Olivia Hussey, famously recognized for her function within the 1968 movie “Romeo and Juliet”, has died. She was 73.
Hussey died Friday, “peacefully at dwelling surrounded by her family members,” a press release posted to her Instagram account stated.
“Olivia was a exceptional particular person whose heat, knowledge, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” the assertion continued.
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“Romeo and Juliet” incorporates a 1968 Olivia Hussey portrait. (Display Archives/Getty Photos)
“Olivia lived a life filled with ardour, love, and dedication to the humanities, spirituality, and kindness in the direction of animals… As we grieve this immense loss, we additionally have a good time Olivia’s enduring affect on our lives and the trade.”
“We thanks in your ideas and prayers throughout this tough 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/Categorical/Getty Photos)
Hussey turned 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 function of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s movie, which turned a world sensation.
She penned a memoir titled “Lady on the Balcony” in regards to the many ups and downs she endured in Hollywood.
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“It was really very overwhelming,” Hussey beforehand instructed Fox Information Digital in 2018. “Even once we had been taking pictures, we had reporters ready for an interview throughout our lunch and tea breaks. They usually had come from everywhere in the world.”
“I celebrated my sixteenth birthday throughout taking pictures… 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 evening alongside her co-star Leonard Whiting [Romeo], who was additionally 16 when he took on the function.
Regardless of being visibly topless within the epic drama, Hussey stated on the time that she felt comfy on set.
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“I believe as a result of it was completed very tastefully,” she defined. “And in Europe, it was very totally different. In America, it was very taboo. However in Europe a whole lot 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 received a whole lot of publicity… The massive crew we labored with was whittled right down to solely the very fundamental individuals, a handful of individuals. It was completed 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 towards 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 had been initially instructed they’d put on flesh-colored undergarments in a bed room scene, however on the day of the shoot Zeffirelli instructed the pair they’d put on solely physique make-up and that the digital camera could be positioned in a means that will not present nudity. They alleged they had 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 little one 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 sequence “Jesus of Nazareth,” and within the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Loss of life 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.
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