For many generations, she will always be the most perfect Juliet of all. For others, Mary, the mother of Jesus. In any case, because of her partnership with director Franco Zeffirelli, Olivia Hussey is one of the legends of cinema. She passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 73, as a result of a long battle with breast cancer.

Born in Argentina but raised in England, Olivia was the daughter of an opera singer father and a British secretary, having returned to her mother’s country when she was only 7 years old. She soon decided to pursue an artistic career and, using her mother’s surname, she debuted on stage at the age of just 13 and quickly managed to stand out.

Her first success was sharing the stage with Vanessa Redgrave in the play The Prime of Ms. Jean Brodie, and the critical acclaim caught the attention of Zeffirelli, who was looking for a 15-year-old actress to play Juliet in his film adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic.

Getting the role was not easy. The Italian director was auditioning for famous and unknown actresses, and he tested everyone from Angelina Huston to Lavinia Lang (an actress who was in love with the still-unknown Phil Collins, who was himself considered for Romeo). In what would be her most famous role, Olivia almost had Paul McCartney as Romeo, but the role went to Leonard Whiting, who was only 17 years old (closer to the age of the character in the play).

Romeo and Juliet was a huge success in 1968, being nominated for an Oscar and making the couple world-renowned. The duo with Zeffirelli would be repeated a few years later when she played Mary in the special series Jesus of Nazareth. Playing holy women seemed to be her forte, and Olivia would later play Mother Teresa of Calcutta in the bio-series about the nun.

Despite being in demand, Olivia did not enjoy the same success as Juliet, appearing in horror films in the 1980s (she became the “scream queen”) and working as a narrator in video games such as Star Wars.

In 2018, already in her tenth year fighting breast cancer, Olivia Hussey published her autobiography, The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet, and had been in the news again in 2023 when she and Whiting sued Paramount over accusations of child abuse during the filming of Romeo and Juliet, in which they both appear nude even though they were minors. They lost.

Olivia was married three times and had three children. According to the family’s post, the actress died “at home, surrounded by her loved ones.” For those who grew up with his perfect image in the classic of classics, it was yet another sad news from 2024. It remains to always quote the English bard who best defines the farewell: a very sweet sadness. Rest in Power.

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