Janet Leigh profile
Actor profile

Janet Leigh

6th July 1927 Merced, California, USA Acting

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.

98 Movies 26 TV Shows 134 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Rat Pack poster
Rat Pack 11th January 2022 as Self (archive footage)
The Egg poster
The Egg 1st January 1993 as The egg (voice) (archive footage)
Psycho III poster
Psycho III 2nd April 1986 as Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
Psycho II poster
Psycho II 3rd June 1983 as Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Fog poster
The Fog 1st February 1980 as Kathy Williams
Telethon poster
Telethon 6th November 1977 as Elaine Cotten
The Monk poster
The Monk 21st October 1969 as Janice Barnes
Harper poster
Harper 22nd February 1966 as Susan Harper
Pepe poster
Pepe 21st December 1960 as Janet Leigh
Psycho poster
Psycho 22nd June 1960 as Marion Crane
Jet Pilot poster
Jet Pilot 11th October 1957 as Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon / Olga Orlief
Safari poster
Safari 20th June 1956 as Linda Latham
Rogue Cop poster
Rogue Cop 17th September 1954 as Karen Stephanson
Columbo poster
Columbo 15th September 1971 as Grace Wheeler Willis