Profile Text
Hussey in 2006, pic by prphotos
Birth Name: Olivia Osuna
Date of Birth: 17 April, 1951
Place of Birth: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of Death: December 27, 2024
Place of Death: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Ethnicity: Argentinian [one half Spanish, one half Scottish]
Olivia Hussey was an Argentinian-British actress. Her roles included the films Romeo and Juliet (1968), Black Christmas (1974), Death on the Nile (1978), The Cat and the Canary (1979), Virus (1980), and Turkey Shoot , and television’s Jesus of Nazareth , Stephen King’s It , and Psycho IV: The Beginning .
Olivia’s father, Osvaldo Ribó (born Andrés Osuna), was born in Victoria, Entre Ríos, Argentina, with Spanish ancestry. He was a famous tango and opera singer. Olivia’s mother, Joy Alma (Hussey), a legal secretary, was of Scottish descent. Olivia moved to London, England, with her mother, when she was seven.
Olivia was married to American rock musician David Glen Eisley, until her death. David was the son of actor Anthony Eisley. Olivia had a son with her former husband, actor and singer Dean Paul Martin (whose father was singer, actor, and entertainer Dean Martin ); a son with her former husband, Japanese musician Akira Fuse; and a daughter, actress India Eisley , with David.
Olivia’s maternal grandfather was named Leonard Hussey. Leonard was Scottish.
Olivia’s maternal grandmother was Dora Emilia Lean (the daughter of John Lean and Christina Paterson Orr). Dora was born in Balcarce, Buenos Aires, to parents from Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. John was the son of John Lean and Elizabeth/Bethia Spalding. Christina was the daughter of Robert Orr and Christina Paterson.
In her autobiography, The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet , 2018, page 8, Olivia wrote of her parents:
For my grandmother, who ruled my father’s side of the family with an iron fist, even the idea that her grandson should love an English woman was not to be countenanced. She saw the English as nothing more than poor, vulgar potato farmers who should all be sent packing. For my mom’s family, this condescension cut deep. First, they were not English; they were from strong Scottish stock. Second, they had been in Argentina for three generations and felt entitled to call the place home. It was into these dark waters my parents waded. They were in love and, despite their families’ disapproval, they married.
For my grandmother, who ruled my father’s side of the family with an iron fist, even the idea that her grandson should love an English woman was not to be countenanced. She saw the English as nothing more than poor, vulgar potato farmers who should all be sent packing. For my mom’s family, this condescension cut deep. First, they were not English; they were from strong Scottish stock. Second, they had been in Argentina for three generations and felt entitled to call the place home. It was into these dark waters my parents waded. They were in love and, despite their families’ disapproval, they married.
Sources: https://www.instagram.com https://www.theguardian.com