Olivia Hussey

As a former high school English teacher, I taught Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” for nearly 40 years. At the end of the unit and after the classes had read the play in its entirety, we watched the Franco Zeffirelli version made in 1968 and starring Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting in the title roles. For that reason, I decided to read Hussey’s memoir. I was a little disappointed to see so little in the early part of the book about her experiences filming the play, but the stories about other parts of her life were interesting. I’ve read several celebrity memoirs in the past few years, and almost all, with the exception of Hussey’s, used the books to rail against those who had betrayed, angered, or otherwise offended the celebrity. Hussey was incredibly complimentary to almost everyone she talked about in her book. The only exceptions were three people: one who raped her (a fellow actor) and two two who acted as financial advisors and took almost every penny she had. All the others she mentioned-friends, actors, directors, family-she was completely gracious toward. That, I thought, showed how kind Hussey is, no doubt related to her eastern religious beliefs. I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to others, especially if you are a fan of the 1968 version of “Romeo and Juliet,” a true classic.… (más)

I must admit to only having seen Olivia in one role, when I started reading her autobiography, and that was an adaptation of Stephen King's It - hardly her most famous or beloved credit! But her face and her voice caught my attention even as a secondary character, and I've always wanted to know more about her. Born in Buenos Aires to an British mother and an Argentine father, her parents split when she was little, and her mother moved her two children back to London. Olivia's big acting break came in 1968, when she was cast as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet - which I am only just getting around to watching now! As she writes in her introduction, 'A memoir? Really, honey? And just who do we think we are?' The answer of course is her first and crowning star role - the girl on the balcony.

Like most memoirs, Olivia's story is full of anecdotes, from the stars and directors she has worked with, to embarrassing recollections like wetting herself in the presence of the Queen. She also went on a date with Paul McCartney and often wondered about 'what might have been'! In the midst of all these self-deprecating stories, however, there are some shocking revelations. The most startling is her horrific account of being beaten and raped by actor Christopher Jones in the house on Cielo Drive where Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and three others were murdered by the Manson family in 1969. She was staying at the house with her manager, Rudy Altobelli, and Jones, unfortunately also on Rudy's books, was in the guest house. Olivia recalls that she didn't mind living at such an infamous address - 'evil does exist, but it's always human' - but what happened to her there must have made her feel like the place was cursed. Having read about Sharon Tate's murder, this chapter left me shaking!

Olivia is just as honest and natural about her career, which never quite matched the height of her seventeen year old fame, and her personal life, including three marriages - Dean Martin's son, a Japanese singer, and American 'rock god' David Eisley. She tells her story like she can't quite believe the path of her own life, either, blaming her own naivete for the bad patches, like losing everything to an unscrupulous manager, and thanking 'timing, luck and the goodness of people' for bringing her through the darkness. Her down to earth nature and sense of humour is ever present too, like her summary of her career to date: On the whole, I would say that I can look back on sixty percent of the work I've done and say, 'You know what? I wasn't terrible in that'. Now I just have to catch up with her career!

I love that Olivia has survived love, loss, poverty, rape, cancer, long term agoraphobia and life in Hollywood - 'the town floats on a vicious undercurrent of slime: it bubbles up, it seeps through' - to marry a loving man and raise three children, all the while keeping her faith and her friends. A lovely woman and a true inspiration.… (más)