Actress Star of The Life and Times of Romeo and Juliet Dies at 73

Actress Olivia Hussey, who came to the spotlight as a teenager for her role in the 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, has died aged 73.

The Argentine-born actress, who grew up in London, died Friday surrounded by her loved ones, she said on her confam Instagram account.

Hussey bin won the Golden Globe for Best New Actress for her role as Juliet, but decades later she sued Paramount Pictures for sexual abuse when she was just 15 when she watched the nude scene for the movie.

Her most notable on-screen role was playing Mary, mother of Jesus, for the 1977 television miniseries Jesus of Nazareth.

“As we mourn this immense loss, we also celebrate Olivia’s lasting impact on our lives and on the industry,” he said.

Born Hussey in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951, she moved to London at the age of seven and began studying at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.

She was 15 when the director of Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli, discovered her on stage. She will star alongside Vanessa Redgrave in the play ‘Di Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’.

Zeffirelli was looking for someone young enough to play the role of Juliet for what he intends to be the final film version of Shakespeare’s play.

We cast Hussey and 16-year-old Leonard Whiting as Romeo for me.

Di Feem Bin is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. Hussey herself missed out on an Oscar nomination during a strong year in which Barbra Streisand won the main prize for Funny Girl.

But for this year’s Golden Globes, Hussey won best new star.

Decades later, she and Whiting sued Paramount Pictures, accusing Zeffirelli – We Die for 2019 – of encouraging them to perform nude scenes, even though they assured them they should not act nude.

The two men are seeking damages of more than $500 million (£417 million), on top of accusations of suffering they say they suffered and income generated by the commission since their release.

In 1977, Hussey bin reunited with Zeffirelli for the film Jesus of Nazareth to play the role of the Virgin Mary, before appearing in Death on the Nile a year later, based on the Agatha Christie novel.

Her roles in the first slasher film Black Christmas (1974) and the television film Psycho IV: Di Beginning earned her scream queen recognition. Later, she played Norman Bates’ mother for the screenplay.

In her later years, she also began working as a voice actress and she performs well for video games.

But she can arrange one last reunion with her old Romeo – as she and Whiting show it together for the 2015 British film Social Suicide, they are based on Romeo and Juliet and prepare for the age of social media.