Olivia Hussey: timeless beauty
What is it about Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet about fifty years ago in Zefferilli’s movie version of the classic? Here’s a video that features photos of Hussey when young and her daughter at a similar age (it can’t be embedded, so click on the link).
Hussey’s daughter India Eisley is also an actress, and although she’s a pretty girl her attractiveness is far more ordinary then her mother’s was. India’s looks are of a type popular these days: pouty and sexy at the same time it’s baby-faced. But Hussey had a timeless and classic quality that transcended her own moment, and made her perfect for the role of Juliet. She is young yet ageless, and when you look at her face you believe in a gravitas beyond her years. Her Romeo, Leonard Whiting (on whom I had a terrific crush), had it too but not to as great an extent. It’s that quality that made that particular pair perfect for their roles. They could act, too—really really well.
I am not the least bit objective because, as regular readers here know, Zefferelli’s R&J is one of my absolute favorites. But if you look at the comments to the video, you’ll see that people seem to agree; they still respond strongly and positively to whatever it is that Hussey had.
[NOTE: At the beginning of the video you can see a few photos of Hussey now, with her grown-up daughter. Age has thinned her face and sharpened her features somewhat and of course she doesn’t retain that achingly poignant quality, but she looks mighty good for her age.]
Didn’t realize India Eisley was Olivia Hussey’s daughter. She was really good in the TNT mini series ‘I Am The Night’ as Fauna Hodel. Based on a true story and what a story it is.
Plus I think a lot of the photos of India are from stuff for that series where she was portraying a young girl in the 1940s who was passing as black and that may account for the pouty look you mention.
Timeless indeed. Mother and daughter perfectly illustrate the difference between girl next door pretty and achingly beautiful.
Beauty being skin deep, we know that it is the content of their character that matters. Churchill being a perfect example of both; handsome in youth, indifferent to outward appearance in maturity.
I didn’t know any other male of my age cohort (15-17 or so) when R&J came out who wasn’t smitten with her astonishing beauty. My friends and I saw the movie several times during the first production run. For some of us, her & Leonard Whiting’s portrayal in R&J was the instigation for a life-long love of Shakespeare in general (to the bewildered – then delighted – surprise of some of our HS English teachers). Half a century plus later, the effect still lingers lol.
Zefferelli’s Romeo and Juliette was (is) a masterpiece. My wife and I still consider the love song, “A main and a maid” as closely linked to us as the Apollo 8 Christmas message and Apollo 11 moon landing. We were married in that time frame.
And, indeed, Hussey captured the character of an early teen love (Romeo & Juliette were supposed to be about 14 or 15 yrs old) perfectly.
And she was beautiful!
It’s been fifty years? Goodness. I loved that film, too.
Olivia Hussey also played the Virgin Mary in Zefferelli’s 1977 Jesus of Nazareth. She was perfect in that role as well.
Chris B,
I’d forgotten that but when writing my first comment above was thinking that, at that age, she would have made a perfect Virgin Mary. Perhaps a subconscious memory but I don’t recall ever seeing that movie.
I don’t like the collagen in the lips look of the daughter. The mother is more beautiful. The only TV I watch is football and classic movie DVDs.
I am unfamiliar with the daughter (India Eisley), but agree entirely, based on the video in the link, she does not have the aching beauty of her mother.
Olivia Hussey was indeed a classic beauty and the perfect choice for Juliet. I made a music video for the song (“What is a Youth”) using stills from the movie and I have to admit that your heart throb Leonard Whiting made only occasional appearances in it. The astonishing thing was that almost every still I snapped of Olivia seemed like it could have been painted by an artist. She was literally perfect in every shot.
R&J came out when I was in college and I didn’t appreciate Shakespeare until then….wonderful film.
OH’s downward mouth corners really added to her exotic beauty. I couldn’t get enough of seeing her face.
I agree with Scott about the shape of Olivia’s mouth. Perhaps the biggest difference to me regarding these two beauties is that one lingers over the photos of the young Olivia.
I saw Z’s R&J when it came out, and Olivia’s Juliet become “Juliet” for me. Last year the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario did a production of R&J. My wife and I talked about going until we saw who was playing the parts. The actress playing Juliet was in her 30s, and I just couldn’t get past that. I kept telling my wife that she wasn’t Juliet, she was Juliet’s mother.
Waidmann
I saw her in Romeo and Juliet too, way back then. Guess what? I also saw her in It, the original movie. She was married to the guy who played John Boy in the Waltons.
