Actress Olivia Hussey, who shot to international fame as a teenager for her role in the famous 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, has died aged 73.
The Argentine-born actress, who grew up in London, died on Friday surrounded by her loved ones, a statement posted on her Instagram said.
Hussey won the Golden Globe for Best New Actress for her portrayal of Juliet, but decades later she sued Paramount Pictures for sexual assault because she was only 15 when she filmed the film’s nude scenes.
Her other most notable screen role was that of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the 1977 TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth.
“While we are saddened by this tremendous loss, we also celebrate Olivia’s lasting impact on our lives and the industry,” the statement said.
Hussey was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1951, before moving to London at the age of seven and studying at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.
She was 15 when Romeo and Juliet director Franco Zeffirelli discovered her on stage, playing Vanessa Redgrave in the play The Prime of Miss Jane Brodie. was playing against
Zeffirelli was looking for someone young enough to play Juliet in what was intended to be the definitive cinematic version of Shakespeare’s play.
He cast Hussey as Romeo in the film alongside 16-year-old British Leonard Whiting.
The film was nominated for Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. Hussey missed out on an Oscar nomination herself in a strong year that saw Barbra Streisand win the main award for Funny Girl.
But at that year’s Golden Globes, Hussey won Best New Star.
Decades later, he and Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures alleging Zeffirelli — who died in 2019 — Encouraged him to film nude scenes. Despite previous assurances they would not have to.
The couple sought more than $500m (£417m) in damages, based on the suffering they said they had experienced and the revenue they had made since the film’s release.
But last year one The judge dismissed the case.finding the scene was not “sexually suggestive enough”.
In 1977, Hussey reunited with Zeffirelli to play the Virgin Mary for Jess of Nazareth, before appearing a year later in Death on the Nile, based on the Agatha Christie novel.
Her roles in the early slasher film Black Christmas (1974) and the TV movie Psycho IV: The Beginning earned her recognition as a scream queen. In the latter, she played Norman Bates’ mother in a prequel story.
In later years she also began working as a voice actress, often appearing in video games.
But she did have one last reunion with her Romeo ex – as she and Whiting appeared together in the 2015 British film Social Suicide, based on Romeo and Juliet and set in the age of social media.