Janet Leigh
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1927-07-06
Day of Death
2004-10-03 (77 years old)
Place of Birth
Merced, California, USA
Janet Leigh
Biography
Janet Leigh (born Jeanette Helen Morrison; July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, Leigh was discovered at 18 by actress Norma Shearer, who helped her secure a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Leigh appeared in radio programs before her first formal foray into acting, making her film debut in the drama The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947). With MGM, she appeared in many films which spanned a wide variety of genres, which include the crime-drama Act of Violence (1948), the drama Little Women (1949), the comedy Angels in the Outfield (1951), the romance Scaramouche (1952) and the western drama The Naked Spur (1953). She played dramatic roles during the late 1950s, in such films as Safari (1956) and Orson Welles's film noir Touch of Evil (1958). With RKO Radio pictures she co-starred in the romantic comedy Holiday Affair (1949) with Robert Mitchum.
Leigh achieved her biggest success starring as Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's psychological thriller Psycho (1960). For her performance, Leigh won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Intermittently, she continued to appear in films, including Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Harper (1966), Night of the Lepus (1972), and Boardwalk (1979). She made her Broadway debut in 1975 in a production of Murder Among Friends. She would also go on to appear in two horror films with her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis: The Fog (1980) and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998).
In addition to her work as an actress, Leigh also wrote four books between 1984 and 2002, two of which were novels. Leigh had two brief marriages as a teenager (one of which was annulled) before marrying actor Tony Curtis in 1951. The pair's highly publicized union ended in divorce in 1962, and after starring in The Manchurian Candidate that same year, Leigh remarried and scaled back her career. She died in October 2004 at age 77, following a year-long battle with vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Janet Leigh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting
(2022)
Rat Pack
as Self (archive footage)
(2021)
I Am Alfred Hitchcock
as Self
(2019)
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
as (archive footage)
(2017)
78/52
as Self (archive footage)
(2017)
Psycho Tom
as Marion Crane
(2014)
And the Oscar Goes To...
as Self (archive footage)
(2010)
The Psycho Legacy
as Self (archive footage)
(2005)
Bad Girls from Valley High
as Mrs. Witt
(2005)
The Making of 'Psycho'
as Self
(2002)
(2000)
The American Nightmare
as Self
(2000)
Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond
as Herself
(2000)
(2000)
(1999)
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special
as Self (uncredited)
(1999)
(1999)
(1999)
(1998)
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
as Norma Watson
(1997)
In My Sister's Shadow
as Kay Connor
(1996)
Jerry Lewis: The Last American Clown
as Interviewee
(1995)
(1995)
Inside the Dream Factory
as Self
(1994)
The Story of Lassie
as Self
(1994)
Hitchcock: Alfred the Great
as Himself
(1993)
24 Hour Psycho
as Marion Crane (archive footage)
(1993)
The Egg
as The egg (voice) (archive footage)
(1987)
(1986)
(1985)
Night of 100 Stars II
as Self
(1983)
Psycho II
as Marion Crane (archival footage) (uncredited)
(1983)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1982)
Night of 100 Stars
as Self
(1980)
The Fog
as Kathy Williams
(1980)
(1979)
Mirror, Mirror
as Millie Gorman
(1979)
The Horror Show
as (archive footage)
(1979)
Boardwalk
as Florence Cohen
(1977)
Telethon
as Elaine Cotten
(1977)
Murder at the World Series
as Karen Weese
(1973)
Murdock's Gang
as Laura Talbot
(1972)
Night of the Lepus
as Gerry Bennett
(1972)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
as Self (archive footage)
(1972)
One Is a Lonely Number
as Gert Meredith
(1971)
The Deadly Dream
as Laurel Hanley
(1970)
House on Greenapple Road
as Marian Ord
(1969)
The Monk
as Janice Barnes
(1969)
Hello Down There
as Vivian Miller
(1969)
Honeymoon with a Stranger
as Sandra Latham
(1967)
Grand Slam
as Mary Ann
(1967)
The Spy in the Green Hat
as Miss Diketon
(1966)
Harper
as Susan Harper
(1966)
Three on a Couch
as Dr Elizabeth Acord
(1966)
An American Dream
as Cherry McMahon
(1966)
Kid Rodelo
as Nora
(1965)
Bob Hope Christmas Show
as Self
(1963)
Bye Bye Birdie
as Rosie DeLeon
(1963)
Wives and Lovers
as Bertie Austin
(1962)
The Manchurian Candidate
as Eugenie Rose Chaney
(1960)
Psycho
as Marion Crane
(1960)
Pepe
as Janet Leigh
(1960)
Who Was That Lady?
as Ann Wilson
(1960)
People, Hopes, Medals
as Self
(1958)
The Vikings
as Morgana
(1958)
Touch of Evil
as Susan 'Susie' Vargas
(1958)
The Perfect Furlough
as Lt. Vicki Loren
(1957)
Jet Pilot
as Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon / Olga Orlief
(1956)
Safari
as Linda Latham
(1956)
Nightmare
as Janet
(1955)
My Sister Eileen
as Eileen Sherwood
(1955)
Pete Kelly's Blues
as Ivy Conrad
(1954)
Prince Valiant
as Princess Aleta
(1954)
The Black Shield of Falworth
as Lady Anne of Mackworth
(1954)
Living It Up
as Wally Cook
(1954)
Rogue Cop
as Karen Stephanson
(1954)
(1954)
(1953)
Houdini
as Bess Houdini
(1953)
The Naked Spur
as Lina Patch
(1953)
Walking My Baby Back Home
as Chris Hall
(1953)
Confidentially Connie
as Connie Bedloe
(1952)
Scaramouche
as Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon
(1952)
Fearless Fagan
as Abby Ames
(1952)
(1952)
Just This Once
as Lucy Duncan
(1952)
(1951)
Angels in the Outfield
as Jennifer Paige
(1951)
(1951)
Two Tickets to Broadway
as Nancy Peterson
(1951)
It's a Big Country
as Rosa Szabo Xenophon
(1951)
Strictly Dishonorable
as Isabelle Perry
(1949)
Little Women
as Meg
(1949)
Holiday Affair
as Connie Ennis
(1949)
Act of Violence
as Edith Enley
(1949)
The Red Danube
as Olga Alexandrova aka Maria Buhlen
(1949)
That Forsyte Woman
as June Forsyte
(1949)
The Doctor and the Girl
as Evelyn 'Taffy' Heldon
(1949)
(1948)
Words and Music
as Dorothy Feiner
(1948)
Hills of Home
as Margit Mitchell
(1947)
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
as Lissy Anne MacBean
(1947)
If Winter Comes
as Effie Bright
Crew
(1958)
The Vikings
Executive Producer
(1957)
Sweet Smell of Success
Executive Producer