Veteran actress Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet in the 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet and Jess Bradford in the slasher classic Black Christmas, has died. She was 73.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Olivia Hussey Eisley, who went peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones on December 27th,” read a statement posted on Hussey’s Instagram page.
“Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” the statement continued. “Olivia lived a life full of passion, love, and dedication to the arts, spirituality and kindness towards animals.”
Filmmaker Marc Huestis later confirmed the passing to the San Francisco Chronicle, revealing Hussey died of cancer. The actress had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and underwent a double mastectomy. She’d been in remission for almost a decade when the breast cancer returned in 2017.
The British-Argentine actress was born on April 17 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to London with her mother and younger brother when she was seven years old. She was accepted into the Italia Conti Academy drama school and began acting on stage at 13. Her first on-screen role came in the television series Drama in 1964.
Her breakthrough came when film director Franco Zeffirelli noticed her performance in a West End production of The Prime of Miss Jean and cast her as Juliet in his 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Her performance earned a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year (Actress) in 1969.
Hussey was only 16 when she filmed Romeo and Juliet, which included a nude scene. In 2018, she told Variety that Zeffirelli shot the scene tastefully and “it was needed for the film.” However, she and her co-star Leonard Whiting (also 16 at the time) sued Paramount in 2022 for sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, and fraud, regarding the scene.
“It wasn’t something I ever agreed to do. I just did it because I felt like I couldn’t say no,” she said at the time of the lawsuit. The case was initially dismissed in 2023 before Hussey and Whiting sued again earlier this year. A judge dismissed the suit again in October after ruling the pair had consented to the scenes.
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After her award-winning turn in Romeo and Juliet, Hussey starred in the films All the Right Noises and The Summertime Killer before landing the lead role of Jess Bradford in the horror film Black Christmas in 1974. Black Christmas would grow to be a cult classic and is regarded as one of the first slasher films.
Hussey continued her work in horror, appearing in the 1978 film The Cat and the Canary. In 1990, she portrayed Norma Bates in the Psycho prequel Psycho IV: The Beginning and also starred in It, a TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel.
Her other TV credits included Murder, She Wrote, Lonesome Dove: The Series, and Boy Meets World. She also provided voices for Pinky and the Brain, Superman: The Animated Series, and Batman Beyond. In 2003, she played the lead in Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Hussey’s final on-screen role came in the 2015 film Social Suicide, where she reunited with her Romeo and Juliet co-star Whiting. The movie also features Hussey’s daughter, actress Indie Eisley, playing the fictional daughter of Hussey and Whiting’s characters.
She released her memoir, The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet, on July 31, 2018.
Hussey is survived by her husband, David Glen Eisley; her children, Alex, Max, and India; and her grandson, Greyson.
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