The Girl on the Balcony

The 1960s starlet, immortalized on the silver screen as Juliet, tells her story in this celebrity biography—with a forward by director Franco Zeffirelli. In 1968, sixteen-year-old Olivia Hussey became one of the most famous faces in the world, immortalized as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's classic film Romeo & Juliet. For a simple girl from Buenos Aires, Argentina, the role was an opportunity of a lifetime. But for Olivia, the role of movie star wasn't so easy to play. In this candid memoir, Hussey tells her story from her time as an “It Girl” in swinging 60s London through her three tumultuous marriages—including one with Dean Martin's son, Dino. Over the years, she experienced motherhood, stage-four breast cancer, debilitating agoraphobia, bankruptcy, and ultimately, a journey of self-discovery in India that led her on a path to fulfillment. Hussey shares intimate memories of the legendary performers she knew, loved, worked with, and battled, including The Beatles, Vanessa Redgrave, Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Anthony Perkins, Christopher Reeve, Lawrence Olivier, Ingrid Bergman, and more. Olivia also opens up for the first time about the trauma of being raped by her boyfriend just a year after Romeo & Juliet came out.