Zeffirelli’s Juliet dies, 73
RIPThe British actor and singer Olivia Hussey – co-star of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – died this weekend, her family have announced.
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Daughter of an Argentine singer, Hussey went on from teenage screen stardom to play many roles in stage plays and musicals. Her second most celebrated role was as the Virgin Mary in Zeffirelli’s TV series, Jesus of Nazareth.
RIP. I had the pleasure of reviewing that film for my student newspaper because I saw it on a trip to the US before it had opened in Canada. I have never seen it since — the images of it remain as vivid as if I had seen it last week. But I will revisit it soon as a tribute to that Juliet, along with another film I liked her in, Battle of the Villa Fiorita.
She was an effective Mary, too. I also saw her in Black Christmas, which was a bit of a cult film in my university circle. She did not, as noted in the Telegraph article on her death, make a great career, but the few things I saw her in were all oddly memorable after one viewing. I suppose it is simple screen presence. And no bad legacy — of some passing actors, they say s/he will be missed. Olivia Hussey will be remembered.
If you’re going to reduce her to “Zeffirelli’s Juliet”, it might also be worth mentioning that she accused him of sexual exploitation for a non-consensual nude sex scene in that movie while she was a teenager, in violation of California law.
don’t beat a dead horse.
I’m well aware of that, but also that the accusations came half a century after the film, after Zeffirelli was dead. During his lifetime, she worked with him again (in Jesus of Nazareth, a long shoot), and regularly praised him in interviews long after she had grown up.
I realise that she was young for the filming of R&J, as was Leonard Whiting, and there was no “Me, Too” movement at the time. As it was filmed at Cinecittà and on location in Italy, there may not have been the sort of supervision and guardianship for minors that was common on American films.
But the case was thrown out, as was the appeal, and there was some feeling that she and Whiting, neither of whom was well off or particularly successful as actors, had perhaps tried to use what very probably was an exploitation by Zeffirelli to secure some money. I believe he may have lied to them about nudity expectations in the film, and steam-rollered them. But it took too long to complain about it, and they said at the time that the scenes were necessary and tastefully done.
It was a tough case to make, but heavily because of the comments the young actors had made through the years. I believe the kids were exploited, but the time to complain was then. And where were their agents, managers — parents?
It was all very unfortunate.
Whatever your feelings about the case, it is evidently something she felt important should be part of the record. You may like the film, that does not exclude the fact that it includes underage nudity, and that – with hindsight – both actors felt duped and exploited. An obituary should be fair to the person they seek to render, and in this case the minimum is to acknowledge Hussey’s own statement about it.
And Zeffirelli’s record of sexual misconduct is very well established.
No argument with your sentiments.
“but the time to complain was then”
It’s not that simple.
1) To whom and about what? It was the end of the 60’s going into the 1970’s, pedophilia was coming in vogue among the cultural elite in Europe, Visconti came out with Death in Venice 3 years later.
2) Sometimes, you don’t know you until you know, and it could take decades of consciousness raising.
1) Didn’t these kids have parents? Managers or agents? (Though I suppose you may be saying that they could have been compliant, given the trend).
2) Perhaps — but the actors frequently discussed the sex scenes in positive terms. For many years. I do not dispute any of their feelings, but the outcome of the court cases is hardly surprising.
So ethant is another who still confuses homosexuality with pedophilia. That’s very sad as there is no proven link. As for 60’s going into the 70’s and the film Death in Venice, it has absolutely nothing to do with pedophilia. It’s true that Visconti and a considerable number working on the film, including actor Dirk Bogarde in one of his best roles, were homosexuals. It’s also true that they persuaded the young actor playing Tadziu to join them in a Venice gay bar one evening. I think he was 16 at the time. But he has said in interview after interview that he was not homosexual and found that particular experience distasteful. But there was never one attempt by anyone to seduce him. And again he has stated that time and again. Indeed in an interview for Variety magazine in 2021, it reported that “Visconti struck a protective posture towards Andrésen, and acted professionally towards him on set.”
As was discussed here at Slipped Disc at the time, Hussey made that accusation — in a lawsuit against the studio demanding financial compensation — after decades of happily chatting about that scene in countless public appearances. (And, conveniently for her, after the man who directed the scene was dead and could not offer conflicting testimony.)
The lawsuit was thrown out of court. Twice, if I recall correctly.
Zeffirelli, Bertolucci, Polanski
Indeed, all excused in the public eye under the ‘it was a different time back then’.
Polanski wasn’t. He was convicted, and absconded to avoid prison. He has never been able to return to the US since.
I do not understand downvotes on a statement of fact. Opinions — fair enough. But all I have offered there is facts.
I guess we’ll just conveniently forget Polanski got three Oscars – including Best Director – in 2003 for The Pianist, thirty years after the accusations.
And conveniently forget he also got prizes in Berlin (2010), Venice (2010), Cannes (2002), at the Baftas (2003), and lifetime achievement awards in Venice (1993) and in Stockholm (1999). Not to mention the Césars, which he got in 2002, 2010, 2011, 2013, and as late as 2019.
If that’s not excusing and celebrating his behaviour, I don’t know what is. Several of them are literally awards for being who he is – that’s the meaning of “lifetime achievement”. No ‘separating the art from the man’ there, those by definition celebrate the person.
I disagree re Lifetime Achievement awards. They are for a body of work, and although I have disliked some of his films, others I have seen are superb. Chinatown would probably figure on a top 10, or at least top 20, list of the best films i Have ever seen.
I think Polanski is a creepy individual. But I can admire his work as an artist. Rather as I admire the work of Wagner (rather more; I listen to a lot more music than I watch Polanski films) despite having a horror of his anti-Semitism.
I was about 14 living in Thailand, saw R&J 3 times, once dubbed in Thai. Didn’t understand a word but couldn’t care less. Who needs words when my eyes were glued to the screen at this angelic perfection. Those were the days.
You are precisely the reason why Zeffirelli made that nude scene, and why Hussey finally realized she was exploited.
Putting nude girls in movies for pubescent boys to jerk off to became the norm in 1980s American teen movies. By then, the artistic façade fell off, and everyone knew exactly what they were doing: for the money.
ethant’s comment is beyond ridiculous. He tarnishes a superb example of the film makers art with the ridiculous suggestion that Zeffirelli’s film is virtually a porn movie. What utter nonsense! How long does that nude scene last and precisely what nudity did it expose? Less than a minute as I recall with very little flesh revealed. It was an essential element in that marvellous rendering of Shakespeare’s very popular play. That anyone could consider Zeffirelli inserted the scene so that the movie would make more money is promoting a sick moral agenda.
In her declaration to the court, Hussey said she considered the scene “sexual abuse of minors” and “child pornography.” We can argue till the cows come home about ages of consent and whether or not those aged 16 and 17, as the actors were at the time of filming, fall into that consent category, although California law apparently stated it was. On the other hand, the movie was not made in the USA and I recall other European-made movies by eminent directors at that time featuring considerably a lot more nudity.
But Hussey added that it was only following Zeffirelli shouting “cut” on set that she was recorded in a state of undress while participating in “frivolity” with Whiting that was meant to “relieve the tension of filming the scene.” Precisely what that means, I do not know, but I assume that it went perhaps a little further than what is seen in the finished film. And that would surely have been witnessed by a large number of people in the studio.
I saw that film soon after its release and loved it. Frankly, the brief exposure of two bodies meant nothing to me. I merely assumed it was part of the drama, which in fact it was!