Olivia Hussey, star of Franco Zeffirelli’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, dies aged 73

On December 28, 2024By Littum

Olivia Hussey, who dazzled moviegoers as the female star in Franco Zeffirelli‘s remarkable 1968 adaptation of the Romeo and Julietdied Friday. She was 73.

The Argentine-born actress died “at home surrounded by loved ones,” according to a statement from her publicist Instagram account. “Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” the post said.

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She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.

Hussey was just 15 when she starred opposite British actor Leonard Whiting, 16, as Romeo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Both were unknown. The Paramount-distributed film, co-written by Zeffirelli, was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and three other Academy Awards, and she received a David di Donatello Award and a Golden Globe for her work.

Hussey also worked with the Italian filmmaker with a turn as Mary in the 1977 International and Epic miniseries Jesus of Nazarethand she portrayed the lead role in Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2003).

She was memorable as Jess Bradford, terrorized in her flatmate, i Black Christmas (1974), the cult slasher film directed by Bob Clark and made in Canada, was sulky Rosalie Otterbourne, daughter of Angela Lansbury‘s character, in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (1978), directed by John Guillermin.

Olivia Hussey in 'Black Christmas.' — Olivia Hussey in ‘Black Christmas’ from 1974.

Olivia Osuna was born on April 17, 1951 in Buenos Aires. Her father was an Argentinian opera singer who went by the stage name Osvaldo Ribó, and her mother, Joy, was an English-born legal secretary.

When she was 7, her mother took her and her younger brother to London and she attended the Italia Conti Academy drama school for five years. She first appeared in the theater when she was 13, taking her mother’s maiden name as her stage name.

Her appearance in a 1966 West End production of Miss Jean Brodie Prime Minister facing Vanessa, Redgrave led her to Zeffirelli.

Romeo and Julietshot in Italy and with narration by an uncredited Laurence Olivier, it introduced a new generation to Shakespeare’s tragedy, created a reputation at the time for showing Hussey topless, and was a big hit for Paramount, which was in trouble at the time.

After the film’s resounding success, Hollywood producer Hal B. Wallis offered her the title role in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and a co-starring gig with John Wayne in Real Grit (1969), but a blunt remark she made—she said she “couldn’t see herself with Wayne”—made Wallis look elsewhere.

Instead, she followed with roles in the British romantic drama All the right sounds (1970), the Italian crime thriller The summer time killer (1972) and a remake of Lost Horizon (1973).

Hussey appeared The man with Bogart’s face (1980), the Japanese sci-fi film Virus (1980), a remake of Ivanhoe (1982) and the Australian horror film Turkey Shoot (1982) and played the mother of Norman Bates (a returning Anthony Perkins) in Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).

Also in 1990, she portrayed Audra, wife of Richard Thomas’ Bill Denbrough, in the Stephen King miniseries The for ABC.

She worked as a voice actress in Star Wars, Batman and Superman video games before reuniting with Whiting for the 2015 film Social suicidea modern take on Romeo and Julietto portray Capulet’s parents. It would be her last on-screen credit. (Her daughter, India Eisley, played their daughter, Julia Coulson, in the film).

Her memories, The girl on the balcony: Olivia Hussey finds life after Romeo and Julietwas published in 2018.

In 2023, Hussey and Whiting sued Paramount for charges child abuse during filming Romeo and Juliet. The actors said that Zeffirelli pressured them to do a bedroom scene in nudity, even though they were initially told they could wear flesh-colored bodysuits. Whiting’s buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts are seen.

The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, with the judge finding claims that the film depicts sexual acts a “gross mischaracterization.”

In addition to her daughter, survivors include her husband of 35 years, David Glen Eisley, son of actor Anthony Eisley (Hawaiian eye); her sons, Alexander and Max; and her grandson, Greyson.

Hussey was also married to Dean Paul Martin, son of actor-singer Dean Martin, from 1971 until their divorce in 1978, and to Japanese actor-writer-singer Akira Fuse from 1980 until their divorce in 1989.

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