I like to watch the short from the movie, “What is a youth?” from time to time, with the two youngsters zipping around trying to meet each other in the party. I do have one problem. She is forever looking sideways, turning her head and we see a lot of the whites of her eyes. Her sclera are not particularly large, so that leaves plenty of white. Mine almost hurt at how far she had to look to the side. Agree that she’s perfect for the part. “Yes.” “No” “Good idea?” “Bad idea?” “I must”
I didn’t appreciate what I was looking at when I first saw her. I was too young. I just knew there was a God, and he wanted me to be happy.
Just a word of caution, ladies. Probably the worst thing that can happen to any man is coming home from cruise to an empty house. To nothing. All the furniture is gone and the house is empty.
Probably the next worst thing is finding out your lady turned full nympho and slept with every guy in the air wing.
Then, finding out every guy in the fleet is willing to sleep with your lady. Not one is willing to say, “Cut that out. Stop that. You’re a married woman, quit sch**ping all these guys.”
Well, one. Now there’s a friend you want to keep for life. Sorry to insert a discordant note into this tribute.
The nice thing about having lady friends is that they’ll lay down the law. When a man’s wife or girlfriend turns full nutcase they won’t put up with the B.S.
It seems like just yesterday I was at Medieval times. laughing with her over a joust.
Actually it was just yesterday. Or, no really, last Saturday.
You know where you want to go and see brown bears any day of the week in Alaska?
The dump at Kodiak.
}}} and made her perfect for the role of Juliet.
Nope. Too old for Juliet. Much too old.
Juliet is 12-13, Romeo is 13-14. Once you grasp this, the emotional immaturity of their actions and responses makes far far more sense.
It is also telling that Romeo and his pals are, at that age, running around with weapons defending their family’s interests and honor.
Dove season is coming up.
Romeo i.s the name of my Gordon Setter. I love the s*** out of that dog.
P.S., much more of a “snub” nose and much stronger (to the point of invisibility) epicanthic fold over the eyes…
Yes, it’s more of a baby face look, how well it will age is an interesting question.
Here is a photo of Denise Richards, now, and her look is/was very similar, I’d argue
https://i0.heartyhosting.com/okmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/GettyImages-1016208732.jpg
Not bad at all, but not the beauty she once was.
}}} Romeo i.s the name of my Gordon Setter. I love the s*** out of that dog.
Stop squeezing him so hard. Let him poop in his own sweet time…
:^9
OBloodyHell, good advice.
Best horse names ever.
4. Viper
3. Widowmaker.
2. Black Widow
1. Sunny, as in Sunny Side Up.
Sunny was the name of the Pinto I used to borrow, after passing on the more horrific of the horses.
Rent. I used to rent Sunny.
Take your pick. You can have the your pick of rides The Hobgoblin, The Tasmanianian Devil, or the Hell Bitch.
Sunny didn’t actually used to be friendly. All the time.
I swear I tried to be nice. I really did. But every horse I ever met tried to throw me.
Most succeeded.
I was watching a minor film noir movie recently, Cry Danger (1951) which has a good classic plot except that the “detective” character is actually an ex-con.
I kept noticing how gorgeous the leading lady was. I had seen the actress, Rhonda Fleming, before but hadn’t really noticed the name. Her character was a women of modest means which led to at least one costume choice that was either odd or comical. Glamorous and inexpensive?
According to cinema trivia, in another film starring Fleming, the cinematographer noticed that unlike other actresses, his skill in filming her didn’t seen to matter. So in one filming session, he tried doing the exact opposite of all those things he learned to do that make an actress look beautiful. He was amazed when Fleming still looked fabulous in the dailies.
The story sounds to me like a good way to get fired as a cinematographer, but sound stage operations were maybe looser back then.
OBloodyHell:
Juliet is 13 years old in the play but she is about to turn 14. This is made explicit in the play’s text. Hussey was 15 when the movie was made (see this). She could easily pass for the exact age of Juliet. Let me assure you that when I was 13 and 14 I looked WAY older than Hussey does in that film. Way.
Romeo’s age is unspecified in the play. It’s clear from his relative experience in love that he’s older than Juliet, and almost certainly somewhere in his mid-to-late teens, but we just don’t know. Whiting was 17 when the film was made.
They really were quite perfect.
I’m 57 years old. I don’t need to get thrown by horses any more.
My Romeo is fourteen. He’s also a dog.