Actress Olivia Hussey, who rose to international fame as a teenager with her role in the acclaimed 1968 film version. of Romeo and Juliet, died aged 73.
The Argentinian-born actress, who grew up in London, died on Friday surrounded by her loved ones, according to a statement posted on her Instagram.
Hussey won the Golden Globe for Best New Actress for her role as Juliet, but decades later she sued Paramount Pictures for sexual assault because she was only 15 years old when she filmed the nude scene in the film.
Her other most notable screen role was as Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television miniseries. “Jesus of Nazareth”.
“While we mourn this tremendous loss, we also celebrate Olivia's lasting impact on our lives and the industry,” the statement said.
Hussey was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951 before moving to London aged seven and studying at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.
She was 15 when Romeo and Juliet director Franco Zeffirelli discovered her on stage, playing opposite Vanessa Redgrave in the play The Bloom of Miss Jean Brodie.
Zeffirelli was looking for someone young enough to be a convincing Juliet in what he intended to be the definitive cinematic version of Shakespeare's play.
He cast Hussey alongside British 16-year-old Leonard Whiting as Romeo in the film.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. Hussey herself missed out on an Oscar nomination in a strong year that saw Barbra Streisand win the top prize for Funny Girl.
But at the Golden Globes this year, Hussey won Best New Star.
Decades later, she and Whiting sued Paramount Pictures, alleging that Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, had encouraged them to film nude scenes despite previous assurances that they would not have to.
The couple sought more than $500m (£417m) in damages based on the suffering they said they suffered and the revenue the film brought in after its release.
But last year a the judge dismissed the casefinding the scene not “sexually suggestive enough.”
In 1977 Hussey reunited with Zeffirelli for Jesus of Nazareth to play the Virgin Mary, before appearing in Death on the Nile a year later based on Agatha Christie's novel.
Her roles in the early slasher film Black Christmas (1974) and the TV movie Psycho IV: The Beginning earned her recognition as a scream queen. In the latter, she played Norman Bates' mother in a prequel.
In later years, she also took up work as a voice actress, appearing frequently in video games.
But she had one final reunion with her ex Romeo – as she and Whiting appeared together in the 2015 British film. “Social Suicide,” which is based on Romeo and Juliet and takes place in the age of social media.