LONDON (AP) — Olivia Hussey, the actor who starred as a teenage Juliet in the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet,” has died, her family said on social media Saturday. She was 73.
Olivia Hussey in 1973.
Hussey died on Friday, “peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones,” a statement posted to her Instagram account said.
Hussey was 15 when director Franco Zeffirelli cast her in his adaptation of the William Shakespeare tragedy after spotting her onstage in the play “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” which also starred Vanessa Redgrave.
“Romeo and Juliet” won two Oscars and Hussey won a Golden Globe for best new actress for her part as Juliet, opposite British actor Leonard Whiting, who was 16 at the time.
Olivia Hussey and actor Leonard Whiting at a press reception to announce their roles in Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet” in May 1967.
Decades later Hussey and Whiting brought a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud over nude scenes in the film.
They alleged that they were initially told they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in a bedroom scene, but on the day of the shoot Zeffirelli told the pair they would wear only body makeup and that the camera would be positioned in a way that would not show nudity. They alleged they were filmed in the nude without their knowledge.
The case was dismissed by a Los Angeles County judge in 2023, who found their depiction could not be considered child pornography and the pair filed their claim too late.
Hussey was born on April 17, 1951, in Bueno Aires, Argentina, and moved to London as a child.
Actress Olivia Hussey attends the ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ Play Performance on October 15, 1992 at James A. Doolittle Theatre in Hollywood, California.
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She also starred as Mary, mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television series “Jesus of Nazareth,” and in the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile.”
Musician David Glen Eisley, Olivia Hussey and their daughter, actor India Eisley, attend the 2008 Camie Awards at the Wilshire Theatre on May 3, 2008 in Beverly Hills, California.
She is survived by her husband, David Glen Eisley, her three children and a grandson.
