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Olivia Hussey, known for her role in the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet. died. She was 73 years old.
Hussey died Friday, “peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones,” according to a statement posted on her Instagram account.
“Olivia was an extraordinary person whose warmth, wisdom and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” the statement continued.
“Romeo and Juliet” features a 1968 portrait of Olivia Hussey. (Screen Archives/Getty Images)
“Olivia lived a life full of passion, love and commitment to art, spirituality and kindness to animals… While we mourn this tremendous loss, we also celebrate Olivia’s lasting impact on our lives and the industry.”
“We thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time and ask for your privacy as we mourn the loss of a truly special soul,” the caption concluded.
Hussey was born on April 17, 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to London as a child.
Circa 1967: British actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting join hands in “Romeo and Juliet.” (Larry Ellis/Express/Getty Images)
Hussey became a movie star at the age of 15 when she was cast as the most infamous doomed lover in 1968’s Romeo and Juliet. She got the sought-after role of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s film, which became an international sensation.
She wrote a memoir titled “Balcony Girl” about the many ups and downs she experienced in Hollywood.
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“It was actually very devastating,” Hussey told Fox News Digital in 2018. “Even when we were filming, we had reporters waiting to be interviewed during our lunch and tea breaks. And they were coming from all over the world.”
“I celebrated my 16th birthday during filming… When the movie came out we traveled all over the world and I didn’t really get to spend my teenage years like other teenagers… Everyone would come up to us for a photo, an autograph. But it was real experience of life.”
“Romeo and Juliet” director Franco Zeffirelli, left, actors Olivia Hussey, center, and Leonard Whiting are seen after the film’s Paris premiere in Paris on September 25, 1968. (AP Photo/Eustache Cardenas)
The film made headlines even before it was released in theaters. At the age of 16, Hussey stripped for a love scene depicting her wedding night with co-star Leonard Whiting [Romeo]who was also 16 when he took on the role.
Despite being seen topless in the epic drama, Hussey said at the time that she felt relaxed on set.
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“I mean because it’s made very tasty,” she explained. “And in Europe it was very different. In America it was a big taboo. But in Europe a lot of movies had nudity. Nobody thought too much about it. But just the fact that I was 16 got a lot of publicity… Big the team we worked with was reduced to just a few people, this was done later in the day, when there was no crowd.
“Romeo and Juliet” she won two Oscars, and Hussey won a Golden Globe for Best New Actress for her role as Juliet.
Leonard Whiting stars as Romeo Montague and Olivia Hussey stars as Juliet Capulet in the 1968 production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zeffirelli. (Bettman)
Decades later, Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures alleging sexual assault, sexual harassment and fraud over the film’s nudity scenes, according to the Associated Press.
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They claimed that they were originally told to wear flesh-colored underwear in the bedroom scene, but on the day of filming, Zeffirelli told the couple that they would only wear body make-up and that the camera would be positioned so as not to show nudity. They claimed that they were filmed naked without their knowledge.
The case was dismissed by a Los Angeles A district judge in 2023, who found that their display could not be considered child pornography, and the couple filed a lawsuit too late.
Hussey is survived by her husband David Glen Eisley, three children and a grandchild. (David Livingston/Getty Images)
She also played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television series Jesus of Nazareth and in the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile.
Hussey is survived by her husband David Glen Eisley, three children and a grandchild.
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Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
