Janet Leigh
Known for: Acting
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.
Filmography
Series
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
Series
Columbo
Grace Wheeler Willis
1971
Series
What's My Line?
Self
1950
Series
The Love Boat
Joan Philipps / Gail
1977
Series
Murder, She Wrote
Cornelia Montaigne Harper
1984
Series
Golden Globe Awards
Self
1944
Series
Touched by an Angel
Vera King
1994
Series
Intimate Portrait
Self (archive footage)
1993
Series
Intimate Portrait
Self
1993
Series
The Twilight Zone
Barbara LeMay
1985
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Virginia Ballard
1963
Series
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
Series
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
1950
Series
Tales of the Unexpected
Joan Stackpole
1979
Series
The Bob Hope Show
Self
1950
Series
Family Law
Mary Sawyer
1999
Series
Matt Houston
Ramona
1982
Series
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Self (uncredited)
1968
Series
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Self
1968
Film
Psycho
Marion Crane
1960
Series
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Miss Diketon
1964
Series
The Oscars
Self
1953
Series
This Is Your Life
Self
1952
Series
Ghost Story
Carol
1972
Film
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Norma
1998
Series
The Hollywood Palace
Self - Host
1964
Secret Lives
1995
Series
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self
1973
Film
The Fog
Kathy Williams
1980
Film
Psycho II
Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
Film
Touch of Evil
Susan 'Susie' Vargas
1958
Film
Psycho III
Marion Crane (archive footage) (uncredited)
1986
The Rosemary Clooney Show
Self
1956
Series
Scene by Scene
Self
1997
Film
Little Women
Meg
1949
Film
The Manchurian Candidate
Eugenie Rose Chaney
1962
Film
The Vikings
Morgana
1958
Film
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
Self (archive footage)
2025
Series
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Film
Harper
Susan Harper
1966
Film
Scaramouche
Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon
1952
Film
Bye Bye Birdie
Rosie DeLeon
1963
Film
The Naked Spur
Lina Patch
1953
Film
Angels in the Outfield
Jennifer Paige
1951
Series
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Film
Night of the Lepus
Gerry Bennett
1972
Film
Prince Valiant
Princess Aleta
1954
Film
The Perfect Furlough
Vicki Loren
1958
Film
The Black Shield of Falworth
Lady Anne of Mackworth
1954
Film
Living It Up
Wally Cook
1954
Film
Three on a Couch
Dr Elizabeth Acord
1966
Film
Who Was That Lady?
Ann Wilson
1960
Film
The Red Danube
Olga Alexandrova aka Maria Buhlen
1949
Film
Bad Girls from Valley High
Mrs. Witt
2005
Film
Jet Pilot
Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon / Olga Orlief
1957
Film
My Sister Eileen
Eileen Sherwood
1955
Film
Pete Kelly's Blues
Ivy Conrad
1955
Film
Act of Violence
Edith Enley
1949
Film
Houdini
Bess Houdini
1953
Film
Night of 100 Stars
Self
1982
Film
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
1985
Film
Hollywood: No Sex, Please!
2018
Film
Holiday Affair
Connie Ennis
1949
Film
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special
Self
1999
Film
Rat Pack
Self (archive footage)
2022
Film
Words and Music
Dorothy Feiner
1948
Film
The Fabulous Allan Carr
Self (archive footage)
2017
Film
It's a Big Country
Rosa Szabo Xenophon
1951
Film
I Am Alfred Hitchcock
Self (archive footage)
2021
Film
The Spy in the Green Hat
Miss Diketon
1967
Film
An American Dream
Cherry McMahon
1966
Film
Walking My Baby Back Home
Chris Hall
1953
Film
House on Greenapple Road
Marian Ord
1970
Film
Jamie Lee Curtis: Hollywood Call of Freedom
Self (archive footage)
2022
Film
Murder at the World Series
Karen Weese
1977
Film
If Winter Comes
Effie Bright
1947
Film
Honeymoon with a Stranger
Sandra Latham
1969
Film
Pepe
Janet Leigh
1960
Film
That Forsyte Woman
June Forsyte
1949
Film
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
Lissy Anne MacBean
1947
Film
Pictures of Ghosts
Self (archive footage)
2023
Film
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius
Self
1999
Film
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
1972
Film
Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog'
Self
2002
Film
Hitchcock: Alfred the Great
Self
1994
Film
Hello Down There
Vivian Miller
1969
Film
The American Nightmare
Self
2000
Film
Two Tickets to Broadway
Nancy Peterson
1951
Film
Boardwalk
Florence Cohen
1979
Film
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
Film
One Is a Lonely Number
Gert Meredith
1972
Film
Grand Slam
Mary Ann
1967
Film
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal
Self
1986
Film
Confidentially Connie
Connie Bedloe
1953
Film
Mary Pickford: A Life on Film
Self
2000
Film
Rogue Cop
Karen Stephanson
1954
Film
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Self
1987
Film
The Monk
Janice Barnes
1969
Film
The Doctor and the Girl
Evelyn 'Taffy' Heldon
1949
Film
Inside the Dream Factory
Self
1995
Film
Wives and Lovers
Bertie Austin
1963
Film
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons
Self
1995
Film
The Making of 'Psycho'
Self
2005
Film
A Star Is Born World Premiere
Self
1954
Film
The Story of Lassie
Self
1994
100 Years of the Idiot: A Jerry Lewis Centenary
2026
Film
Hills of Home
Margit Mitchell
1948
Film
The Deadly Dream
Laurel Hanley
1971
Film
Just This Once
Lucy Duncan
1952
Film
In My Sister's Shadow
Kay Connor
1997
Film
Come Back Little Shiksa
1952
Jerry Lewis: The Last American Clown
Self - Interviewee
1996
Film
Miss Glucksman Visits Hollywood
1954
Film
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border
1949
Film
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
(archive footage)
2019
Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows
Self
1999
Film
Safari
Linda Latham
1956
Bob Hope Christmas Show
Self
1965
Film
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
1979
Film
Mirror, Mirror
Millie Gorman
1979
Film
The Re-Inforcer
Mary Muck
1951
Fairfax Avenue
1951
Film
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies
Self
2000
Film
The Making Of Psycho III
Marion Crane (archive footage)
1986
Film
Fearless Fagan
Abby Ames
1952
Rat Pack: A Conference of Cool
Self
1999
Film
Murdock's Gang
Laura Talbot
1973
Film
Telethon
Elaine Cotten
1977
A Spot In The Shade
1951
An Eye for an Eye
1952
Film
Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond
Herself
2000
Film
The Egg
The egg (voice) (archive footage)
1993
Watch On The Lime
1951
Film
People, Hopes, Medals
Self
1960
Film
Strictly Dishonorable
Isabelle Perry
1951
Film
Kid Rodelo
Nora
1966
Film
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage)
2012
Nightmare
1951
Nightmare
Janet
1956