Hussey appeared in some memorable films and TV projects. (Images via movie stills)

The end of the year always seems to be a busy time for departures, and now we say farewell to Olivia Hussey, 73, who was so lovely in Romeo and Juliet (1968). She apparently succumbed to breast cancer, which she had fought since 2008.

Romeo and Juliet, her most famous project, was later the subject of a lawsuit, in which she and co-star Leonard Whiting alleged that filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli abused them by misleading them into believing their nudity would not be visible. It was, famously so, and while they had defended the nudity for years, they nonetheless sued at the end of 2022 in a case that was dismissed in 2023.

Hussey, born April 17, 1951, in Buenos Aires, acted from age 13 on. After appearing on the West End with Vanessa Redgrave, she was asked by Zeffirelli to star as the first age-appropriate Juliet on the big screen. The film was an international, enduring hit.

Other films included the flop remake of Lost Horizon (1973) and the cult-fave horror film Black Christmas (1974), often cited as a prototype of the slasher genre. She had agreed to appear in a long-awaited sequel, but begged off due to her declining health.

She was also in Zeffirelli's TV movie Jesus of Nazareth (1977), the mystery Death on the Nile (1978), Michael Jackson's music video Liberian Girl (1987) and Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).

In 2015, she shared the screen with her Romeo and Juliet co-star Leonard Whiting, whom she'd briefly dated before they became lifelong friends.

Hussey dated actor Christopher Jones, whom she claimed raped and impregnated her, leading to an abortion. She was married to Dean Martin's son Deal Paul Martin, to singer Akira Fuse and is survived by her husband of 30+ years, David Glen Eisley. She had a child with each of her husbands, among them actress India Eisley.

Marc Huestis wrote of his 2008 event with her:

Many first sexual awakenings, gay, straight, and bi were because of her and Leonard in Romeo and Juliet. They spoke volumes to a whole generation and she turned out to be my biggest celebrity draw.