Olivia Hussey, Star of the 1968 Classic 'Romeo and Juliet,' Dies at 73

Olivia Hussey, whose performance in the classic 1968 movie adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" was recently marred by allegations of the filmmaker's impropriety during its making, died Friday in L.A. She was 73.

Event organizer Marc Huestis confirmed her death on Facebook, writing, "I just heard some sad, sad news. My friend Olivia Hussey-Eisley has passed away. I adored her. She had so much love, and was the most beautiful Juliet ever. On screen and in real life she exuded love and life."

He recalled the 2008 interview he conducted with Hussey in San Francisco, writing, "When people ordered tickets for my Castro Valentines event, they reminisced in great detail about the first time seeing Romeo and Juliet-where they saw the picture, who they were with, what they wore."

He went on, "Some of the ticket buyers wanted to talk for hours. I had to make all sorts of excuses to get them off phone. I knew this would be an audience unlike any other I had brought together. Many first sexual awakenings, gay, straight, and bi were because of her and Leonard in Romeo and Juliet. She turned out to be my biggest celebrity draw."

"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 actual teenagers playing the teen roles, a first on the big screen. Though both had previously defended the necessity of the film's nude scene, December 30, 2022, they jointly filed a $500-million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, alleging sexual exploitation, harassment, and fraud. They stated they had suffered mental anguish, alleging that Zeffirelli had assured them their bodies would be covered, only to find that Hussey's breasts and Whiting's buttocks were clearly seen 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 acted professionally from age 13 on, debuting on TV in the TV series "Drama." She made her movie debut in "The Battle of the Villa Fiorita" (1965).

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

Hussey's other films included the unsuccessful movie 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 cameoed 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'd been set to reprise her "Black Christmas" role in "It's Me, Billy: Chapter 2," a sequel, but begged off due to a battle with breast cancer. She had beaten the disease in 2008 and had been enduring a recurrence since 2018.

Along with a brief romance with Whiting, Hussey dated troubled actor Christopher Jones. She wrote of his sexual abuse and a subsequent abortion in her memoir "The Girl on the Balcony," published in 2018.

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 over 30 years David Glen Eisley, and by her children Alexander Martin, Maximilian Fuse, and "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" star India Eisley.