| Olivia Hussey | |
| Birth Name: | Olivia Osuna |
| Birth Date: | 17 April 1951 |
| Birth Place: | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, US |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Alma Mater: | Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts |
| Years Active: | 1964–2018 |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 3, including India Eisley |
| Signature: | Olivia Hussey Signature.png |
Olivia Hussey (; 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. 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). In 1990 she appeared in two horror productions, Stephen King's It and , in which she portrayed Norman Bates' mother. She also worked as a voice actress, providing voice roles in Star Wars video games including (1998), (2000), and (2011).
Hussey was born Olivia Osuna on 17 April 1951[1] in Buenos Aires, Argentina,[2] the first child of Argentine tango singer Andrés Osuna (stage name Osvaldo Ribó), and Joy Hussey, a legal secretary.[3] 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."[4] Hussey was fascinated by acting from a young age, and as a child, would dress up as a nun.[5]
At age seven, she moved with her mother and younger brother Andrew to London.[3] 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.[6] 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.[7] [3]
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."[8] She was chosen out of 500 actresses to star in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet film, opposite 16-year-old Leonard Whiting's Romeo.[9] [10]
Derek Smith of Slant said Hussey's performance "captures the passion and yearning of love-struck teens in a very contemporary manner".[11] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian agreed, and said Hussey "has an otherworldly purity".[12] Roger Ebert also gave she and Whiting high praise.[13] She won a special David di Donatello Award and the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1969.[14]
A memoir, The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet, was published on 31 July 2018.[15]
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."[16] [17] 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."[18] [19]
On 30 December 2022, Hussey and 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.[20] [21] 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.[22] The case was dismissed in Los Angeles Superior Court on 25 May 2023.[23]
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).[24] 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.
In 1971, Hussey appeared in the British drama All the Right Noises, followed by The Summertime Killer (1972), and the musical Lost Horizon.[25] 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.[26] She played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television production of Jesus of Nazareth (her second work for director Zeffirelli).[27] 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),[28] 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).[29] In 1987, Hussey, along with several well-known actors, made a cameo appearance in a clip for the Michael Jackson video "Liberian Girl".[30]
In 1990, Hussey played Norma Bates, the mother of Norman Bates, in , a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960),[31] 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.[32] [33]
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.[2] 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.[34] Hussey later reunited with Whiting as on-screen partners in the film Social Suicide (2015), the only film that they both appeared in since Romeo and Juliet. In the project, Hussey's daughter, actress India Eisley, played their fictional daughter, Julia Coulson.[35]
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, (1998)[36] and was also in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (2011) as Jedi Master Yuon Par.[37] She also lent her voice to in 2000.[38]
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.[39] [40] [41]
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."[42]
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.[42]
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.[43] Martin died in 1987 when the National Guard F-4 Phantom jet fighter he was piloting crashed.[44]
From 1980 to 1989, Hussey was married to Japanese singer Akira Fuse. They had one son, Maximillian Hussey Fuse (born 1983).[45]
In 1991,[46] she married American musician David Glen Eisley, the son of actor Anthony Eisley. They had one daughter, actress India Eisley.[47]
Hussey was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008,[48] 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 died at her home in Los Angeles on 27 December 2024, at the age of 73, following a recurrence of breast cancer.[49] [50] [51] Later that day, 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".[52]
| 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 | Jessica "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 Ecke | ||
| 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 |
| 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[53] | |
| 1978 | The Bastard | Alicia | Miniseries | |
| 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 | Norma Bates | |||
| It | Audra Phillips Denbrough | Miniseries | ||
| 1994 | 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"[54] | |
| 1999 | 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[55] |
| Year | Title | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Kasan Moor | ||
| 2000 | AT-AA Driver, Abridon Refugee 2 | ||
| 2011 | Jedi Master Yuon Par |