Italian actress Lea Massari, celebrated for her iconic roles in Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura and Louis Malle’s Murmur of the Heart (Le souffle au coeur), has passed away at the age of 91, an Italian government minister announced on Wednesday.
Lucia Borgonzoni, the Secretary of State for Culture, paid tribute to “an actress of irresistible charm and dazzling talent.”
The daily newspaper Il Messaggero reported that the actress, whose last major screen appearance was in the previous century, died on Monday in Rome. Her funeral was held on Tuesday in the town of Sutri, north of the capital.
Massari, who starred in a host of acclaimed films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, built a career that spanned both her native Italy and France. She collaborated with legendary directors, including Sergio Leone, Claude Sautet, Francesco Rosi, and Spain’s Carlos Saura.
Known for her expressive and nuanced performances, Massari shared the screen with international stars such as Yves Montand, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Gian Maria Volonté, Mel Ferrer, and Anthony Perkins. She was known to accept supporting roles if she believed in the quality of the project.
Born Anna Maria Massetani in Rome on June 30, 1933, she achieved international stardom in 1960 with L’Avventura. The film, co-starring Monica Vitti, tells the story of a search for a young woman who vanishes before her wedding and is hailed for its innovative cinematic vision.
A year later, she starred in Sergio Leone’s epic The Colossus of Rhodes and Dino Risi’s A Difficult Life (Una vita difficile). Her other notable films include L’insoumis (1964) with Alain Delon, whom she worked with again in Indian Summer (La prima notte di quiete) in 1972, and Louis Malle’s controversial and acclaimed Murmur of the Heart (1971).
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