Cinema: Olivia Hussey, Zeffirelli's Juliet, dead at 73

Filed unsuccessful abuse suit with Whiting last year

By: ansa.it

Dec 28 2024
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Cinema: Olivia Hussey, Zeffire

Olivia Hussey, who played a teenage Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 Golden Globe-winning film 'Romeo and Juliet,' has died at the age of 73, her family announced.
    "Olivia was an extraordinary person whose warmth, wisdom and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her," the actress's family said in a statement posted on Instagram.
    Born in Buenos Aires, Hussey was 15 when she and co-star Leonard Whiting starred in the Oscar-winning adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy.
    Last year, the two actors filed a lawsuit against the studio accusing it of child abuse over a controversial nude scene in which they appeared, both of them being minors at the time.
    The lawsuit was dismissed by a judge.
    Hussey, who received a Golden Globe for "New Star of the Year" for her portrayal of Juliet, would later star in the 1974 slasher film "A Red Christmas" and the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile," among other films.
    She is survived by her husband David Eisley, their three children, and a grandson.