Olivia Hussey, star of the 1968 classic “Romeo and Juliet,” dies at age 73

Olivia Hussey, whose performance in the classic 1968 film adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” was recently marred by allegations of impropriety on the part of the filmmaker during filming, died on Friday in LA at the age of 73.

Event organizer Marc Huestis confirmed her death on Facebook, writing: “I just heard sad, sad news. My friend Olivia Hussey-Eisley died. I adored her. She had so much love and was the most beautiful Julia ever.” On screen and in real life, she radiated love and life.

Recalling the interview he conducted with Hussey in San Francisco in 2008, he wrote: “When people ordered tickets to my Castro Valentines event, they remembered in great detail the first time they saw Romeo and Juliet – where they saw the picture, who they were with, what they were wearing.”

He continued: “Some of the ticket buyers wanted to talk for hours. I had to find all sorts of excuses to get her off the phone. I knew this would be an audience like I had never gathered before. Many first sexual awakenings, gay, straight and bi, were thanks to her and Leonard in Romeo and Juliet. She turned out to be my biggest celebrity attraction.

“Romeo and Juliet” by the late Italian filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli was a sensation in 1968, an international box office hit. Hussey and her co-star Leonard Whiting were real teenagers playing the teenage roles, a first on the big screen. Although both had previously defended the necessity of the nude scene in the film on December 30, 2022, they jointly filed a $500 million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures for sexual exploitation, harassment and fraud. They said they suffered mental anguish and claimed that Zeffirelli assured them that their bodies would be covered, only to discover that Hussey’s breasts and Whiting’s buttocks were clearly visible in the final cut.

The case was dismissed in May 2023.

The actress was born Olivia Osuna on April 17, 1951 in Buenos Aires. The daughter of an opera singer, she was a professional actress since the age of 13 and made her television debut in the television series “Drama”. She made her film debut in “The Battle of Villa Fiorita” (1965).

It was her work with Vanessa Redgrave on the West End that caught Zeffirelli’s attention and led to her casting in Romeo and Juliet, for which she received the 1969 David di Donatello Award and a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year – Actress.

Hussey’s other films included the unsuccessful remake of Lost Horizon (1973) with an all-star cast, the prototypical slasher film Black Christmas (1974), Zeffirelli’s TV movie Jesus of Nazareth (1977), and the mystery “Death on the Nile” (1978).

She appeared in Michael Jackson’s music video “Liberian Girl” (1987), played Norman Bates’ mother in “Psycho IV: The Beginning” (1990), and worked with Whiting in 2015’s “Social Suicide.”

At one point, she was scheduled to reprise her role in Black Christmas in the sequel It’s Me, Billy: Chapter 2, but had to drop out due to a battle with breast cancer. She had beaten the disease in 2008 and had suffered a relapse since 2018.

In addition to a brief romance with Whiting, Hussey dated troubled actor Christopher Jones. She wrote about his sexual abuse and subsequent abortion in her 2018 memoir, “The Girl on the Balcony.”

She was married to and divorced from Dean Paul Martin, the crush son of pop singer Dean Martin, and singer Akira Fuse.

She is survived by her husband of over 30 years, David Glen Eisley, as well as her children Alexander Martin, Maximilian Fuse and The Secret Life of the American Teenager star India Eisley.