe, as her family followed her father, an engineer, to positions in Spain, France and Switzerland.
Italian actress Lea Massari, French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, French actress Valerie Mairesse and French actress Delphine Seyrig pose during the filming of "Repérages" directed by Michel Soutter in 1977
Massatani studied architecture, working as a model to support herself, when she was introduced to the world of film by acclaimed, Oscar-winning costume designer Piero Gherardi (La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2), a family friend.
Monicelli delivered a more grounded performance as Elena, the wife of an anti-Fascist intellectual (played by Alberto Sordi) in Dino Risi's postwar classic A Difficult Life (1961), a role that earned her a special David di Donatello award, Italy's equivalent of the Oscars.
Italian actress Lea Massari and French actor Laurent Terzieff (R) are pictured on the set of the movie "La flambeuse" directed by Rachel Weinberg on October 3, 1980 in Paris. Italian actress Lea Massari, 91, died on June 24, 2025 announced Italy's undersecretary for Culture, Lucia Borgonzoni on June 25, 2025
Later in her career, she would again play the wife of a political dissident, in Francesco Rosi's Christ Stopped at Eboli (1978), his biopic on Carlo Levi, who Mussolini exiled to a remote village in Southern Italy. In lesser films, Massatani added a touch of class, as in Sergio Leone's debut, the forgettable swords-and-sandals picture The Colossus of Rhodes (1961), as per The Hollywood Reporter.
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