Janet Leigh

Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, businesswoman and author. Leigh was established as one of the earliest scream queens for starring in horror films, and is also known for starring in dramatic productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). She amassed several screen and stage credits over five decades, and received accolades such as a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Academy Award.

Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, Leigh was discovered at 18 by actress Norma Shearer, who helped her secure a contract with MGM. She appeared in films such as the drama The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947), the crime drama Act of Violence (1948), the adaptation of Little Women (1949), the comedy Angels in the Outfield (1951), the swashbuckler romance Scaramouche (1952), the Western drama The Naked Spur (1953). She had two marriages in the 1940s before marrying actor Tony Curtis in 1951.

After leaving MGM in 1954, Leigh signed with Universal and Columbia Pictures, starring in films such as the adventure feature Safari (1956) and Orson Welles' film noir Touch of Evil (1958). She achieved her biggest success playing Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's horror film Psycho (1960), winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In her most enduring role, Leigh was established as a scream queen and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that same year. Her performance in the pivotal shower scene has become one of the best-known in all of cinema.

In 1962, Leigh and Curtis divorced, and she married Robert Brandt. She then starred in the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1962), the musical Bye Bye Birdie (1963), and the thriller Harper (1966) before scaling back her career. She made her Broadway debut in a production of Murder Among Friends (1975) and appeared in the horror film Night of the Lepus (1972) and the thriller Boardwalk (1979). She later starred with her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, in the horror films The Fog (1980) and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998).

Outside of acting, Leigh co-founded Curtleigh Productions with Curtis, who produced a handful of successful films between 1955 and 1962. She wrote four books between 1984 and 2002, two of which were novels. On October 3, 2004, she died at the age of 77 of vasculitis.

Early life and education

Jeanette Helen Morrison was born on July 6, 1927, in Merced, California, the child of Helen Lita (née Westergaard) and Frederick Robert Morrison. Her maternal grandparents were immigrants from Denmark, and her father had Scots-Irish and German ancestry. Shortly after Leigh's birth, the family relocated to Stockton where she spent her early life. She was brought up in poverty as her father struggled to support the family with his factory employment, and he took various additional jobs after the Great Depression.

Leigh was raised Presbyterian and sang in the local church choir throughout her childhood. In 1941 when her paternal grandfather became terminally ill, the family relocated to Merced, moving into her grandparents' home. She attended Weber Grammar School in Stockton and later Stockton High School. Leigh excelled in academics and graduated from high school at age sixteen.

After a tenure at Stockton College (San Joaquin Delta College), Leigh enrolled at the College of the Pacific (University of the Pacific) in September 1943, where she majored in music and psychology. During the college years, she joined the Alpha Theta Tau sorority and also sang with the college's a cappella choir. She also re-enrolled in night classes at the University of Southern California in early 1947. In order to help support her family, she spent Christmas and summer vacations working at retail shops and dime stores, as well as working at the college's information desk during the semesters.

Career

1940–1947: Early years and discovery by MGM

In February 1946, actress Norma Shearer was vacationing at Sugar Bowl, a ski resort in the Sierra Nevada mountains where Leigh's parents were working at the time. In the resort lobby, Shearer noticed a photograph of Leigh taken by her father over the Christmas holiday, which he had printed and placed in a photo album available for guests to browse.

Upon returning to Los Angeles, Shearer showed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) talent agent Lew Wasserman the photograph of the then 18-year-old Leigh (Shearer's late husband Irving Thalberg had been head of production at MGM). She would later recall that "that smile made it the most fascinating face I had seen in years. I felt I had to show that face to somebody at the studio." Through her association with MGM, Shearer was able to facilitate screen tests for Leigh with Selena Royle, after which Wasserman negotiated a contract for her, despite her having no acting experience. Leigh dropped out of college that year and was soon placed under the tutelage of drama coach Lillian Burns.

Prior to beginning her film career, Leigh was a guest star on the radio drama anthology The Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players. Her initial appearance on radio at age 19 was for the program's production "All Through the House," a Christmas special that aired on December 24, 1946. She made her film debut in the big-budget Civil War film The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947) as the romantic interest of box-office star Van Johnson's character. She got the role when performing Phyllis Thaxter's long speech in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo for the head of the studio talent department. During the film shoot, Leigh's name was first changed to "Jeanette Reames", then to "Janet Leigh", and finally back to her birth name "Jeanette Morrison", as the studio felt "Janet Leigh" might cause confusion with actress Vivien Leigh. However, Johnson did not like the name and it was ultimately changed back to "Janet Leigh" (pronounced "Lee").

1948–1952: Breakthrough and film success

Immediately after the release of The Romance of Rosy Ridge, Leigh was cast with Walter Pidgeon, Deborah Kerr, and Angela Lansbury in the drama If Winter Comes (1947), playing a young pregnant woman in an English village. By early 1948, Leigh was occupied with the shooting of the Lassie film Hills of Home (1948), her third feature and the first in which she received star billing. She played the young wife of composer Richard Rodgers in MGM's all-star musical, Words and Music (1948). In late 1948, she was hailed the "No. 1 glamour girl" of Hollywood, even though she was known for her polite, generous, and down-to-earth persona.

Leigh began 1949 with the thriller Act of Violence (1949) opposite Van Heflin and Robert Ryan, directed by Fred Zinnemann. Though a financial failure, it was well received by critics. She also had a significant hit with MGM's version of Little Women, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott, in which she portrayed Meg March, alongside June Allyson and Elizabeth Taylor. The film was also generally praised by critics. Then Leigh appeared as a nun in the anti-communist drama The Red Danube, which earned her critical acclaim, followed by a role as Glenn Ford's love interest in The Doctor and the Girl. Other credits from 1949 include the role of June Forsyte in That Forsyte Woman (1949), opposite Greer Garson and Errol Flynn, and as Robert Mitchum's leading co-star in the RKO-produced Holiday Affair (1949).

At MGM she appeared in Strictly Dishonorable (1951), a comedy with Ezio Pinza, based on a play by Preston Sturges. The film received mild critical acclaim. Leigh then appeared in the baseball-themed fantasy farce Angels in the Outfield (1951), which was a commercial hit. The same year, RKO borrowed Leigh to appear in the musical Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), which was a box-office success. She was one of many stars in the anthology film It's a Big Country: An American Anthology (1952) and appeared in a romantic comedy with Peter Lawford, Just This Once (1952). Leigh had another significant commercial success with the swashbuckler Scaramouche (1952), in which she starred as Aline de Gavrillac opposite Stewart Granger and Eleanor Parker. Next, she received top-billing in the critically acclaimed comedy Fearless Fagan (1952), about a clown drafted into the military.