Olivia Hussey, star of the iconic 1974 film Black Christmas has died at the age of 73 from recurring breast cancer. Although horror fans know her from Black Christmas, she originally shot to fame in Franco Zefferelli’s film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. She beat out over 500 actresses for that role.
Hussey was only 15 years old when she was chosen to play the coveted role of Juliet, and the adaptation caused quite a sensation. She and her 17-year-old costar Leonard Whiting appeared nude in one scene (at the time, this was legal). Much later in 2022, both of them participated in a $5 million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, in which they claimed sexual exploitation/harassment and fraud. Zefferelli had initially told them they would wear flesh-colored body stockings for the scene, then changed his mind, promising the scene would be tastefully shot. Ultimately, the case was dismissed.
While most people think of Hussey as being British, she was actually born in Buenos Aires. Her British accent was due to the fact that she grew up in England. She began acting professionally at the age of 13.
Hussey was cast in the leading lady role of Jess in Black Christmas, a Canadian film that was re-titled Silent Night, Evil Night when it was released in the US. I have written several times about how important of a film it is to me personally. From childhood, I always had a fondness for “scary movies,” but Black Christmas was the first one I absolutely loved and became obsessed with.
I idolized Olivia Hussey at the time. She was so beautiful and talented, and Jess is such a bada** role, particularly in the mid-seventies.
Black Christmas is a holiday horror movie that is still lauded, and it influenced no less than John Carpenter’s Halloween, which was released four years later. Hussey had agreed to appear in It’s Me, Billy: Chapter 2, a sequel to the fan film It’s Me, Billy, but she withdrew in November of 2023, citing health problems.
Hussey appeared in many films over the course of her career
Over the years, Olivia Hussey appeared in many action, thriller and horror films, including 1995’s direct-to-video horror comedy Ice Cream Man, starring Clint Howard. She also provided her lovely voice to a handful of Star Wars-related video games, including Rogue Squadron, Force Commander and The Old Republic. Her last film was 2015’s Social Suicide, in which she was reunited with her Romeo, Leonard Whiting.
It’s rather poignant that she passed away on December 27, two days after Christmas.