Janet Leigh

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Janet Leigh
from the trailer for Little Women (1949)
Born	Jeanette Helen Morrison July 6, 1927(1927-07-06) Merced, California
Died	October 3, 2004 (aged 77) Los Angeles, California
Years active	1947–1998
Spouse(s)	John Carlisle (1942–1942) (annulled) Stanley Reames (1946–1948) (divorced) Tony Curtis (1951–1962) (divorced) Robert Brandt (1962–2004) (her death)
Awards won Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture 1960 Psycho

Janet Leigh (born Jeanette Helen Morrison; July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004) was an American actress. Her most famous role was when she played Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Psycho, for which she received a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Early life

Leigh was born in Merced, California, the only child of Helen Lita (née Westergard) and Frederick Robert Morrison. Leigh has English, Scottish, and German ancestry. She was discovered by actress Norma Shearer, whose late husband Irving Thalberg had been a senior executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Shearer showed talent agent Lew Wasserman the photograph she had seen of Leigh while vacationing at the ski resort where the girl's parents worked. She left the University of the Pacific, where she was studying music and psychology, after Wasserman secured a contract with MGM.

Career

Leigh made her film debut in The Romance of Rosy Ridge in 1947, as the romantic interest of Van Johnson's character. Throughout the 1950s, she starred in movies, most notably in the leading role in the musical comedy My Sister Eileen, co-starring Jack Lemmon, Betty Garrett and Dick York.

Janet Leigh in Touch of Evil (1958).

Leigh's best-known role was as the morally ambiguous Marion Crane in the Alfred Hitchcock classic 1960 film Psycho. In spite of her outstanding performance as Crane and going on to becoming one of the most famous characters in Hollywood history, Leigh suffered typecasting due to the famous role. Her film career nosedived soon after, and as a result much of her post-Psycho career was spent performing guest appearances on TV shows. Psycho earned her a Golden Globe and an Academy award nomination. Years later, she wrote a book in which she dispelled the urban legends which had popped up around its production, notably the immortal "shower scene".

Leigh had starring roles in many other films, including the Orson Welles film-noir classic Touch of Evil, 1962's The Manchurian Candidate with Frank Sinatra and the 1963 musical Bye Bye Birdie based on the hit Broadway show.

In 1975, Leigh played a retired Hollywood song and dance star opposite Peter Falk and John Payne in Columbo: Forgotten Lady. She also appeared in two horror films with her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, playing a major role in The Fog (1980), and making a brief appearance in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998).

Personal life

Janet Leigh (middle) with her daughters Kelly (left) and Jamie Lee Curtis (right) at the National Film Society convention in 1979.

Leigh married her third husband, Tony Curtis, on June 4, 1951. They had two children, actresses Kelly and the more well known Jamie Lee. Curtis, who admitted to be cheating on her throughout their marriage, left Leigh in 1962 for Christine Kaufmann, the 17-year-old German co-star of his latest film Taras Bulba. Leigh was granted a quick divorce, and married stockbroker Robert Brandt later that year in Las Vegas. They remained married until her death.

Leigh served on the board of directors of the Motion Picture and Television Foundation, a medical-services provider for actors.

Leigh was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California on May 14, 2004.

Leigh died at her home on October 3, 2004, after suffering cardiac arrest, aged 77. Her family was at her side. Leigh also suffered from vasculitis and peripheral neuropathy, which caused her right hand to become gangrenous.

Filmography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Janet Leigh

• Janet Leigh at the Internet Movie Database
• Janet Leigh at the Internet Broadway Database
• Janet Leigh at the TCM Movie Database
• Reelclassics.com Page
• Janet Leigh at TV.com
• Signature of Janet Leigh

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