Janet Leigh
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
128
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.
Known For
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Columbo
Murder, She Wrote
The Love Boat
Golden Globe Awards
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Touched by an Angel
The Twilight Zone
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Intimate Portrait
Intimate Portrait
Tales of the Unexpected
Matt Houston
What's My Line?
What's My Line?
Psycho
This Is Your Life
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Oscars
Family Law
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
The Hollywood Palace
Ghost Story
The Fog
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
One Is a Lonely Number
Mary Pickford: A Life on Film
The Deadly Dream
Rogue Cop
I Am Alfred Hitchcock
Scene by Scene
The Vikings
Scaramouche
The Making of 'Psycho'
The Manchurian Candidate
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal
The Naked Spur
An American Dream
The American Nightmare
Hills of Home
Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond
The Monk
Little Women
That Forsyte Woman
Jet Pilot
Words and Music
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons
Holiday Affair
Touch of Evil
Walking My Baby Back Home
The Horror Show
Act of Violence
Psycho II
Boardwalk
Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows
The Spy in the Green Hat
Harper
House on Greenapple Road
Angels in the Outfield
A Star Is Born World Premiere
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Telethon
It's a Big Country
Rat Pack
Night of the Lepus
The Perfect Furlough
Safari
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Confidentially Connie
Night of 100 Stars
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius
Who Was That Lady?
Bye Bye Birdie
Inside the Dream Factory
The Black Shield of Falworth
The Red Danube
The Rosemary Clooney Show
E! True Hollywood Story
Three on a Couch
Hello Down There
Fearless Fagan
Pepe
Houdini
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Kid Rodelo
In My Sister's Shadow
Grand Slam
Murdock's Gang
The Story of Lassie
My Sister Eileen
Psycho Tom
Living It Up
24 Hour Psycho
Hitchcock: Alfred the Great
If Winter Comes
Night of 100 Stars II
Jerry Lewis: The Last American Clown
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special
Just This Once
Strictly Dishonorable
Bad Girls from Valley High
Fear on Film: Inside 'The Fog'
Murder at the World Series
Prince Valiant
Pete Kelly's Blues
Wives and Lovers
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Nightmare
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border
The Egg
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
Bob Hope Christmas Show
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog'
Rat Pack: A Conference of Cool
An Eye for an Eye
Honeymoon with a Stranger
The Doctor and the Girl
Two Tickets to Broadway
People, Hopes, Medals
Miss Glucksman Visits Hollywood
Come Back Little Shiksa
Mirror, Mirror
Fairfax Avenue
