Olivia Hussey

Olivia Hussey
Hussey in the 1970s
Born	Olivia Osuna (1951-04-17)17 April 1951 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died	27 December 2024(2024-12-27) (aged 73)
Alma mater	Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1964–2018
Spouses	Dean Paul Martin ​ ​ (m. 1971; div. 1978)​ Akira Fuse ​ ​ (m. 1980; div. 1989)​ David Glen Eisley ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	3, including India Eisley
Website	oliviahussey.com
Signature

Olivia Hussey (née Osuna; 17 April 1951 – 27 December 2024) was a British actress. Her awards included a Golden Globe Award and a David di Donatello Award. The daughter of Argentine tango singer Osvaldo Ribó, Hussey was born in Buenos Aires but spent most of her early life in her mother's native England. She aspired to become an actress at a young age and studied drama for five years at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

Hussey began acting professionally as an adolescent. She appeared in a 1966 London production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, opposite Vanessa Redgrave; this led to her being scouted for the role of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Hussey received widespread acclaim and international recognition for her performance. In 1974, she appeared as the lead character Jess Bradford in the cult slasher film Black Christmas. This and her roles in the horror productions Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) and Stephen King's It (1990) earned her the label of scream queen.

Hussey reunited with Zeffirelli in the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977) as Mary and appeared as Rosalie Otterbourne in John Guillermin's Agatha Christie adaptation Death on the Nile (1978). She appeared in several international productions throughout the 1980s, including the Japanese production Virus (1980) and the Australian dystopian action film Turkey Shoot (1982). She also worked as a voice actress, providing voice roles in Star Wars video games including Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998), Star Wars: Force Commander (2000), and Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011).

Early life and education

Hussey was born Olivia Osuna on 17 April 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the first child of Argentine tango singer Andrés Osuna (stage name Osvaldo Ribó), and Joy Hussey, a legal secretary. Her mother was from England, of Scottish and English descent. Her parents were Roman Catholics, and she was raised in that denomination. Hussey recalled, "I grew up with a mini-altar at home that she had; a candle was always alight on it. She always had a great love for God, and she instilled that in me." Hussey was fascinated by acting from a young age, and as a child, would dress up as a nun.

At age seven, she moved with her mother and younger brother Andrew to London. There, Hussey was accepted into the Italia Conti Academy drama school, which she attended for five years, taking modeling and walk-on parts to help pay her fees. At 13, she began acting professionally on stage, assuming her mother's maiden name as her stage name. In 1964, she appeared in an episode of the television series Drama, followed by minor roles in two films the following year: The Battle of the Villa Fiorita and Cup Fever.

Career

Breakthrough with Romeo and Juliet

Hussey in 1968

Hussey appeared in a West End production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, playing Jenny opposite Vanessa Redgrave. Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli noticed her performance because "she was the only choice mature enough with experience and natural beauty to play Juliet while still looking 14." She was chosen out of 500 actresses to star in Zeffirelli's film, opposite 16-year-old Leonard Whiting's Romeo. Her performance won her a special David di Donatello Award and the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1969.

After the success of Romeo and Juliet, Hollywood producer Hal B. Wallis offered her the title role in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and the co-starring role with John Wayne in True Grit (1969). In her 2018 memoir, Hussey recalled that she had "mumbled something about being interested in Anne of the Thousand Days" but that she "couldn't see herself with Wayne", concluding that this "adolescent and opinionated" remark ended her professional relationship with Wallis, who immediately withdrew his offer.

Nude scene controversy

In an August 2018 interview for Fox News to promote the release of her autobiography Girl on the Balcony, Hussey discussed filming the controversial nude scene in Romeo and Juliet: "We shot it at the end of the film. So by that time...we've become one big family. It wasn't that big of a deal. And Leonard wasn't shy at all! In the middle of shooting I just completely forgot I didn't have clothes on." In another 2018 interview with Variety, Hussey defended the nude scene, saying, "Nobody my age had done that before," adding that Zeffirelli shot it tastefully. "It was needed for the film. Everyone thinks they were so young they didn't realize what they were doing. But we were very aware. We both came from drama schools and when you work you take your work very seriously."

