Janet Leigh
- Original name:
- Jeannette Helen Morrison
- Born:
- July 6, 1927, Merced, California, U.S.
- Died:
- October 3, 2004, Beverly Hills, California (aged 77)
- Notable Family Members:
- spouse Tony Curtis
- daughter Jamie Lee Curtis
- Married To:
- Stanley Harold Reames (1945–1949)
- John Carlisle (1942–1942)
- Tony Curtis (1951–1962)
- Robert Jay Brandt (married 1962)
- Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):
- "Love Story" (1973)
- "The Name of the Game" (1971)
- "Bracken's World" (1970)
- "The Black Shield of Falworth" (1954)
- "Ghost Story" (1973)
- "Bad Girls from Valley High" (2005)
- "Starman" (1986)
- "The Fog" (1980)
- "Family Law" (2001)
- "An American Dream" (1966)
- "Two Tickets to Broadway" (1951)
- "The Red Danube" (1949)
- "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" (1964–1966)
- "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
- "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1966)
- "Ad ogni costo" (1967)
- "The Naked Spur" (1953)
- "The Spy in the Green Hat" (1967)
- "Just This Once" (1952)
- "It's a Big Country: An American Anthology" (1951)
- "Pepe" (1960)
- "The Jerry Lewis Show" (1967)
- "Touch of Evil" (1958)
- "The Doctor and the Girl" (1949)
- "Matt Houston" (1982)
- "Murder, She Wrote" (1987)
- "Kid Rodelo" (1966)
- "Columbo" (1975)
- "Three on a Couch" (1966)
- "The Love Boat" (1978–1985)
- "Harper" (1966)
- "Scaramouche" (1952)
- "Boardwalk" (1979)
- "Movin' On" (1975)
- "Walking My Baby Back Home" (1953)
- "The Vikings" (1958)
- "Bye Bye Birdie" (1963)
- "Prince Valiant" (1954)
- "The Perfect Furlough" (1958)
- "Houdini" (1953)
- "Confidentially Connie" (1953)
- "Rogue Cop" (1954)
- "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" (1998)
- "My Sister Eileen" (1955)
- "Hello Down There" (1969)
- "The Danny Thomas Hour" (1968)
- "Holiday Affair" (1949)
- "Living It Up" (1954)
- "Touched by an Angel" (1997)
- "Strictly Dishonorable" (1951)
- "Who Was That Lady?" (1960)
- "Hills of Home" (1948)
- "Jet Pilot" (1957)
- "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" (1957)
- "That Forsyte Woman" (1949)
- "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" (1947)
- "The Twilight Zone" (1989)
- "Safari" (1956)
- "Night of the Lepus" (1972)
- "Little Women" (1949)
- "If Winter Comes" (1947)
- "The Red Skelton Show" (1966–1969)
- "Words and Music" (1948)
- "Psycho" (1960)
- "One Is a Lonely Number" (1972)
- "Angels in the Outfield" (1951)
- "Fearless Fagan" (1952)
- "Wives and Lovers" (1963)
- "Tales of the Unexpected" (1982–1984)
- "The Virginian" (1970)
- "Fantasy Island" (1979–1982)
- "Act of Violence" (1949)
- "Pete Kelly's Blues" (1955)
News •
Janet Leigh (born July 6, 1927, Merced, California, U.S.—died October 3, 2004, Beverly Hills, California) was an American actor who had a half-century-long career that comprised some 60 motion pictures as well as television appearances but was most remembered for one role in particular, that of Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). In that film she suffered one of filmdom’s most memorable and shocking screen deaths—a 45-second shower stabbing attack that was astonishing not only for its impact but also for the fact that the star was killed before the movie was half over.
Leigh’s career began in the style of a classic Hollywood legend; film star Norma Shearer saw her photograph at the ski resort where Leigh’s father worked and recommended her to an agent. Leigh’s debut was in The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947), in which she was the ingenue lead. Other such roles that followed included Meg in Little Women (1949) and the title character in My Sister Eileen (1955).
Leigh’s 1951 marriage to actor Tony Curtis was seen by fans as a perfect Hollywood love story. The couple divorced, however, in 1962. While married, they costarred in a few lesser-quality movies, but during those years Leigh also made her best films, Touch of Evil (1958), Psycho, and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Later films included Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Harper (1966), The Fog (1980), and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), in the latter two of which she performed with her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis. Leigh also made appearances in television series and wrote two novels, House of Destiny (1995) and The Dream Factory (2002).
