Olivia Hussey, the actress who portrayed teenage Juliet in the 1968 movie “Romeo and Juliet,” has passed away, her family announced on social media Saturday. She was aged 73.
Hussey passed away on Friday, “peacefully at home encircled by her loved ones,” according to a statement shared on her Instagram account.
Filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli chose Hussey at the age of 15 for his version of the William Shakespeare tragedy after he saw her in the play “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” which also featured Vanessa Redgrave.
For her depiction of Juliet, Hussey shared the Golden Globe for best new actress with 16-year-old British actor Leonard Whiting, and “Romeo and Juliet” took home two Oscars.
Years later, Hussey and Whiting sued Paramount Pictures, alleging that the film’s naked sequences constituted sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and fraud.
They claimed that they were first informed they would don flesh-colored underwear in a bedroom scene, but on the shooting day, Zeffirelli informed them they would only have body makeup, with the camera positioned to avoid showing nudity. They claimed they were recorded in the nude without their awareness.
A judge in Los Angeles County dismissed the case in 2023, determining that their portrayal did not qualify as child pornography and that the couple submitted their claim too late.
