Best known to horror fans for playing the iconic proto-final girl Jess Bradford in Bob Clark’s slasher classic. Black Christmas, Olivia Hussey died at the age of 73.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Olivia Hussey Eisley, who returned home peacefully surrounded by her loved ones on December 27,” we can read in a press release published this weekend on the Instagram page official from the actress. “Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her.”
The statement continues: “Born on April 17, 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Olivia lived a life full of passion, love and dedication to the arts, spirituality and kindness towards animals.
Olivia leaves behind a loving family: her children, Alex, Max and India, her husband of 35 years, David Glen Eisley, and her grandson, Greyson, and a legacy of love that will forever be cherished in our hearts. As we mourn this immense loss, we also celebrate Olivia’s lasting impact on our lives and on the industry.
Olivia Hussey first rose to prominence after playing Juliet in the 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Julietwhich earned him a Golden Globe for “Most Promising Newcomer”. It wasn’t until a few years later that Hussey teamed up with Bob Clark for the original film. Black Christmasbringing to the screen one of the slasher genre’s most beloved final girls with Jess Bradford.
As Meagan Navarro wrote here on Bloody Disgusting in 2019: “Among horror’s best Final Girls, alongside Laurie Strode, is Jess Bradford, a complicated heroine in one of horror’s most exceptional holiday offerings. One of the greatest horror films of the era. Black Christmas and its main protagonist, Jess, left a lasting imprint on the genre, one that played a significant influence on the slasher subgenre in particular and which still offers valuable lessons in storytelling and characterization several decades later.
Later-Black ChristmasOlivia Hussey returns to the horror genre in films, especially those from 1978. The cat and the canary1990s Psycho IV: The Beginningand the 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s Computer Scienceas well as Clint Howard’s slasher film Ice Cream Man (1995).
The British actress has also appeared in films including The summer killer (1972), Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Death on the Nile (1978), Shooting in Türkiye (1982), Dead Man’s Island (1996), et Mother Thérèse (2003) and voiced characters in video games and animated projects, including Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Superman: The Animated Serieset Batman Beyond.
Mick Garris, who directed Hussey in Psycho IVwrote on Twitter this weekend: “It is with a very heavy heart that I share the passing of the beautiful, talented, kind and loving Olivia Hussey on December 27th. One of the most charming people I have ever known, not to mention the one I had the honor and pleasure of working with. condolences to his daughter India Eisley and her partner David.
I think we speak for all horror fans when we say that Olivia Hussey will live forever through annual holiday viewings of Black Christmasa horror classic in which the actress sets high standards for all the Final Girls who follow in her wake. Jess laid the foundation for Laurie, Nancy, Sidney and all the other greats, and Hussey continues to endure fifty years later as one of the greatest scream queens of all time. All of us here at Bloody Disgusting send our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the friends, family and many fans of the great Olivia Hussey.
