Olivia Hussey. Image: Instagram/@oliviahusseyeisley
LONDON — Olivia Hussey, 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.
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.
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.
Whiting was among those paying tribute to Hussey on Saturday. “Rest now my beautiful Juliet no injustices can hurt you now. And the world will remember your beauty inside and out forever,” he wrote.
“Romeo and Juliet” movie director Franco Zeffirelli (left), actors Olivia Hussey (center), and Leonard Whiting are seen after the Parisian premiere of the film in Paris on Sept. 25, 1968. Image: AP Photo/Eustache Cardenas
Hussey was born on April 17, 1951, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to London as a child. She studied at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.
She also starred as Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television series “Jesus of Nazareth,” as well as the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile” and horror movies “Black Christmas” and “Psycho IV: The Beginning.”
She is survived by her husband, David Glen Eisley, her three children, and a grandson.