Best Known As: The sexy star of Hitchcock's Psycho
Name at birth: Jeanette Helen Morrison
Blonde, calmly beautiful and undeniably a grownup, Janet Leigh was one of the biggest movie stars of the 1950s. Leigh began making movies in 1947, and her 11-year marriage to actor Tony Curtis (1951-62) made them the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt of their day. Leigh made over fifty films, mostly light fare, but with a few notable dramatic exceptions: Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958), Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Her deadly shower scene in Psycho has long been considered a classic moment in American movies.
The Independent called Leigh the ingenue who "was married to Tony Curtis and murdered by Alfred Hitchcock"... Leigh and Curtis are the parents of actress Jamie Lee Curtis.
Career Highlights: The Manchurian Candidate, Psycho, The Naked Spur
First Major Screen Credit: If Winter Comes (1947)
Biography
The only child of a very young married couple, American actress Janet Leigh spent her childhood moving from town to town due to her father's changing jobs. A bright child who skipped several grades in school, Leigh took music and dancing lessons, making her public debut at age 10 as a baton twirler for a marching band. Her favorite times were the afternoons spent at the local movie house, which she referred to as her "babysitter." In 1946, Leigh's mother was working at a ski lodge where actress Norma Shearer was vacationing; impressed by a photograph of Leigh, Shearer arranged for the girl (whose prior acting experience consisted of a college play) to be signed with the MCA talent agency. One year later Leigh was at MGM, playing the ingenue in the 1947 film Romance of Rosy Ridge. The actress became one of the busiest contractees at the studio, building her following with solid performances in such films as Little Women (1949), The Doctor and the Girl (1950), and Scaramouche (1952) -- and catching the eye of RKO Radio's owner Howard Hughes, who hoped that her several RKO appearances (on loan from MGM) would lead to something substantial in private life. Instead, Leigh married Tony Curtis (her second husband), and the pair became the darlings of fan magazines and columnists, as well as occasional co-stars (Houdini [1953], The Vikings [1958], Who Was That Lady? [1960]). Even as this "perfect" Hollywood marriage deteriorated, Leigh's career prospered. Among her significant roles in the '60s were that of Frank Sinatra's enigmatic lady friend in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Paul Newman's ex-wife in Harper (1966), and, of course, the unfortunate embezzler in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), who met her demise in the nude (actually covered by a moleskin) and covered with blood (actually chocolate sauce, which photographed better) in the legendary "shower scene." In the '80s, Leigh curtailed her film and TV appearances, though her extended legacy as both the star/victim of Psycho and the mother of actress Jamie Lee Curtis still found her a notable place in the world of cinema even if her career was no longer "officially" active. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John Carlisle
(1942–1942) (annulled)
Stanley Reames
(1946–1948) (divorced) Tony Curtis
(1951–1962) (divorced)
Robert Brandt
(1962–2004) (her death)
Janet Leigh (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004) was an American actress.
Discovered by the actress Norma Shearer, Leigh secured a contract with MGM and began her film career in the late 1940s. She appeared in several popular films over the following decade, including Houdini (1953), in which she co-starred with her husband, Tony Curtis.
Her acting career declined from the mid 1960s. However, she continued to appear occasionally in films and television, including two performances with her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in The Fog (1980) and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998).
The only child of Helen Lita (née Westergard) and Frederick Robert Morrison, Leigh was born as Jeanette Helen Morrison in Merced, California, and grew up in Stockton, California. She was discovered by the actress Norma Shearer, whose late husband Irving Thalberg had been a senior executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Shearer showed talent agent Lew Wasserman a photograph she had seen of Leigh while vacationing at Sugar Bowl, the ski resort where the girl's parents worked. Leigh left the University of the Pacific, where she was studying music and psychology, after Wasserman secured a contract with MGM.
In 1975, Leigh played a retired Hollywood song and dance star opposite Peter Falk and John Payne in the Columbo episode 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.
At the age of 14, Janet Leigh married John Kenneth Carlisle. The marriage was annulled in 1942. She married Stanley Reames in 1946 and they were divorced in 1948.
Leigh married her third husband, Tony Curtis, on June 4, 1951. They had two children, actresses Kelly and the more well known Jamie Lee. Following their divorce in 1962, Leigh married stockbroker Robert Brandt in Las Vegas. They remained married until her death.
She served on the board of directors of the Motion Picture and Television Foundation, a medical-services provider for actors.
