Janet Leigh
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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
Credits
Psycho (1960)
as Marion Crane
The Vikings (1958)
as Morgana
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
as Norma
The Fog (1980)
as Kathy Williams
Little Women (1949)
as Meg
Harper (1966)
as Susan Harper
Psycho II (1983)
as Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
Touch of Evil (1958)
as Susan 'Susie' Vargas
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
as Eugenie Rose Chaney
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025)
as Self (archive footage)
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
as Rosie DeLeon
Psycho III (1986)
as Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hitchcock: Alfred the Great (1994)
as Himself
Scaramouche (1952)
as Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon
Angels in the Outfield (1951)
as Jennifer Paige
The Naked Spur (1953)
as Lina Patch
Living It Up (1954)
as Wally Cook
Houdini (1953)
as Bess Houdini
It's a Big Country (1951)
as Rosa Szabo Xenophon
Rat Pack (2022)
as Self (archive footage)
Prince Valiant (1954)
as Princess Aleta
Bad Girls from Valley High (2005)
as Mrs. Witt
Night of the Lepus (1972)
as Gerry Bennett
Who Was That Lady? (1960)
as Ann Wilson
Jet Pilot (1957)
as Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon / Olga Orlief
Hollywood: No Sex, Please! (2018)
Actor
An American Dream (1966)
as Cherry McMahon
The Monk (1969)
as Janice Barnes
Night of 100 Stars (1982)
as Self
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special (1999)
as Self (uncredited)
My Sister Eileen (1955)
as Eileen Sherwood
Night of 100 Stars II (1985)
as Self
The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
as Lady Anne of Mackworth
Rogue Cop (1954)
as Karen Stephanson
Words and Music (1948)
as Dorothy Feiner
The Fabulous Allan Carr (2017)
as Self (archive)
Pepe (1960)
as Janet Leigh
Act of Violence (1949)
as Edith Enley
The American Nightmare (2000)
as Self
Walking My Baby Back Home (1953)
as Chris Hall
Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
as Ivy Conrad
Grand Slam (1967)
as Mary Ann
Holiday Affair (1949)
as Connie Ennis
The Horror Show (1979)
as (archive footage)
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood (1987)
as Self
A Star Is Born World Premiere (1954)
as Self
Hello Down There (1969)
as Vivian Miller
Safari (1956)
as Linda Latham
Mirror, Mirror (1979)
as Millie Gorman
I Am Alfred Hitchcock (2021)
as Self (archive footage)
The Perfect Furlough (1958)
as Lt. Vicki Loren
House on Greenapple Road (1970)
as Marian Ord
Confidentially Connie (1953)
as Connie Bedloe
Telethon (1977)
as Elaine Cotten
Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)
as Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Spy in the Green Hat (1967)
as Miss Diketon
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe (2012)
as Self (archive footage)
Pictures of Ghosts (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
If Winter Comes (1947)
as Effie Bright
The Deadly Dream (1971)
as Laurel Hanley
Just This Once (1952)
as Lucy Duncan
Kid Rodelo (1966)
as Nora
Inside the Dream Factory (1995)
as Self
Three on a Couch (1966)
as Dr Elizabeth Acord
Wives and Lovers (1963)
as Bertie Austin
Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)
as Nancy Peterson
The Red Danube (1949)
as Olga Alexandrova aka Maria Buhlen
The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947)
as Lissy Anne MacBean
Boardwalk (1979)
as Florence Cohen
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons (1995)
as Self
Fearless Fagan (1952)
as Abby Ames
In My Sister's Shadow (1997)
as Kay Connor
Murdock's Gang (1973)
as Laura Talbot
That Forsyte Woman (1949)
as June Forsyte
Mary Pickford: A Life on Film (2000)
as Self
Murder at the World Series (1977)
as Karen Weese
The Doctor and the Girl (1949)
as Evelyn 'Taffy' Heldon
Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969)
as Sandra Latham
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies (2000)
as Self
Fairfax Avenue (1951)
Actor
Bob Hope Christmas Show (1965)
as Self
The Story of Lassie (1994)
as Self
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border (1949)
Actor
Strictly Dishonorable (1951)
as Isabelle Perry
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1986)
as Self
Rat Pack: A Conference of Cool (1999)
as Self
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999)
as Self
One Is a Lonely Number (1972)
as Gert Meredith
Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog' (2002)
as Self
Hills of Home (1948)
as Margit Mitchell
Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows (1999)
as Self
Fear on Film: Inside 'The Fog' (1980)
as Self
The Egg (1993)
as The egg (voice) (archive footage)
Unmasking the Horror (1998)
Actor
The Re-Inforcer (1951)
as Mary Muck
Come Back Little Shiksa (1952)
Actor
Jerry Lewis: The Last American Clown (1996)
as Self - Interviewee
Miss Glucksman Visits Hollywood (1954)
Actor
Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond (2000)
as Herself
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil" (2019)
as (archive footage)
The Making of 'Psycho' (2005)
as Self
People, Hopes, Medals (1960)
as Self
An Eye for an Eye (1952)
Actor
Nightmare (1956)
as Janet