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.
Photos
Movies (110)
100 Years of the Idiot: A Jerry Lewis Centenary
2026
Tiburón: la historia de un clásico
2025 · Self (archive footage)
Pictures of Ghosts
2023 · Self (archive footage)
Jamie Lee Curtis: Hollywood Call of Freedom
2022 · Self (archive footage)
Rat Pack
2022 · Self (archive footage)
Yo soy Alfred Hitchcock
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
2019 · (archive footage)
Hollywood: No Sex, Please!
2018
The Fabulous Allan Carr
2017 · Self (archive footage)
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
2012 · Self (archive footage)
The Making of 'Psycho'
2005 · Self
Bad Girls from Valley High
2005 · Mrs. Witt
Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog'
2002 · Self
Mary Pickford: A Life on Film
2000 · Self
The American Nightmare
2000 · Self
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies
2000 · Self
Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond
2000 · Herself
Rat Pack: A Conference of Cool
1999 · Self
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius
1999 · Self
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special
1999 · Self
Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows
1999 · Self
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
1998 · Norma
In My Sister's Shadow
1997 · Kay Connor
Jerry Lewis: The Last American Clown
1996 · Self - Interviewee
Inside the Dream Factory
1995 · Self
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons
1995 · Self
The Story of Lassie
1994 · Self
Hitchcock: Alfred the Great
1994 · Self
The Egg
1993 · The egg (voice) (archive footage)
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
1987 · Self
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal
1986 · Self
The Making Of Psycho III
1986 · Marion Crane (archive footage)
Psycho III
1986 · Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
Night of 100 Stars II
1985 · Self
Psycho II
1983 · Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Night of 100 Stars
1982 · Self
The Fog
1980 · Kathy Williams
Boardwalk
1979 · Florence Cohen
Mirror, Mirror
1979 · Millie Gorman
The Horror Show
1979 · (archive footage)
Telethon
1977 · Elaine Cotten
Murder at the World Series
1977 · Karen Weese
Murdock's Gang
1973 · Laura Talbot
Night of the Lepus
1972 · Gerry Bennett
One Is a Lonely Number
1972 · Gert Meredith
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972 · Self (archive footage)
The Deadly Dream
1971 · Laurel Hanley
House on Greenapple Road
1970 · Marian Ord
Honeymoon with a Stranger
1969 · Sandra Latham
The Monk
1969 · Janice Barnes
Hello Down There
1969 · Vivian Miller
Grand Slam
1967 · Mary Ann
The Spy in the Green Hat
1967 · Miss Diketon
An American Dream
1966 · Cherry McMahon
Three on a Couch
1966 · Dr Elizabeth Acord
Harper
1966 · Susan Harper
Kid Rodelo
1966 · Nora
Bob Hope Christmas Show
1965 · Self
Wives and Lovers
1963 · Bertie Austin
Bye Bye Birdie
1963 · Rosie DeLeon
The Manchurian Candidate
1962 · Eugenie Rose Chaney
Pepe
1960 · Janet Leigh
Psycho
1960 · Marion Crane
Who Was That Lady?
1960 · Ann Wilson
People, Hopes, Medals
1960 · Self
The Perfect Furlough
1958 · Vicki Loren
The Vikings
1958 · Morgana, Executive Producer
Touch of Evil
1958 · Susan 'Susie' Vargas
Jet Pilot
1957 · Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon / Olga Orlief
Sweet Smell of Success
1957 · Executive Producer
Safari
1956 · Linda Latham
Nightmare
1956 · Janet
My Sister Eileen
1955 · Eileen Sherwood
Pete Kelly's Blues
1955 · Ivy Conrad
A Star Is Born World Premiere
1954 · Self
Rogue Cop
1954 · Karen Stephanson
The Black Shield of Falworth
1954 · Lady Anne of Mackworth
Living It Up
1954 · Wally Cook
Miss Glucksman Visits Hollywood
1954
Prince Valiant
1954 · Princess Aleta
Walking My Baby Back Home
1953 · Chris Hall
Houdini
1953 · Bess Houdini
Confidentially Connie
1953 · Connie Bedloe
The Naked Spur
1953 · Lina Patch
Fearless Fagan
1952 · Abby Ames
Scaramouche
1952 · Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon
Just This Once
1952 · Lucy Duncan
An Eye for an Eye
1952
Come Back Little Shiksa
1952
It's a Big Country
1951 · Rosa Szabo Xenophon
Two Tickets to Broadway
1951 · Nancy Peterson
Angels in the Outfield
1951 · Jennifer Paige
The Re-Inforcer
1951 · Mary Muck
Strictly Dishonorable
1951 · Isabelle Perry
Fairfax Avenue
1951
A Spot In The Shade
1951
Nightmare
1951
Watch On The Lime
1951
Holiday Affair
1949 · Connie Ennis
That Forsyte Woman
1949 · June Forsyte
The Red Danube
1949 · Olga Alexandrova aka Maria Buhlen
The Doctor and the Girl
1949 · Evelyn 'Taffy' Heldon
Little Women
1949 · Meg
Act of Violence
1949 · Edith Enley
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border
1949
Words and Music
1948 · Dorothy Feiner
Hills of Home
1948 · Margit Mitchell
If Winter Comes
1947 · Effie Bright
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
1947 · Lissy Anne MacBean
TV shows (29)
Family Law
1999 · Mary Sawyer
Scene by Scene
1997 · Self
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Secret Lives
1995
Touched by an Angel
1994 · Vera King
Intimate Portrait
1993 · Self (archive footage), Self
The Twilight Zone
1985 · Barbara LeMay
Murder, She Wrote
1984 · Cornelia Montaigne Harper
Matt Houston
1982 · Ramona
Tales of the Unexpected
1979 · Joan Stackpole
The Love Boat
1977 · Joan Philipps / Gail
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973 · Self
Ghost Story
1972 · Carol
Columbo
1971 · Grace Wheeler Willis
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968 · Self (uncredited), Self
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964 · Miss Diketon
The Hollywood Palace
1964 · Self - Host
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963 · Virginia Ballard
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · Self
Startime
1959 · Executive Producer
The Rosemary Clooney Show
1956 · Self
The Oscars
1953 · Self
This Is Your Life
1952 · Self
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950 · Self
The Bob Hope Show
1950 · Self
What's My Line?
1950 · Self
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948 · Self
Golden Globe Awards
1944 · Self