Lawsuit over teen actors’ nudity in 1968 film Romeo and Juliet to be dismissed
msn.comA Los Angeles County judge on Thursday said she will dismiss a lawsuit that the stars of 1968’s Romeo and Juliet filed over the film’s nude scene, which they said involved them being subjected to fraud, and sexual abuse and harassment when they were in their teens.
Superior Court Judge Alison Mackenzie ruled in favour of a motion from defendant Paramount Pictures to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet at age 15 and is now 72, and Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo at 16 and is also 72.
Judge Mackenzie determined that the scene did not amount to child pornography and was protected by the First Amendment, finding that the actors “have not put forth any authority showing the film here can be deemed to be sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of law to be held to be conclusively illegal”.
In her written decision, she also found that the suit did not fall within the bounds of a California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, and that a February re-release of the film did not change that.
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