Actress Olivia Hussey in Lost Horizon. , Photo Courtesy: The Hindu Archives
Olivia Hussey, actor who played teenage Juliet in the 1968 film Romeo and JulietHas died, his family said on social media on Saturday, December 28, 2024. She was 73 years old.
A statement posted on his Instagram account said Hussey died “peacefully at home surrounded by his loved ones” on Friday (December 27, 2024).
Hussey was 15 years old when director Franco Zeffirelli cast her in his adaptation of the William Shakespeare tragedy after seeing her on stage in the play “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”, which also starred Vanessa Redgrave.
“Romeo and Juliet” director Franco Zeffirelli (left), actors Olivia Hussey (center), and Leonard Whiting (right) are seen after the film’s Paris premiere in Paris on September 25, 1968. , Photo Credit: AP
Romeo and Juliet Won two Oscars and Hussey won a Golden Globe for Best New Actress for her role as Juliet opposite British actor Leonard Whiting, who was 16 at the time.
Decades later, Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, alleging sexual assault, sexual harassment, and fraud over the nude scenes in the film.
They alleged that they were initially told they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene, but on the day of shooting Zeffirelli told the pair they would only wear body makeup and that the cameras would be positioned so as not to be visible. . Nudity She alleged that she was filmed in the nude without her knowledge.
The case was dismissed in 2023 by a Los Angeles County judge, who found that their depictions could not be considered child pornography and that the couple filed their claim too late.
Hussey was born on April 17, 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to London in his childhood.
She also played the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television series Jesus of Nazarethand the 1978 Agatha Christie adaptation death on the river nile
She is survived by her husband, David Glenn Easley, their three children, and a grandson.
published – December 28, 2024 09:45 PM IST
