Leigh, Janet (1927—)

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Leigh, Janet (1927—)

American actress who was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in Psycho. Born Jeanette Helen Morrison on July 6, 1927, in Merced, California; attended the College of the Pacific; married John Carlyle, in 1942 (annulled); married Stanley Reames, in 1946 (divorced 1948); married Tony Curtis (an actor), in 1951 (divorced 1962); married Robert Brandt (a stockbroker), in 1962; children: (third marriage) Kelly Lee Curtis; Jamie Lee Curtis (an actress).

Selected filmography:

The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947); If Winter Comes (1948); Words and Music (1948); Act of Violence (1949); Little Women (1949); The Doctor and the Girl (1949); The Forsyte Saga (1949); The Red Danube (1949); Holiday Affair (1949); Strictly Dishonorable (1951); Angels in the Outfield (1951); Two Tickets to Broadway (1951); It's a Big Country (1952); Just This Once (1952); Scaramouche (1952); Fearless Fagan (1952); The Naked Spur (1953); Confidentially Connie (1953); Houdini (1953); Walking My Baby Back Home (1953); Prince Valiant (1954); Living It Up (1954); The Black Shield of Falworth (1954); Rogue Cop (1954); Pete Kelly's Blues (1955); My Sister Eileen (1955); Safari (1956); Jet Pilot (1957); Touch of Evil (1958); The Vikings (1958); The Perfect Furlough (1959); Who Was That Lady? (1960); Psycho (1960); Pepe (1960); The Manchurian Candidate (1962); Bye Bye Birdie (1963); Wives and Lovers (1963); Kid Rodelo (1955); Harper (1966); Three on a Couch (1966); An American Dream (1966); Grand Slam (1968); Hello Down There (1969); One Is a Lonely Number (1972); Night of the Lepus (1972); Boardwalk (1979); The Fog (1980).

Although she will forever be remembered for her bloody shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's shock film Psycho (1960), Janet Leigh actually began her career playing sweet ingenues in the studio films of the 1940s and 1950s. The daughter of an insurance and real-estate agent, Lee was a personal discovery of actress Norma Shearer , who saw her photograph on the desk of a ski lodge where Leigh's parents were working and took it to MGM. After giving Leigh a screen test, studio chief Louis B. Mayer decided to co-star the newcomer with Van Johnson in The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947), even though she had no acting experience. "They were looking for a naïve young country girl," Leigh said, "and I was sure naïve and young."

Cashing in on Leigh's wholesome beauty, the studio kept her in young ingenue roles throughout her early career, although they allowed her a more provocative image after her well-publicized marriage to actor Tony Curtis in 1951. Leigh ranked as one of Hollywood's top stars throughout the 1950s, but she continued to hone her acting skills, reaching the top of her form opposite Charlton Heston in the Orson Welles film Touch of Evil (1968). Plum supporting roles in Psycho, for which she received an Academy Award nomination, and the Manchurian Candidate (1962), followed. However, her career faded during the 1960s, and after 1969, she was rarely seen on screen. She made her stage debut in 1975, appearing with Jack Cassidy in the Broadway play Murder Among Friends.

Leigh's third marriage to Tony Curtis produced two children, daughters Kelly Lee Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis , an actress. Leigh divorced Curtis in 1962 and married stockbroker Robert Brandt. After retiring from films, she embarked on a second career as a writer. She produced a biography, There Really Was a Hollywood (1984), as well as Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller (1995). She also wrote a successful novel, House of Destiny. Leigh occasionally ventures out of retirement for cameo roles in films and television. In 1980, she appeared with her daughter Jamie in John Carpenter's The Fog.