Olivia Hussey, famously identified for her position within the 1968 movie “Romeo and Juliet”, has died. She was 73.
Hussey died Friday, “peacefully at residence surrounded by her family members,” a press release posted to her Instagram account stated.
“Olivia was a outstanding individual whose heat, knowledge, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” the assertion continued.
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“Romeo and Juliet” encompasses a 1968 Olivia Hussey portrait. (Display screen Archives/Getty Photos)
“Olivia lived a life filled with ardour, love, and dedication to the humanities, spirituality, and kindness in direction of animals… As we grieve this immense loss, we additionally rejoice Olivia’s enduring influence on our lives and the business.”
“We thanks to your ideas and prayers throughout this troublesome time and ask for privateness as we mourn the lack of a very particular soul,” the caption concluded.
Hussey was born on April 17, 1951, in Bueno Aires, Argentina, and moved to London as a toddler.
Circa 1967: British actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting be a part of palms in “Romeo and Juliet.” (Larry Ellis/Specific/Getty Photos)
Hussey grew to become a film star at age 15 when she was forged as essentially the most notorious doomed lover in 1968’s “Romeo and Juliet.” She nabbed the sought-after position of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s movie, which grew to become a global sensation.
She penned a memoir titled “Woman on the Balcony” concerning the many ups and downs she endured in Hollywood.
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“It was really very overwhelming,” Hussey beforehand informed Fox Information Digital in 2018. “Even after we have been capturing, we had reporters ready for an interview throughout our lunch and tea breaks. And so they had come from everywhere in the world.”
“I celebrated my sixteenth birthday throughout capturing… When the movie was launched, we traveled everywhere in the world and I couldn’t actually spend my teenage years like different youngsters… Everybody would come as much as us for a photograph, an autograph. But it surely was the expertise of a lifetime actually.”
“Romeo and Juliet” film director Franco Zeffirelli, left, actors Olivia Hussey, heart, and Leonard Whiting are seen after the Parisian premiere of the movie in Paris on Sept. 25, 1968. (AP Photograph/Eustache Cardenas)
The movie stirred headlines even earlier than it was launched in theaters. At age 16, Hussey stripped down for a love scene depicting her wedding ceremony night time alongside her co-star Leonard Whiting [Romeo], who was additionally 16 when he took on the position.
Regardless of being visibly topless within the epic drama, Hussey stated on the time that she felt relaxed on set.
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“I believe as a result of it was accomplished very tastefully,” she defined. “And in Europe, it was very totally different. In America, it was very taboo. However in Europe loads of the movies had nudity. No one actually thought a lot of it. But it surely was simply the truth that I used to be 16 that acquired loads of publicity… The big crew we labored with was whittled all the way down to solely the very primary folks, a handful of individuals. It was accomplished later within the day when it wasn’t busy. It was a closed set…
“Romeo and Juliet” went on to win two Oscars and Hussey received a Golden Globe for greatest new actress for her half as Juliet.
Leonard Whiting performs Romeo Montague and Olivia Hussey performs Juliet Capulet within the 1968 manufacturing of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zeffirelli. (Bettman)
A long time later Hussey and Whiting introduced a lawsuit in opposition to Paramount Photos alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud over nude scenes within the movie, in response to the Related Press.
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They alleged that they have been initially informed they might put on flesh-colored undergarments in a bed room scene, however on the day of the shoot Zeffirelli informed the pair they might put on solely physique make-up and that the digicam can be positioned in a method that might not present nudity. They alleged they have been filmed within the nude with out their data.
The case was dismissed by a Los Angeles County choose in 2023, who discovered their depiction couldn’t be thought of baby pornography and the pair filed their declare too late.
Hussey is survived by her husband of 35 years, David Glen Eisley, her three youngsters and a grandson. (David Livingston/Getty Photos)
She additionally starred as Mary, mom of Jesus, within the 1977 tv collection “Jesus of Nazareth,” and within the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Demise on the Nile.”
Hussey is survived by her husband of 35 years, David Glen Eisley, her three youngsters and a grandson.
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Fox Information Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco and the Related Press contributed to this report.
