Olivia Hussey has passed away at the age of 73

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Olivia Hussey Eisley, the actress who shot to fame as one of the star-crossed lovers in Franco Zeffirelli’s controversial Romeo and Juliet in 1968, died peacefully today at home surrounded by her loved ones, according to a post on her Instagram page. She was 73.

Hussey’s credits also include Death on the Nile opposite Peter Ustinov; Psycho IV: The Beginning in which she played Norma Bates and the 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s It.

She worked again with Zeffirelli when she played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television movie Jesus of Nazareth.

In 2022, Hussey and Whiting sued Paramount Pictures, alleging that Zeffirelli violated their consent on Romeo and Juliet by filming them nude without their knowledge. Hussey and Whiting were 15 and 16 years old, respectively, when the film was shot. Estimating that the film has made over $500 million since its pre-Summer of Love release, the duo sought $100 million in damages

The claims were distinct from what Hussey said in 2018 when she spoke of the nudity in the film. Back then, plugging a new memoir, the actress told Fox News that the nudity “wasn’t that big of a deal.”

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