However, on 30 December 2022, Hussey and Leonard Whiting filed a $500 million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures for sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, and fraud, regarding the scene. In their court filing, the two actors stated that they had suffered emotional damage and mental anguish for decades. The complainants stated that director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, initially said they would wear flesh-coloured undergarments and be positioned in a way that would not show nudity, but that Whiting's bare buttocks and Hussey's bare breasts are nonetheless briefly shown during the scene, in violation of California state and federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children.

The case was dismissed in Los Angeles Superior Court on 25 May 2023.

Subsequent screen roles and voice work

Hussey in 1979

In 1971, Hussey appeared in the British drama All the Right Noises, followed by The Summertime Killer (1972), and the musical Lost Horizon. In 1974, Hussey played the lead role of Jess Bradford in the Canadian horror film Black Christmas (1974), which became influential as a forerunner of the slasher film genre of horror films. She played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television production of Jesus of Nazareth (her second work for director Zeffirelli). In 1978, she played Rosalie Otterbourne in Death on the Nile with Peter Ustinov, and appeared in The Cat and the Canary (1979).

She starred as Marit in the Japanese film Virus (1980), and played Rebecca of York in the 1982 remake of Ivanhoe (1982); the same year, she had a lead role in the Australian horror film Turkey Shoot (1982).

In 1987, Hussey, along with several well-known actors, made a cameo appearance in a clip for the Michael Jackson video Liberian Girl.

In 1990, Hussey played Norma Bates, the mother of Norman Bates, in Psycho IV: The Beginning, a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), and appeared in the miniseries It, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel. These two roles along with Black Christmas earned her the label of scream queen.

Hussey in 2008

Hussey played the lead in Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2003), a biographical film about Mother Teresa, for which she was presented with a Character & Morality in Entertainment Award on 12 May 2007 in Hollywood. She stated in an interview that it had been her dream to portray the role of Mother Teresa of Calcutta ever since she finished her role as the Virgin Mary in Jesus of Nazareth. Hussey and Leonard Whiting reunited as on-screen partners in the film Social Suicide (2015), the only film that they both appeared in since Romeo and Juliet (1968). In the project, Hussey's daughter, actress India Eisley, played their fictional daughter, Julia Coulson.

Hussey also worked as a voice actress, and was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production" at the Annie Awards for her work in the DC Animated Universe as Talia al Ghul. She voiced the character of Kasan Moor in the PC/Nintendo 64 game, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998) and was also in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011) as Jedi Master Yuon Par. She also lent her voice to Star Wars: Force Commander in 2000.

Hussey was slated to reprise her role as Jess Bradford in the Black Christmas fan film It's Me, Billy: Chapter 2, but withdrew from the project in November 2023 due to health reasons.

Personal life and death

Hussey had agoraphobia, which was aggravated by the fame she achieved after Romeo and Juliet.

She briefly dated Leonard Whiting in 1968. They remained friends throughout her life, reportedly communicating "at least once every 10 days."

Hussey also dated actor Christopher Jones in 1968 but ended the relationship due to his being abusive towards her. The following year, Jones allegedly attacked, raped, and impregnated Hussey, who underwent an abortion.

In 1971, Hussey married Dean Paul Martin, the son of Dean Martin. They had one son, writer and actor Alexander Gunther Martin (born 1973). They divorced in 1978 but remained friends. Martin died in 1987 when the National Guard F-4 Phantom jet fighter he was piloting crashed.

From 1980 to 1989, Hussey was married to Japanese singer Akira Fuse. They had one son, Maximillian Hussey Fuse (born 1983).

In 1991, she married American musician David Glen Eisley, the son of actor Anthony Eisley. They had one daughter, actress India Eisley.

Hussey was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, and underwent a double mastectomy. After being in remission for nearly a decade, the breast cancer returned in 2017, with Hussey undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment to remove a small tumour growing between her heart and lungs.

Hussey's memoir, The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet, was published on 31 July 2018.

