Lea Padovani (28 July 1920 – 23 June 1991) was an Italian film actress. She appeared in 60 films between 1945 and 1990. She starred in the film Black Dossier which was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, Oliver Parker directed the film Fade to Black which was inspired by a fictional story involving the actress.
Graduated in 1944 from the L'Accademia d'arte Drammatica in Rome.
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In the late 1940s, she was briefly engaged to Orson Welles - who was extremely uncomplimentary about her decades later in the biography of him written by Barbara Leaming.
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Sultry Italian leading lady of post-WWII continental filming.
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Orson Welles originally cast Lea as Desdemona in his 1952 film production of Othello back in 1948. After Welles began the filming in Venice, producer Montatori Scalera informed Welles that he wanted to make Verdi's opera, not the Shakespearean play, so the money ran out and the movie was shelved. By the time the movie was made years later Lea had been replaced by Suzanne Cloutier.
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