JANET LEIGH
Information from IMDb
Date of Birth
6 July 1927, Merced, California, USA
Date of Death
3 October 2004, Beverly Hills, California, USA (vasculitis)
Birth Name
Jeanette Helen Morrison
Height
5' 5½" (1.66 m)
Spouse
Robert Brandt (15 September 1962 - 3 October 2004) (her death)
Tony Curtis (4 June 1951 - 14 September 1962) (divorced) 2 children
Stanley Reames (5 October 1945 - 7 September 1949) (divorced)
John Kenneth Carlisle (21 August 1942 - 28 December 1942) (annulled)
Trivia
Was 'discovered' by Norma Shearer from a photo on the desk of Janet's father.
Mother of Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis.
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#99). [1995]
Eloped at the age of 14 - marriage was later annulled. Thus, Tony Curtis was her 3rd husband when she married him in her 20s.
Measurements: 36C-21-36 (in 1953), 35 1/2-23-36 (measured in 1960s), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Actually made Touch of Evil (1958), with a broken arm. Her arm was in a cast when she showed up for production, so they took her arm out of the cast and used every trick they could to hide it.
She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at 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 US Solicitor General Ted Olson were also awarded honorary degrees on the same day.
Graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
She and her actress daughter Jamie Lee Curtis appear together in John Carpenter's The Fog (1980), though they do not meet until the film's end. They also appear together in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) early in the film when Janet reports to Jamie on a problem with the girls' shower at a private school.
In 2006, the city of Stockton, California renamed and dedicated a downtown cinema and plaza in her honor. "Janet Leigh Plaza" is in the central core of the redeveloped downtown 2 blocks away from the "Bob Hope Theater".
In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by either Renata Marini or Rosetta Calavetta. She was occasionally dubbed by Germana Calderini, Dhia Cristiani, Micaela Giustiniani and Fiorella Betti.
Daughter of Frederick Robert Morrison and wife Helen Lita Westergard.
Interviewed in Tom Weaver's book "Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes" (McFarland & Co., 1991).
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 326-329. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
Mini Biography
Janet Leigh was the only child of a couple who often moved from town to town. Living in apartments, Janet was a bright child who skipped several grades and finished high school when she was 15. A lonely child, she would spend much of her time at movie theaters. She was a student, studying music and psychology, at the University of the Pacific until she was "discovered" while visiting her parents in Northern California. Her father was working the desk at a ski resort where her mother worked as a maid. Retired MGM actress Norma Shearer saw a picture of Janet on the front desk and asked if she could borrow it. This led to a screen test at MGM and a starring role in The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947). MGM was looking for a young naive country girl and Janet filled the bill perfectly. She would play the young ingénue in a number of films and work with such stars as Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Orson Welles and Judy Garland. She appeared in a number of successful films, including Little Women (1949), Angels and the Pirates (1951), Scaramouche (1952), Houdini (1953) and The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), among others. Janet would appear in a variety of films, from comedies to westerns to musicals to dramas. Of her more than 50 movies, she would be remembered for the 45 minutes that she was on the screen in the small-budget thriller Psycho (1960). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this 1960 classic would include the shower scene that would become a film landmark. Even though her character is killed off early in the picture, she would be nominated for an Academy Award and receive a Golden Globe. Her next film would be The Manchurian Candidate (1962), in which she starred with Frank Sinatra. For the rest of the decade, her appearances in films would be rare, but she worked with Paul Newman in The Moving Target (1966). In the 1970s she appeared on the small screen in a number of made-for-TV movies.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana
Personal Quotes
[when asked if it was true that she doesn't take showers] It's actually, honestly true. And not because of the shooting of it. It was the seeing of it. It never dawned on me how truly vulnerable we are. But that's what [Alfred Hitchcock] did. A shower. A bird. All these things that are absolutely ordinary, he made extraordinary.
Psycho (1960) gave me very wrinkled skin. I was in that shower for seven days - 70 setups. At least, he [Alfred Hitchcock] made sure the water was warm.
I don't know what it is I exude. But whatever it is, it's whatever I am!
[on working with Alfred Hitchcock on Psycho (1960)] Hitch relished scaring me. When we were making "Psycho," he experimented with the mother's corpse, using me as his gauge. I would return from lunch, open the door to the dressing room and propped up in my chair would be this hideous monstrosity. The horror in my scream, registered on his Richter scale, decided which dummy he'd use as the Madame.
[on her Psycho (1960) co-star, the late Anthony Perkins] To me he was a leading man. But to the rest of the world, he'll always be "Norman Bates". People just wouldn't let him be anything else.