Hussey died on 27 December 2024, at the age of 73, following a recurrence of her breast cancer. Later that day, Romeo and Juliet co-star Leonard Whiting released a statement: "Rest now my beautiful Juliet no injustices can hurt you now. And the world will remember your beauty inside and out forever".

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	The Battle of the Villa Fiorita	Donna
	Cup Fever	Jinny
1968	Romeo and Juliet	Juliet
1971	All the Right Noises	Val
	H-Bomb	Erica
1972	The Summertime Killer	Tania Scarlotti
1973	Lost Horizon	Maria
1974	Black Christmas	Jess Bradford
1978	Death on the Nile	Rosalie Otterbourne
	The Cat and the Canary	Cicily Young
1980	Virus	Marit
	The Man with Bogart's Face	Elsa
1982	Turkey Shoot	Chris Walters
1987	Distortions	Amy Marks
1989	The Jeweller's Shop	Thérèse
1990	Undeclared War	Rebecca Eche
1993	Quest of the Delta Knights	The Mannerjay
1994	Save Me	Gail
1995	Ice Cream Man	Nurse Wharton	Direct-to-video
	Bad English I: Tales of a Son of a Brit
1996	The Lord Protector: The Dark Mist	Voice of the Ancients	Voice
1998	The Gardener	Mrs. Carter
	Shame, Shame, Shame	Therapist
2000	Bloody Proof	Laura
2001	Island Prey	Catherine Gaits
2005	Headspace	Dr. Karen Murphy
2006	Seven Days of Grace	Jewel
2007	Tortilla Heaven	Petra
2008	Three Priests	Rachel
	I Am Somebody: No Chance in Hell	Mrs. Duncan
2015	Social Suicide	Mrs. Coulson	Final on-screen role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	Drama 61-67	Mrs. Ken's daughter	Episode: "Studio '64 – The Crunch"
1977	Jesus of Nazareth	Mary, mother of Jesus	Miniseries
1978	The Bastard	Alicia
	The Pirate	Leila	Television film
1979	The Thirteenth Day: The Story of Esther	Esther
1982	Ivanhoe	Rebecca
1984	The Last Days of Pompeii	Ione	Miniseries
	Murder, She Wrote	Kitty Trumbull	Episode: "Sing a Song of Murder"
1985	The Corsican Brothers	Annamarie de Giudice	Television film
1990	Psycho IV: The Beginning	Norma Bates
	It	Audra Phillips Denbrough	Miniseries
1994	Lonesome Dove: The Series	Olivia Jessup	3 episodes
1996	Dead Man's Island	Rosie	Television film
1997	Boy Meets World	Prudence Curtis	Episode: "A Long Walk to Pittsburgh"
1998	Pinky and the Brain	Queen Gertrude	Voice, episode: "Melancholy Brain"
1999	Superman: The Animated Series	Talia al Ghul	Voice, episode: "The Demon Reborn"
2000	Batman Beyond		Voice, episode: "Out of the Past"
2003	Mother Teresa of Calcutta	Mother Teresa	Television film

Video games

Year	Title	Role
1998	Star Wars: Rogue Squadron	Kasan Moor
2000	Star Wars: Force Commander	AT-AA Driver, Abridon Refugee 2
2011	Star Wars: The Old Republic	Jedi Master Yuon Par

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Location	Ref.
1966	Jenny	Wyndham's Theatre

Sources

• Daileader, Celia R. (8 October 2001). "Nude Shakespeare in film and nineties popular feminism". In Alexander, Catherine M.S.; Stanley Wells (eds.). Shakespeare and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80475-2.
• Hussey, Olivia (2018). The Girl on the Balcony. London: Kensington Books. ISBN 978-1-496-71707-8.
• Mayo, Mike (2013). The Horror Show Guide: The Ultimate Frightfest of Movies (2 ed.). Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1-578-59420-7.
• Redgrave, Vanessa (1991). Vanessa Redgrave: An Autobiography. New York City, New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-40216-9.

External links

• Official website
• Olivia Hussey at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Olivia Hussey at IMDb 
• Olivia Hussey at the TCM Movie Database
• Olivia Hussey at the British Film Institute
• Olivia Hussey discography at Discogs