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Olivia Hussey, whose performance in the 1968 classic “Romeo and Juliet” was recently marred by allegations of directorial misconduct during production, died Friday in Los Angeles. He was 73 years old.
Event organizer Mark Westis announced her death. facebook“I just heard the sad, sad news. My friend Olivia Hussey-Eisley has passed away. I adored her. I loved her so much and she was the most beautiful Juliet ever on screen. On TV and in real life, she oozed love.” And life. ”
he remembered 2008 interview He conducted with Hussey in San Francisco and said, “The people who ordered tickets to my Castro Valentine event were asked to remember the first time they saw “Romeo and Juliet,” where they saw the picture, and who they were with.” “He remembered details such as where he was and what he was wearing.” ”
He continued, “Some of the ticket buyers wanted to talk for hours. I had to make every excuse to get them off the phone. This is what I gathered… I knew it was going to be a different audience than the audience for many first-time sexual awakeners, gay, straight, bi, and she was my biggest celebrity because of her and Leonard in Romeo and Juliet. I found out something.”
Romeo and Juliet, directed by the late Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli, became a sensation in 1968 and set worldwide box office records. This was Hussey and co-star Leonard Whiting’s first big-screen appearances, with their roles played by real teenagers. The two have previously defended the need for nude scenes in films, but on December 30, 2022, they jointly filed a $500 million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, alleging sexual exploitation, harassment, and fraud. woke up. They said they suffered emotional distress and claimed that despite Zeffirelli’s promise to cover their bodies, 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 has been working professionally since the age of 13 and made her debut in the TV series “Drama”. He made his film debut in The Battle of Villa Fiorita (1965).
It was Zeffirelli’s work with Vanessa Redgrave in the West End that attracted attention, leading to an appearance in Romeo and Juliet, which won him the David di Donatello Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Newcomer in 1969. She won the actress award. .
Hussey’s other films include the unsuccessful film remake “Lost Horizon” (1973) with an all-star cast, the quintessential slasher film “Black Christmas” (1974), and the Zeffirelli television movie “Jesus of Nazareth”. ” (1977), mystery, etc. Death on the Nile (1978).
She made a cameo appearance in Michael Jackson’s music video “Liberian Girl” (1987), played Norman Bates’ mother in “Psycho IV: The Beginning” (1990), and appeared in 2015’s “Social Suicide”. ”, where he co-starred with Whiting.
At one point, she was scheduled to reprise her “Black Christmas” role in the sequel “It’s Me, Billy: Chapter 2,” but she decided not to due to her battle with breast cancer. She beat the disease in 2008, but had been enduring a relapse since 2018.
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In addition to her 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 crooner Dean Martin’s heartthrob son Dean Paul Martin and singer Akira Fuse.
She is survived by her husband of more than 30 years, David Glenn Eisley, and children Alexander Martin, Maximilian Hughes, and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” star India Eisley. There is.
