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 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.
131 acting credits
Acting · 131
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
Columbo
1971
Murder, She Wrote
1984
Golden Globe Awards
1944
The Love Boat
1977
Touched by an Angel
1994
The Twilight Zone
1985
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
Tales of the Unexpected
1979
What's My Line?
1950
Psycho
1960
Intimate Portrait
1993
Family Law
1999
The Oscars
1953
The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950
Matt Houston
1982
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968
Ghost Story
1972
This Is Your Life
1952
The Hollywood Palace
1964
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973
The Fog
1980
Scene by Scene
1997
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
1998
Little Women
1949
Angels in the Outfield
1951
Touch of Evil
1958
The Vikings
1958
The Manchurian Candidate
1962
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Psycho II
1983
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special
1999
Night of the Lepus
1972
The Rosemary Clooney Show
1956
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
2025
Night of 100 Stars
1982
Bye Bye Birdie
1963
Harper
1966
Night of 100 Stars II
1985
Psycho III
1986
Scaramouche
1952
Houdini
1953
The Naked Spur
1953
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
1987
Act of Violence
1949
Hollywood: No Sex, Please!
2018
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
Hello Down There
1969
The Black Shield of Falworth
1954
Pepe
1960
Rat Pack
2022
Prince Valiant
1954
Holiday Affair
1949
It's a Big Country
1951
The Horror Show
1979
The Fabulous Allan Carr
2017
Grand Slam
1967
Words and Music
1948
A Star Is Born World Premiere
1954
I Am Alfred Hitchcock
2021
Living It Up
1954
Three on a Couch
1966
Pete Kelly's Blues
1955
House on Greenapple Road
1970
The Spy in the Green Hat
1967
Bad Girls from Valley High
2005
Who Was That Lady?
1960
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal
1986
Telethon
1977
The American Nightmare
2000
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972
Safari
1956
Pictures of Ghosts
2023
Rogue Cop
1954
My Sister Eileen
1955
Walking My Baby Back Home
1953
Jet Pilot
1957
An American Dream
1966
That Forsyte Woman
1949
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies
2000
One Is a Lonely Number
1972
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
1947
Two Tickets to Broadway
1951
The Red Danube
1949
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
2012
Honeymoon with a Stranger
1969
The Monk
1969
The Perfect Furlough
1958
If Winter Comes
1947
Strictly Dishonorable
1951
Fear on Film: Inside 'The Fog'
1980
Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows
1999
Mirror, Mirror
1979
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons
1995
The Making of 'Psycho'
2005
Hitchcock: Alfred the Great
1994
Murdock's Gang
1973
Jerry Lewis: The Last American Clown
1996
The Deadly Dream
1971
Just This Once
1952
Fearless Fagan
1952
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius
1999
Hills of Home
1948
Boardwalk
1979
Mary Pickford: A Life on Film
2000
The Doctor and the Girl
1949
Confidentially Connie
1953
Inside the Dream Factory
1995
Murder at the World Series
1977
The Story of Lassie
1994
Come Back Little Shiksa
1952
Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog'
2002
In My Sister's Shadow
1997
People, Hopes, Medals
1960
Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond
2000
Kid Rodelo
1966
Unmasking the Horror
1998
Wives and Lovers
1963
Bob Hope Christmas Show
1965
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border
1949
An Eye for an Eye
1952
Nightmare
1956
Fairfax Avenue
1951
Miss Glucksman Visits Hollywood
1954
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
2019
The Re-Inforcer
1951
Rat Pack: A Conference of Cool
1999
The Egg
1993