Olivia Hussey, star of the 1968 film ’Romeo and Juliet,’ dies at 73

Published Dec 29, 2024  •  1 minute read

Olivia Hussey attends the 50th Anniversary World Premiere Restoration of 'The Producers' presented as the Opening Night Gala of the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival at the TCL Chinese theatre in Hollywood. Photo by CHRIS DELMAS /AFP via Getty Images

Olivia Hussey, the actor who starred as a teenage Juliet in the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet,” has died, her family said on social media Saturday. She was 73.

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Hussey died on Friday, “peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones,” a statement posted to her Instagram account said.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Olivia Hussey Eisley, who went peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones on December 27th,” reads the social media statement. “Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her. … Olivia lived a life full of passion, love, and dedication to the arts, spirituality and kindness towards animals.”

Hussey was 15 when director Franco Zeffirelli cast her opposite Leonard Whiting in his adaptation of the William Shakespeare tragedy after spotting her onstage in the play “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” which also starred Vanessa Redgrave.

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“Romeo and Juliet” won two Oscars and Hussey won a Golden Globe for best new actress for her part as Juliet, opposite British actor Leonard Whiting, who was 16 at the time.

Decades later Hussey and Whiting brought a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud over nude scenes in the film.

Hussey defended the scene in a 2018 interview with Variety, which first reported the lawsuit, for the film’s 50th anniversary.

“Nobody my age had done that before,” she said, adding that Zeffirelli shot it tastefully. “It was needed for the film.”

“Olivia, we have shared so much since we were two sweet innocent children clinging onto each other for dear life as every photo of us attests to,” Whiting said in a statement shared with Variety. “You have never been frightened of fighting to fix everything wrong in this world. Rest now my beautiful Juliet no injustices can hurt you now. And the world will remember your beauty inside and out forever.”

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