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
Touch of Evil (1958)
as Susan 'Susie' Vargas
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
as Norma
Little Women (1949)
as Meg
The Fog (1980)
as Kathy Williams
Psycho II (1983)
as Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025)
as Self (archive footage)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
as Eugenie Rose Chaney
The Vikings (1958)
as Morgana
Psycho III (1986)
as Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
Scaramouche (1952)
as Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon
The Naked Spur (1953)
as Lina Patch
Harper (1966)
as Susan Harper
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
as Rosie DeLeon
Angels in the Outfield (1951)
as Jennifer Paige
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special (1999)
as Self
Living It Up (1954)
as Wally Cook
Night of the Lepus (1972)
as Gerry Bennett
Who Was That Lady? (1960)
as Ann Wilson
Houdini (1953)
as Bess Houdini
Prince Valiant (1954)
as Princess Aleta
The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
as Lady Anne of Mackworth
Hollywood: No Sex, Please! (2018)
Actor
Pictures of Ghosts (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Three on a Couch (1966)
as Dr Elizabeth Acord
Night of 100 Stars (1982)
as Self
Bad Girls from Valley High (2005)
as Mrs. Witt
Confidentially Connie (1953)
as Connie Bedloe
Night of 100 Stars II (1985)
as Self
It's a Big Country (1951)
as Rosa Szabo Xenophon
An American Dream (1966)
as Cherry McMahon
Words and Music (1948)
as Dorothy Feiner
Act of Violence (1949)
as Edith Enley
The Red Danube (1949)
as Olga Alexandrova aka Maria Buhlen
My Sister Eileen (1955)
as Eileen Sherwood
Walking My Baby Back Home (1953)
as Chris Hall
Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)
as Self (archive footage)
I Am Alfred Hitchcock (2021)
as Self (archive footage)
House on Greenapple Road (1970)
as Marian Ord
The Fabulous Allan Carr (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Rat Pack (2022)
as Self (archive footage)
Hello Down There (1969)
as Vivian Miller
The Perfect Furlough (1958)
as Vicki Loren
The Spy in the Green Hat (1967)
as Miss Diketon
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood (1987)
as Self
Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)
as Nancy Peterson
Murder at the World Series (1977)
as Karen Weese
Holiday Affair (1949)
as Connie Ennis
Jet Pilot (1957)
as Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon / Olga Orlief
The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947)
as Lissy Anne MacBean
The Doctor and the Girl (1949)
as Evelyn 'Taffy' Heldon
Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
as Ivy Conrad
The American Nightmare (2000)
as Self
Boardwalk (1979)
as Florence Cohen
Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969)
as Sandra Latham
If Winter Comes (1947)
as Effie Bright
Safari (1956)
as Linda Latham
The Story of Lassie (1994)
as Self
Pepe (1960)
as Janet Leigh
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1986)
as Self
The Monk (1969)
as Janice Barnes
Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond (2000)
as Herself
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons (1995)
as Self
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999)
as Self
That Forsyte Woman (1949)
as June Forsyte
In My Sister's Shadow (1997)
as Kay Connor
Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog' (2002)
as Self
One Is a Lonely Number (1972)
as Gert Meredith
The Making of 'Psycho' (2005)
as Self
Hitchcock: Alfred the Great (1994)
as Self
A Star Is Born World Premiere (1954)
as Self
Wives and Lovers (1963)
as Bertie Austin
The Horror Show (1979)
as (archive footage)
Just This Once (1952)
as Lucy Duncan
Jamie Lee Curtis: Hollywood Call of Freedom (2022)
as Self (archive footage)
Mary Pickford: A Life on Film (2000)
as Self
Jerry Lewis: The Last American Clown (1996)
as Self - Interviewee
Inside the Dream Factory (1995)
as Self
Bob Hope Christmas Show (1965)
as Self
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies (2000)
as Self
Come Back Little Shiksa (1952)
Actor
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border (1949)
Actor
The Re-Inforcer (1951)
as Mary Muck
Rogue Cop (1954)
as Karen Stephanson
People, Hopes, Medals (1960)
as Self
The Deadly Dream (1971)
as Laurel Hanley
Grand Slam (1967)
as Mary Ann
The Making Of Psycho III (1986)
as Marion Crane (archive footage)
Miss Glucksman Visits Hollywood (1954)
Actor
Rat Pack: A Conference of Cool (1999)
as Self
Fearless Fagan (1952)
as Abby Ames
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil" (2019)
as (archive footage)
Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows (1999)
as Self
An Eye for an Eye (1952)
Actor
Hills of Home (1948)
as Margit Mitchell
Strictly Dishonorable (1951)
as Isabelle Perry
Watch On The Lime (1951)
Actor
Mirror, Mirror (1979)
as Millie Gorman
Fairfax Avenue (1951)
Actor
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe (2012)
as Self (archive footage)
Nightmare (1956)
as Janet
A Spot In The Shade (1951)
Actor
The Egg (1993)
as The egg (voice) (archive footage)
Kid Rodelo (1966)
as Nora
Telethon (1977)
as Elaine Cotten
Murdock's Gang (1973)
as Laura Talbot
100 Years of the Idiot: A Jerry Lewis Centenary (2026)
Actor
Nightmare (1951)
Actor