The British actress Olivia Husseywho won a Golden Globe for her role as the teenage Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film Romeo and Juliet and played the Virgin Mary in Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth series, died yesterday, Friday, at the age 73 years old, as announced by her family.

“Olivia was a special person whose warmth, wisdom and kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” her family said in a statement posted on their Instagram account.

Born in Buenos Aires, Olivia Hussey she was 15 years old when together with her partner Leonard Whitingthen 16, played the famous lovers in the Oscar-winning film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragedy.

In 2023, the two actors filed a lawsuit against the studio Paramount Pictures for a scene where they appear naked without their consent. A US judge later dismissed the suit and ruled in favor of Paramount.

September 25, 1968: “Romeo and Juliette” director Franco Zeffifelli (left) with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting at the film’s Paris premiere

Olivia Hussey, who won a Golden Globe for “Best New Actress” for her performance, would later appear in, among others, the 1974 horror film “Black Christmas” (Greek title, “Horror at the Girls’ School”) and “Crime on the Nile “, in the 1978 film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s book.