Olivia Hussey, an Argentine-British actor noted for her performance as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s acclaimed 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet,” passed away on Friday at her home, surrounded by her family. She was 73 years old.
Hussey had been facing breast cancer since 2008, and in 2018, she was told she had it again. Olivia died, and her official Instagram account said, “Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her.”
She became famous worldwide for her performance as Juliet, which she began when she was 15 years old. The film was notable for putting teenagers Hussey and Leonard Whiting in the lead parts. The goal was to make the ages of the young lovers seem more real. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Both stars were nominated for Golden Globes for Most Promising Newcomer.
Olivia Osuna was born in Buenos Aires on April 17, 1951, the daughter of an English mother and an Argentine opera singer. Hussey moved to London when she was seven years old and attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. She began playing on stage when she was 13, taking her mother’s maiden name. Zeffirelli noticed her in a West End show with Vanessa Redgrave called “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” This was her big break.
After her famous part in “Romeo and Juliet,” Hussey had a career that included a lot of different types of acting. She received praise for her role as Jess Bradford in “Black Christmas,” a significant killer film directed by Bob Clark and released in 1974. She also played Mary in the 1977 miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth,” which featured Peter Ustinov as the star, and she also played the lead in the 1978 version of Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile.”
Hussey tried voice acting in her later years, working on projects in the Star Wars world and for different video game series. She played the Capulet parents opposite Whiting in the 2015 film Social Suicide, a contemporary version of Romeo and Juliet. Her journey came to a close with the inclusion of her daughter, India Eisley, in the film.
People talked a lot about Hussey and Whiting in 2023 when they sued Paramount for filming a naked scene in “Romeo and Juliet.” The lawsuit claimed they were forced to film the scene despite prior assurances about body suits, even though she had previously supported the scene’s artistic value in a 2018 interview. In the end, both cases were thrown out.
David Glen Eisley, her husband of 35 years, her three children (Alexander, Max, and India), and her grandson Greyson are all still alive. Between 1971 and 1978, Hussey was married to Dean Paul Martin. From 1980 to 1989, he married performance artist Akira Fuse from Japan.
In her 2018 book, “The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet,” Hussey wrote about her amazing journey from teenage star to well-known supporting actor.
