JANET LEIGH

'Janet Leigh' (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), born 'Jeanette Helen Morrison', was an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning American actress.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Private life

Death and Illness

Selected filmography

External links

Biography

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 the University of the Pacific, where she was studying music and psychology, after Wasserman secured a contract with MGM.

Career

Throughout the 1950s, she starred in movies that well showed off her beautiful presence--most notably taking the leading blonde role in the musical comedy My Sister Eileen, co-starring Jack Lemmon, Betty Garrett and Dick York.
Leigh's best-known role was as the morally ambiguous Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film ''Psycho''. But she found it hard to get good roles after this due to typecasting and went through most of her acting career doing guest appearances on TV shows. 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.
In 1975, she played a retired Hollywood song and dance star in ''Columbo: Forgotten Lady''.
Leigh appeared in two horror films with her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, playing a major role in ''The Fog'' (1980) and making a cameo appearance in '' (1998).

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 German co-star of his then-latest film (''Taras Bulba''). 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 was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California on May 14, 2004. She delivered an inspirational speech to graduating students, faculty, and administrators in accepting her award. Author Maxine Hong Kingston and United States Solicitor General Ted Olson were also awarded honorary degrees on the same day.

Death and Illness

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

Selected filmography

★ ''Act of Violence'' (1948)

★ ''Hills of Home'' (1948)

★ ''Holiday Affair'' (1949)

★ ''Little Women'' (1949)

★ ''That Forsyte Woman'' (1950)

★ ''Angels in the Outfield'' (1951)

★ ''Scaramouche'' (1952)

★ ''Just This Once'' (1952)

★ ''Confidentially Connie'' (1953)

★ ''The Naked Spur'' (1953)

★ ''Houdini'' (1953)

★ ''Walking My Baby Back Home'' (1953)

★ ''Prince Valiant'' (1954)

★ ''The Black Shield of Falworth'' (1954)

★ ''Living It Up'' (1954)

★ ''Rogue Cop'' (1954)

★ ''Pete Kelly's Blues'' (1955)

★ ''My Sister Eileen'' (1955)

★ ''Jet Pilot'' (1957)

★ ''Touch of Evil'' (1958)

★ ''The Vikings'' (1958)

★ ''Psycho'' (1960)

★ ''Who Was That Lady?'' (1960)

★ ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1962)

★ ''Bye Bye Birdie'' (1963)

★ ''Three on a Couch'' (1966)

★ ''Harper'' (1966)

★ ''Grand Slam'' (1967)

★ ''Hello Down There'' (1969)

★ ''Night of the Lepus'' (1972)

★ ''One Is a Lonely Number'' (1972)

★ ''Columbo: Forgotten Lady'' (TV) (1975)

★ ''The Fog'' (1980)

★ ''Terror in the Aisles'' (1984)

★ '' (1998)

External links

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★ Reelclassics.com Page

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