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Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh

Actor · 1927 – 2004 · Merced, California, USA

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.

Movies24

  • Movie8.4

    Psycho

    1960 · 11K votes

  • Movie6.0
  • Movie6.7

    The Fog

    1980 · 1.8K votes

  • Movie6.5

    Psycho II

    1983 · 765 votes

  • Movie7.7

    Touch of Evil

    1958 · 1.6K votes

  • Movie7.5
  • Movie7.0

    The Vikings

    1958 · 385 votes

  • Movie7.5

    The Manchurian Candidate

    1962 · 841 votes

  • Movie7.4

    Little Women

    1949 · 233 votes

  • Movie5.7

    Psycho III

    1986 · 448 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Harper

    1966 · 201 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Scaramouche

    1952 · 108 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Bye Bye Birdie

    1963 · 120 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Who Was That Lady?

    1960 · 31 votes

  • Movie4.4

    Night of the Lepus

    1972 · 119 votes

  • Movie6.9
  • Movie7.0

    The Naked Spur

    1953 · 266 votes

  • Movie6.2
  • Movie7.0

    Angels in the Outfield

    1951 · 31 votes

  • Movie6.0
  • Movie6.8

    Night of 100 Stars II

    1985 · 5 votes

  • Movie5.8

    Night of 100 Stars

    1982 · 5 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Houdini

    1953 · 80 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Act of Violence

    1949 · 108 votes

Series24

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV8.1

    Columbo

    1971 · 857 votes

  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV6.3

    The Love Boat

    1977 · 199 votes

  • TV7.0

    Golden Globe Awards

    1944 · 20 votes

  • TV7.2

    Touched by an Angel

    1994 · 188 votes

  • TV6.7

    Tales of the Unexpected

    1979 · 54 votes

  • TV4.5

    Intimate Portrait

    1993 · 5 votes

  • TV5.9
  • TV7.7

    The Twilight Zone

    1985 · 264 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Oscars

    1953 · 84 votes

  • TV8.1

    Family Law

    1999 · 12 votes

  • TV6.3

    Matt Houston

    1982 · 28 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Bob Hope Show

    1950 · 5 votes

  • TV6.9

    The Colgate Comedy Hour

    1950 · 13 votes

  • TV6.8
  • TV7.2

    The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

    1964 · 75 votes

  • TV6.5

    This Is Your Life

    1952 · 13 votes

  • TV7.4

    Ghost Story

    1972 · 9 votes

  • TV5.0

    The Hollywood Palace

    1964 · 5 votes

  • TV6.3
  • TV