Janet Leigh
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 ap
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.
Born
Jul 06, 1927
Merced, California, USA
Died
Oct 03, 2004
Known For
Acting
Movies
104 acting
2 crew
Popularity
2.4
Known For
Psycho
1960
as Marion Crane
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
1998
as Norma Watson
The Vikings
1958
as Morgana
The Fog
1980
as Kathy Williams
The Manchurian Candidate
1962
as Eugenie Rose Chaney
Little Women
1949
as Meg
Touch of Evil
1958
as Susan 'Susie' Vargas
Psycho II
1983
as Marion Crane (archival footage) (uncredited)
Harper
1966
as Susan Harper
Scaramouche
1952
as Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon
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