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Biography: Janet Leigh

The only child of a very young married couple, American actress Janet Leigh spent her childhood moving from town to town due to her father's changing jobs. A bright child who skipped several grades in school, Leigh took music and dancing lessons, making her public debut at age 10 as a baton twirler for a marching band. Her favorite times were the afternoons spent at the local movie house, which she referred to as her "babysitter." In 1946, Leigh's mother was working at a ski lodge where actress Norma Shearer was vacationing; impressed by a photograph of Leigh, Shearer arranged for the girl (whose prior acting experience consisted of a college play) to be signed with the MCA talent agency. One year later Leigh was at MGM, playing the ingenue in the 1947 film Romance of Rosy Ridge. The actress became one of the busiest contractees at the studio, building her following with solid performances in such films as Little Women (1949), The Doctor and the Girl (1950), and Scaramouche (1952) -- and catching the eye of RKO Radio's owner Howard Hughes, who hoped that her several RKO appearances (on loan from MGM) would lead to something substantial in private life. Instead, Leigh married Tony Curtis (her second husband), and the pair became the darlings of fan magazines and columnists, as well as occasional co-stars (Houdini [1953], The Vikings [1958], Who Was That Lady? [1960]). Even as this "perfect" Hollywood marriage deteriorated, Leigh's career prospered. Among her significant roles in the '60s were that of Frank Sinatra's enigmatic lady friend in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Paul Newman's ex-wife in Harper (1966), and, of course, the unfortunate embezzler in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), who met her demise in the nude (actually covered by a moleskin) and covered with blood (actually chocolate sauce, which photographed better) in the legendary "shower scene." In the '80s, Leigh curtailed her film and TV appearances, though her extended legacy as both the star/victim of Psycho and the mother of actress Jamie Lee Curtis still found her a notable place in the world of cinema even if her career was no longer "officially" active. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide less

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Wives and Lovers (1963)
Cast: Janet Leigh
Tags: Farce Comedy
Length: 103min
In this romantic comedy, Bill Austin (Van Johnson) is an unsuccessful writer who lives in a forlorn New York tenement while his wife Bertie (Janet Leigh) earns an income for both of them. Their lives change dramatically when Bill's first novel becomes...
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Kid Rodelo (1966)
Tags: Drama Western
Length: 91min
Based on a novel by Louis L'Amour, this western, filmed on location in Spain, chronicles the quest of an ex-con to locate a fortune in stolen gold and to get even with his treacherous former partners. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
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Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
Cast: Ann-Margret Dick Van Dyke
Tags: Teen Movie Comedy Musical Showbiz Comedy
Length: 112min
George Sidney's adaptation of the satiric Broadway musical smash by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse, and Lee Adams -- about an Elvis Presley-inspired rock star, who is drafted into the army and who creates a near-riot in a small Midwestern town when...
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The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Cast: Frank Sinatra
Tags: Paranoid Thriller Psychological Thriller Political Thriller Thriller
Length: 126min
An unusually tense and intelligent political hriller, The Manchurian Candidate was a film far ahead of its time. Its themes of thought control, political assassination, and multinational conspiracy were hardly common currency in 1962, and while its...
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Psycho (1960)
Cast: Alfred Hitchcock
Tags: Psychological Thriller Thriller
Length: 120min
In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was already famous as the screen's master of suspense (and perhaps the best-known film director in the world) when he released Psycho and forever changed the shape and tone of the screen hriller. From its first scene, in...
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Who Was That Lady? (1960)
Tags: Farce Comedy
Length: 115min
A screwball comedy that turns into political farce, this film was something of a throwback even in 1960. Real-life husband and wife Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh star as David and Ann Wilson. David is a university professor who is kissing one of his...
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Touch of Evil (1958)
Cast: Orson Welles
Tags: Mystery Police Detective Film Psychological Thriller Film Noir Crime
Length: 108min
This baroque nightmare of a south-of-the-border mystery is considered to be one of the great movies of Orson Welles, who both directed and starred in it. On honeymoon with his new bride, Susan (Janet Leigh), Mexican-born policeman Mike Vargas...
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The Perfect Furlough (1958)
Cast: Tony Curtis
Tags: Romantic Comedy Comedy Romance
Length: 93min
In this frothy omantic comedy, a hard-working female Army shrink (Janet Leigh) devises the "perfect furlough" for battle weary men and convinces the brass to let her try it on selected men stationed at her base. According to her plan, selected men...
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The Vikings (1958)
Tags: Historical Film Adventure Action Costume Adventure
Length: 116min
Inspired by the novel The Viking by Edison Marshall, The Vikings was lensed on location in Norway under extremely adverse weather conditions. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that star Kirk Douglas and director Richard Fleischer never quite found...
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Jet Pilot (1957)
Cast: Josef von Sternberg John Wayne
Tags: Romance Thriller Psychological Thriller Romantic Drama
Length: 112min
If Jet Pilot seems hopelessly out of date today, imagine how filmgoers in 1957 reacted when this relic from 1949 was taken off the shelf. Many, many years in the making due to the maniacal tinkering by producer Howard Hughes (who reportedly lost 4...
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Janet Leigh

Biography: Janet Leigh

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