Olivia Hussey, known for her remarkable performance as the female lead in the adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968, died Friday at the age of 73.
Born in Argentina, the actress left “peacefully home, surrounded by her loved ones”, according to an announcement on her Instagram account. The message states: “Olivia was an exceptional person whose warmth, wisdom and kindness touched the lives of all who knew her. »
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.
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Hussey was just 15 when she co-starred with 16-year-old British actor Leonard Whiting in Romeo and Juliet. Both were strangers. The film, distributed by Paramount and co-written by Zeffirelli, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as three other Academy awards, and she won the David di Donatello Award and a Golden Globe for her performance.
She also collaborated with the Italian filmmaker, playing Marie in the epic 1977 series Jesus of Nazarethand played the lead role in Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2003).
She is remembered as Jess Bradford, persecuted in her sorority house, in Black Christmas (1974), a cult Canadian horror film directed by Bob Clark, as well as for her role as Rosalie Otterbourne, the daughter of Angela Lansbury's character, in the Agatha Christie adaptation Death on the Nile (1978), directed by John Guillermin.
Everett Collection
Olivia Osuna was born on April 17, 1951 in Buenos Aires. His father, an Argentine opera singer, was known by the stage name Osvaldo Ribó, and his mother, Joy, was a legal secretary originally from England.
At the age of 7, her mother took her and her younger brother to London, where she studied at the Italia Conti Academy for five years. She made her theater debut at age 13, taking her mother's maiden name as her stage name.
His performance in a West End production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1966, alongside Vanessa Redgrave, opened the doors to Zeffirelli.
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Romeo and Julietfilmed in Italy and with narration by an uncredited Laurence Olivier, introduced Shakespearean drama to a new generation. The film, which caused a sensation at the time by showing Hussey naked, was a great success for Paramount, then in difficulty.
After the film's dazzling success, Hollywood producer Hal B. Wallis offered him the lead role in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and a collaboration with John Wayne in True Grit (1969), but an offhand comment from him (“she couldn't see herself with Wayne”) led Wallis to look elsewhere.
She then followed up with roles in the British romantic drama All the Right Noises (1970), the Italian crime film The Summertime Killer (1972) and a remake of Lost Horizon (1973).
Hussey starred in The Man With Bogart’s Face (1980), Japanese science fiction film Virus (1980), a remake of Ivanhoe (1982) and the Australian horror film Turkey Shoot (1982), also playing the mother of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).
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In 1990, she played Audra, the wife of Bill Denbrough played by Richard Thomas, in the miniseries That de Stephen King pour ABC.
She also served as a voice actress for Star Wars, Batman and Superman video games before reuniting with Whiting for a film in 2015, Social Suicidea modern adaptation of Romeo and Julietwhere she played the Capulets' parents. It was his last on-screen credit. (His daughter, India Eisley, played their daughter, Julia Coulson, in the film).
His autobiography, The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Julietwas published in 2018.
In 2023, Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount, accusing the studio of abuse during the filming of Romeo and Juliet. The actors said Zeffirelli forced them to shoot a bed scene in nudity even though they were initially promised to wear flesh-colored catsuits. Whiting's buttocks and Hussey's bare breasts are visible in the film.
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The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, with the judge ruling that the allegations about sexual acts in the film constituted a “gross misinterpretation.” A second lawsuit was also dismissed in October.
Survivor, she leaves behind her daughter, her husband of 35 years, David Glen Eisley, son of actor Anthony Eisley (Hawaiian Eye), as well as his sons, Alexander and Max, and his grandson, Greyson.
Hussey had been married to Dean Paul Martin, the son of singer and actor Dean Martin, from 1971 until their divorce in 1978, then to Japanese Akira Fuse, actor, writer and singer, from 1980 until their divorce in 1989.
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