Hussey died Friday, “peacefully at home, surrounded by her loved ones,” according to a statement posted on her Instagram account.
The actress was 15 when director Franco Zeffirelli cast her in the role of Juliet in his adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragedy after spotting her on stage in the play Miss Brodie’s beautiful yearsin which Vanessa Redgrave also played. Filming took place a year later.
Romeo and Juliet won two Academy Awards, and Hussey won the Golden Globe for Best New Actress for her role as Juliet, alongside British actor Leonard Whiting, who was 16 at the time.
Decades later, Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud over nudity scenes in the film.
They claimed they were initially told they would wear flesh-colored underwear in a bedroom scene, but on the day of filming, Zeffirelli told the duo they would only wear body makeup and that the camera would be positioned so as not to show nudity. They claimed they were filmed naked without their knowledge.
The case was thrown out by a Los Angeles County judge in 2023, who ruled that their depiction could not be considered child pornography and that the duo filed their complaint too late.
Hussey was born on April 17, 1951, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to London as a child.
She also played the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television series Jesus of Nazareth by the same Zeffirelli as well as the role of Rosalie Otterbourne in the 1978 adaptation of Death on the Nile d’Agatha Christie par John Guillermin.
She is survived by her husband, David Glen Eisley, her three children and a grandson.
