Actress Olivia Hussey, who starred in the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet” as a teenager, has died, her family announced on social media on Saturday. She was 73 years old.
Hussey died on Friday “peacefully at her home surrounded by her loved ones,” according to a statement published by her Instagram account He said.
Mark Hustis, a friend of Hussey’s since 2008, told CBS News that the actress has cancer.
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Hussey was 15 when director Franco Zeffirelli cast her in his film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragedy after seeing her on stage 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 role as Juliet opposite British actor Leonard Whiting, who was 16 years old at the time.
Decades after Hussey and Whiting He filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures Allegations of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and fraud in the film’s nude scenes.
They claimed that they were initially told that they would be wearing flesh-colored underwear for the bedroom scene, but on the day of filming, Zeffirelli told the couple that they would only be wearing body makeup and that the camera would be positioned in a way that would not allow this. Show nudity. They claimed that they were photographed naked without their knowledge.
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The case was dismissed by a Los Angeles County judge in 2023, who found that their photography could not be considered child pornography and the couple filed their suit too late.
Whiting was among those who paid tribute to Hessey on Saturday. “Rest now, beautiful Juliet, no injustice can harm you now,” he wrote, “and the world will remember your beauty inside and out forever.”
Hasi was born on April 17, 1951 in Bueno Aires, Argentina, and moved to London as a child. She studied at the drama school Italia Conti Academy.
She also played Mary, mother of Jesus, in the 1977 TV series “Jesus of Nazareth,” as well as the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile” and the horror films “Black Christmas” and “Psycho IV: The Movie.” beginning.”
She is survived by her husband, David Glenn Eisley, her three children and a grandson.