View gallery
- Leonard Whiting is an actor greatest identified for Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 Romeo and Juliet.
- He appeared in a nude scene together with Olivia Hussey.
- In 2023, he and Olivia sued Paramount Pictures for $500 million over memorable scene.
- In May of 2023, the decide within the case moved ‘tentatively’ to dismiss it.
Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey had been the teenage stars of the 1968 movie adaptation of William Shakespeare’s traditional play Romeo And Juliet. Both stars filed a lawsuit towards Paramount relating to their nude scenes within the film on Friday, December 30. The actors, who had been each youngsters when filming the film, are suing the studio for sexually exploiting them and distributing nude pictures of adolescent youngsters, per Variety. Their lawsuit comes following a California legislation, which suspends the statute of limitations for claims of kid sexual abuse.
However, decide Alison Mackenzie put forth a “tentative ruling to dismiss the case,” in line with a May 25, 2023 report by Deadline. Calling the go well with a “gross mischaracterization” of the scene, she additionally said in writing that, “Defendant’s special motion to strike Plaintiffs’ entire Complaint …is GRANTED as each cause of action asserted therein arises from protected activity and Plaintiffs have failed to show a probability of success on the merits of those claims.”
Find out extra about Leonard, 72, and the lawsuit right here.
1. Leonard and Olivia mentioned they had been each instructed there could be no nudity within the movie.
Leonard was 16 when he took half within the film, and Olivia, now 71, was 15. The lawsuit claims that director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019 at 96, had initially instructed each stars that they might put on nude undergarments within the controversial bed room scene, however later begged them to movie bare with physique make-up. The lawsuit additionally says that they had been instructed that no nudity could be included within the film, they usually wouldn’t be filmed nude, however it was. “They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had. Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do? There are no options. There was no #MeToo,” their supervisor Tony Marinozzi instructed Variety. The two stars are searching for as much as $500 million in damages.
2. Leonard largely retired from performing within the Seventies
Before being solid as Romeo, Leonard had appeared in a wide range of TV roles, together with his first half coming in 1965’s The Legend of Young Dick Turpin. Some of his different TV elements included on The Magical World of Disney and Laughter from the Whitehall. After Romeo And Juliet, he was solid in a couple of extra film and TV roles, together with Frankenstein: The True Story, and 1975’s Rachel’s Man. After the 1975 movie, he hardly ever labored on-screen. His solely roles after 1975 embrace offering the voice for a personality within the animated sequence The Dreamstone in 1990, and a 2015 movie.
3. He was additionally a stage actor
While his final on-screen movie function for 40 years was Rachel’s Man in 1975, Leonard did proceed performing for the stage for somewhat bit longer. He performed the Pharaoh in a 1978 manufacturing of the traditional musical Joseph And The Technicolor Dream Coat, which ran till 1979, per TheatreGold. The manufacturing was additionally included on the BBC.
4. He’s been married twice
Throughout his life, Leonard has had three totally different wives. He first married late mannequin Cathee Dahmen in 1971 and had a daughter Sarah Beth, who handed away in 2014. After divorcing from Cathee, Leonard was in a relationship with Valerie Tobin, who he had a daughter Charlotte Westenra with. Charlotte has gone on to change into a director and dramaturg, in line with her web site. Charlotte is clearly shut together with her dad and spoke about their relationship in an August 2016 interview with Jinshan Hong. “Sometimes we sit around and discuss Shakespeare together. We’ve had arguments over silly things. So occasionally we do get into heated debates,” she instructed the outlet. “I was really proud of him and I’ve got pictures of his stills from some of his films.”
Leonard has been married to Lynn Presser since 1995.
5. Leonard reunited together with his ‘Romeo & Juliet’ co-star in 2015
While Leonard largely stepped away from performing within the 70s, he did reunite with Olivia Hussey for the 2015 film Social Suicide, which is loosely based mostly on Romeo And Juliet, practically 50 years after they starred within the 1968 movie. Instead of taking part in star-crossed forbidden lovers although, the 2 performed a mom and father to the main character Julia, performed by Olivia’s daughter India Eisley.
Click to Subscribe to Get Our Free HollywoodLife Daily Newsletter to get the most popular celeb information.
Discussion about this post