Salary
Psycho (1960) $25,000
The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947) $50/week
Filmography
Actor
2005 Bad Girls from Valley High...Mrs. Witt
2001 Family Law (TV series)– The Quality of Mercy (2001) … Mary Sawyer
1998 Halloween H20: 20 Years Later...Norma Watson
1998 In My Sister's Shadow (TV movie)...Kay Connor
1997 Touched by an Angel (TV series)– Charades (1997) … Vera Galser
1993 Das Ei (short)...Das Ei (voice)
1989 The Twilight Zone (TV series)– Rendezvous in a Dark Place (1989) … Barbara LeMay
1987 Murder, She Wrote (TV series)– Doom with a View (1987) … Cornelia Montaigne Harper
1986 Starman (TV series)– Society's Pet (1986) … Antonia Weyburn
1985 On Our Way (TV movie)...Kate Walsh
1978-1985 The Love Boat (TV series)
– Instinct/Unmade for Each Other/BOS (1985) … Joan Philipps
– Till Death Do Us Part, Maybe/Chubs/Locked Away (1978) … Gail
1982-1984 Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)
– I Like It Here in Wilmington (1984)
– Light Fingers (1982) … Joan Stackpole
1979-1982 Fantasy Island (TV series)
– Roller Derby Dolls/Thanks a Million (1982) … Suzanne King
– Birthday Party/Ghostbreaker (1979) … Carol Gates
1982 Matt Houston (TV series)– Who Would Kill Ramona? (1982) … Ramona Launders
1980 The Fog...Kathy Williams
1979 Boardwalk...Florence Cohen
1979 Mirror, Mirror (TV movie)...Millie Gorman
1977 Telethon (TV movie)...Elaine Cotten
1977 Murder at the World Series (TV movie)...Karen Weese
1975 Columbo (TV series)– Forgotten Lady (1975) … Grace Wheeler Willis
1975 Movin' On (TV series)– Wedding Bells (1975) … Nina Smith
1973 Love Story (TV series)– Beginner's Luck (1973) … Leonie
1973 Murdock's Gang (TV movie)...Laura Talbot
1973 Ghost Story (TV series)– Death's Head (1973) … Carol
1972 Night of the Lepus...Gerry Bennett
1972 One Is a Lonely Number...Gert Meredith
1971 Deadly Dream (TV movie)...Laurel Hanley
1971 My Wives Jane (TV movie)...Jane Franklin
1971 The Name of the Game (TV series)– The Man Who Killed a Ghost (1971) … Glory Bates
1970 Bracken's World (TV series)– The Anonymous Star (1970) … Maggie Morgan
1970 The Tim Conway Comedy Hour (TV series)– Episode #1.6 (1970)
1970 The Virginian (TV series)– Jenny (1970) … Jenny Davis
1970 House on Greenapple Road (TV movie)...Marian Ord
1969 Honeymoon with a Stranger (TV movie)...Sandra Latham
1966-1969 The Red Skelton Show (TV series)
– It's Better to Have Loved and Lost - Much Better (1969) … Daisy June / Clara Appleby
– Jerk Be Nimble (1966) … Daisy June
1969 The Monk (TV movie)...Janice Barnes
1969 Hello Down There...Vivian Miller
1968 The Bob Hope Show (TV series)– Episode dated 19 December 1968 (1968)
1968 The Danny Thomas Hour (TV series)– One for My Baby (1968) … Liza Merrick
1967 Ad ogni costo...Mary Ann
1966 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV series)
– The Concrete Overcoat Affair: Part II (1966) … Mrs. Diketon
– The Concrete Overcoat Affair: Part I (1966) … Miss Diketon
1964-1966 Theatre of Stars (TV series)
– Dear Deductible (1966) … Virginia Ballard
– Murder in the First (1964) … Carol Hartley
1966 See You in Hell, Darling..Cherry McMahon
1966 Three on a Couch..Dr. Elizabeth Acord
1966 The Moving Target...Susan Harper
1966 Kid Rodelo...Nora
1963 Wives and Lovers...Bertie Austin
1963 Bye Bye Birdie..Rosie DeLeon
1962 The Manchurian Candidate...Eugenie Rose Chaney
1960 Psycho...Marion Crane
1960 Who Was That Lady?...Ann Wilson
1958 Strictly for Pleasure...Lt. Vicki Loren
1958 The Vikings...Morgana
1958 Touch of Evil...Susan 'Susie' Vargas
1957 Jet Pilot...Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon/Olga Orlief
1957 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (TV series)– Carriage from Britain (1957)
1956 Safari...Linda Latham
1955 My Sister Eileen...Eileen Sherwood
1955 Pete Kelly's Blues...Ivy Conrad
1954 Rogue Cop...Karen Stephanson
1954 The Black Shield of Falworth...Lady Anne
1954 Living It Up...Wally Cook
1954 Prince Valiant...Princess Aleta
1953 Walking My Baby Back Home...Chris Hall
1953 Houdini...Bess Houdini
1953 Confidentially Connie...Connie Bedloe
1953 The Naked Spur...Lina Patch
1952 Fearless Fagan...Abby Ames
1952 Scaramouche...Aline de Gavrillac
1952 Just This Once...Lucille 'Lucy' Duncan
1951 Two Tickets to Broadway...Nancy Peterson
1951 It's a Big Country...Rosa Szabo Xenophon
1951 Angels and the Pirates...Jennifer Paige
1951 Strictly Dishonorable...Isabelle Perry
1949 Holiday Affair...Connie Ennis
1949 The Forsyte Saga...June Forsyte
1949 The Doctor and the Girl...Evelyn 'Taffy' Heldon
1949 The Red Danube...Olga Alexandrova/Maria Buhlen
1949 Little Women...Meg
1949 How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border
1948 Act of Violence...Edith Enley
1948 Words and Music...Dorothy Feiner Rodgers
1948 Master of Lassie...Margit Mitchell
1947 If Winter Comes...Effie Bright
1947 The Romance of Rosy Ridge...Lissy Anne MacBean
