Olivia Hussey, who dazzled moviegoers as the female star of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1969 fabled adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, died Thursday. She was 73.
Hussey died “at home surrounded by her loved ones,” according to an announcement on her official Instagram account. “Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her.”
Hussey was just 16 when she starred opposite Leonard Whiting as Romeo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, directed and co-written by Zeffirelli. The Paramount film was nominated for the best picture Oscar and three other Academy Awards.
Hussey also worked with the Italian director with a turn as Mary in the 1977 miniseries Jesus of Nazareth and appeared in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (1978), directed by John Guillermin, and Black Christmas (1974), the cult slasher horror movie.
More recently, she has worked as a voice actress in Star Wars video games, including 1998’s Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, 2000’s Star Wars: Force Commander and 2011’s Star Wars: The Old Republic.
More to come …
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