Olivia Hussey, star of 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, dies aged 73
Romeo and Juliet actor Leonard Whiting has paid tribute to his costar Olivia Hussey following her death aged 73, saying “the world will remember your beauty inside and out forever”.
The pair rose to fame as teenagers after starring in the 1968 film version of the Shakespearean tragedy, directed and co-written by the late Franco Zeffirelli.
Hussey died “peacefully” at home surrounded by her loved ones on Friday, a statement posted to her Instagram announced.
“Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” it said.
The statement added that the actor lived a “life full of passion, love, and dedication to the arts, spirituality, and kindness towards animals” and her loved ones will grieve the “immense loss” as well as celebrate her “enduring impact on our lives and the industry”.
Hussey and Whiting both won Golden Globes for best promising newcomers for their performances in Romeo And Juliet, with the film also picking up the best English-language foreign film gong at the award show.
The film was also nominated for the best picture Oscar and Zeffirelli received a best director nod at the Oscars and Baftas.
Last year, Hussey and Whiting sued Paramount Pictures, alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud over a nude scene in the film shot when they were aged 15 and 16 respectively.
The pair sought damages of more than $500 million (€471 million), saying that they had initially been told by Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, that they would wear flesh-coloured undergarments in the bedroom scene.
A judge later dismissed the lawsuit, saying the actors did “not put forth any authority showing the film here can be deemed to be sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of law to be held to be conclusively illegal”.
Whiting was among those to pay tribute to his “beautiful Juliet” in a comment on the announcement post, writing: “Olivia, we have shared so much since we were two sweet innocent children clinging on to each other for dear life, as every photo of us attests to.
“You have never been frightened of fighting to fix everything wrong in this world.
“Rest now my beautiful Juliet no injustices can hurt you now. And the world will remember your beauty inside and out forever. Leonard.”
Born in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Hussey later moved to London and studied at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.
Her other notable roles include playing Mary in a 1977 miniseries Jesus Of Nazareth and appearing in the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile.
She also starred in the 1974 slasher film Black Christmas, Psycho IV: The Beginning and Stephen King’s It.
The actor is survived her husband of 35 years, David Glen Eisley, and her children Alex, Max, and India, and her grandson Greyson. – PA
