Scream Queen Impact
Olivia Hussey was born in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After appearing in stage productions, one television episode, and a couple of films, she was cast as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s wildly popular adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1968) at the ripe age of fifteen. Her performance in that film earned her a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer and the David di Donatello Golden Plate Award that she shared with the actor who portrayed Romeo, Leonard Whiting. By the mid 1970’s, Hussey was well on her way to a successful film and television career, alternating between the two mediums almost at will.
In 1974, Hussey was cast in the slasher film Black Christmas. It is considered to be one of the earliest slasher-styled films and heavily influenced popular slashers that would follow it including Halloween. The film not only starred Hussey, but slasher film Curtains star Lynne Griffin, The Amityville Horror and Superman star Margot Kidder, and none other than Nancy Thompson’s dad from A Nightmare on Elm Street, John Saxon.
Hussey cemented her Scream Queen status with films like The Cat And The Canary (1979), Ice Cream Man (1995), and Headspace (2005). Unlike a lot of the actresses on this list, Hussey also had a long career horror films made for television. She portrayed the demented mother of Norman Bates in the Showtime Original Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) opposite Henry Thomas as a young Norman. She also appeared in the highly successful It mini-series in 1990.
Hussey hasn’t focused on any one genre over the years, happy to work in comedy, drama, horror, science fiction, and religious films. Some of her most famous non-horror roles include portraying Mary in Jesus Of Nazereth (1977, TV Film), Mother Theresa in Mother Theresa of Calcutta (2003, TV Film), and Rosalie Otterbourne in 1978’s Death On The Nile. Hussey has also lent her voice to a number of animated productions, especially in the 2000’s. Some of her most notable voice roles include portraying Talia al Ghul in the DC Animated Universe and characters in a number of Star Wars video games. She has a total of fifty-four acting credits in all with her last credited role being in the 2015 film Social Suicide.
While she’s definitely a Scream Queen, Olivia Hussey can’t be defined by that title alone. She’s had such a long, varied, and successful career that you can’t really pin her to any single genre. She’s a great actress who has portrayed some pretty amazing and memorable characters.
I hope that you enjoyed today’s Scream Queen post. Hussey has been in so many different types of films and television shows that she is often overlooked for her contributions to the horror genre. See you again tomorrow!
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