Olivia Hussey: The Girl on the Balcony (Rebroadcast)

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Olivia Hussey, whose spirited portrayal of Juliet when she was just a teenager herself became iconic for generations of people watching the 1968 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, died on December 27, 2024. In 2019, we were lucky enough to record an interview with Hussey. To honor her life and work, we’re bringing it to you again. Olivia Hussey was just fifteen when Franco Zeffirelli cast her in Romeo and Juliet. When the film was released in October 1968, it catapulted her and Leonard Whiting, the young actor playing Romeo, to global stardom. For many Shakespeare lovers, Zeffirelli’s film is still the definitive film adaptation of the play. Fifty years after the movie’s release, Hussey’s memoir, The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet, told the story of the actress’s life before, during, and after Romeo and Juliet. We talked with Hussey and asked her how she felt about Shakespeare before making the movie (“very boring”), filming the balcony scene (“I’d bump my teeth into his chin”), the endless press tour, and whether she’d do it all again. Barbara Bogaev interviews Olivia Hussey. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Originally published on January 22, 2019, and rebroadcast on January 13, 2025 © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “Speak Again, Bright Angel,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the Associate Producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer; updated by Paola García Acuña. We had technical help from Andrew Feliciano and Paul Luke at VoiceTrax West in Studio City, California.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.
0:05.5	I'm Barbara Bogave.
0:08.2	I mentioned in a recent episode that 2024 had been a banner year for Romeo and Juliet,
0:14.3	but the year did come to a close with a loss.
0:17.8	The actor Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet in the 1968 film adaptation, died at the end of December.
0:28.7	Franco Zaffarelli's Romeo and Juliet was a massive blockbuster in its day. The director took a chance
0:34.7	by casting unknown teens in the title roles.
0:38.2	Leonard Whiting, as Romeo was 17, Hussey was only 15.
0:42.9	But her spirited portrayal of Juliet became iconic for generations of people
0:47.8	who grew up watching the movie in school, and I was one of them.
0:56.2	And yet I wish but for the thing I have.
1:01.4	My bounty is as boundless as the sea.
1:04.7	My love is deep.
1:06.4	The more I gift to thee, the more I have.
1:09.0	But both are infinite.
1:11.9	The movie's success followed Hussie throughout her career, for better or worse. In 2022,
1:18.2	Hussie and Whiting sued the movie's studio for what they called child pornography in the
1:22.4	infamous nude scene. That suit was dismissed the next year. A few years before that, I had the pleasure of
1:29.2	speaking with Olivia Hussey. She'd just come out with a memoir called The Girl on the Balcony.
1:34.4	And I found her just as feisty and passionate in her late 60s as she had been as a teenager.
1:39.8	Here's my conversation with Olivia Hussey from 2019.
1:46.8	So when you went to this audition for Romeo and Juliet, how well did you even know the play?
	...

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