Janet Leigh

Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), better known as Janet Leigh, was an American actress.

Early life

Leigh was born in Merced, California, the only child of Frederick Robert Morrison and Helen Lita Westergard. 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 College of the Pacific, where she was studying music and psychology, after Wasserman secured a contract with MGM.

Career

Leigh's best-known role was in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. Years later, she wrote a book about the making of that film, in which she dispelled the urban legends which had popped up around it, notably, about the immortal "shower scene". Her performance earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

Leigh appeared in two horror films with her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, playing a major role in 1980's The Fog and making a cameo appearance in 1998's Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. These were her last two films.

Private life

Leigh married her third husband, Tony Curtis, on June 4, 1951. They had two children, Kelly and Jamie Lee. Curtis, who has admitted to cheating on her throughout their marriage, left Leigh in 1962 for Christine Kaufmann, the 17 year-old Austrian co-star of his then-latest film. Leigh was granted a 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.

She died at her home from vasculitis at age 77. Her family was at her side.

Selected Filmography

* Act of Violence (1948)
* Holiday Affair (1949)
* Little Women (1949)
* Angels in the Outfield (1951)
* Scaramouche (1952)
* The Naked Spur (1953)
* Prince Valiant (1954)
* The Black Shield of Falworth(1954)
* Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
* My Sister Eileen (1955)
* Jet Pilot (1957)
* Touch of Evil (1958)
* The Vikings (1958)
* Psycho (1960)
* The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
* Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
* Grand Slam (1967)
* Night of the Lepus (1972)
* The Fog (1980)
* Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

External links