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