‘Psycho’ star Janet Leigh dies at 77

LOS ANGELES – Janet Leigh, whose notorious shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ shocked moviegoers in the 1960s and earned her an Oscar nomination, died on Sunday at her home in Beverly Hills.

She was 77. The actress — who had battled vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, for the past year — was surrounded by her husband, Robert Brandt, and her daughters Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis.Although Leigh established herself in the 50s with a steady string of costume dramas and romantic comedies, her appearance in ‘Psycho’ left moviegoers with an iconographic screen moment, which eclipsed her surrounding career.As the scheming secretary Marion Crane, she met her death just 45 minutes into the film at the hands of the knife-wielding Anthony Perkins.That Hitchcock would kill off his star in the first half of the movie was considered a daring gambit, and the brutally edited sequence earned ‘Psycho’ a reputation as the granddaddy of slasher movies.Jamie Lee Curtis continued what became a family tradition when she made her film debut as another slasher-pursued heroine in 1978’s ‘Halloween’.And mother and daughter then teamed for the 1980 thriller ‘The Fog’ and 1998’s ‘Halloween H20:20 Years Later’.Leigh was born Jeanette Helen Morrison on July 6 1927, in Merced, California.A music major, she performed for the patients of the state mental hospital, which inspired her to a lifetime of charitable activities in social projects.She made her motion picture debut, starring opposite Van Johnson in the love story ‘The Romance of Rosy Ridge’, set in the post-Civil War era.She acknowledged that nearly all of the subsequent roles offered her were variations on the Rosy Ridge character of a vulnerable and innocent beauty.Leigh’s second movie, ‘If Winter Comes’, starred Walter Pidgeon and Deborah Kerr.She followed with such high-profile fare as ‘Words and Music’, with Mickey Rooney and July Garland; ‘Act of Violence’, with Robert Ryan; ‘Little Women’, with Elizabeth Taylor; and ‘That Forsyte Woman’, with Greer Garson.’Psycho’ was bracketed by two other classic movies:In 1958, she appeared as Charlton Heston’s wife in the moody ‘Touch of Evil’, and in 1962 she played a woman who encounters Frank Sinatra in the original version of ‘The Manchurian Candidate’.Although she had two brief marriages in the ’40s, her marriage to fellow star Tony Curtis in 1951 launched the couple into a whirlwind of attention, celebrated as they were as Hollywood’s Perfect Couple.They established a family together before divorcing in 1962.”Tony and I had a wonderful time together; it was an exciting, glamorous period in Hollywood,” Leigh said in an interview.”A lot of great things happened, most of all two beautiful children.”But it was Leigh’s 1964 marriage to businessman Brandt that would prove the more long-lasting.Throughout her adult life, Leigh was very active in a number of charitable causes, many involving mental health.Her volunteer civic efforts won widespread admiration, including the respect of President Johnson, who at one time offered her the ambassadorship to Finland, a post she turned down to be with her family.For her charitable activities, she received the Special Achievement Award from the Exceptional Children’s Foundation in 1976 for her work with SHARE on behalf of the mentally handicapped.- Nampa-ReutersThe actress — who had battled vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, for the past year — was surrounded by her husband, Robert Brandt, and her daughters Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis.Although Leigh established herself in the 50s with a steady string of costume dramas and romantic comedies, her appearance in ‘Psycho’ left moviegoers with an iconographic screen moment, which eclipsed her surrounding career.As the scheming secretary Marion Crane, she met her death just 45 minutes into the film at the hands of the knife-wielding Anthony Perkins.That Hitchcock would kill off his star in the first half of the movie was considered a daring gambit, and the brutally edited sequence earned ‘Psycho’ a reputation as the granddaddy of slasher movies.Jamie Lee Curtis continued what became a family tradition when she made her film debut as another slasher-pursued heroine in 1978’s ‘Halloween’.And mother and daughter then teamed for the 1980 thriller ‘The Fog’ and 1998’s ‘Halloween H20:20 Years Later’.Leigh was born Jeanette Helen Morrison on July 6 1927, in Merced, California.A music major, she performed for the patients of the state mental hospital, which inspired her to a lifetime of charitable activities in social projects.She made her motion picture debut, starring opposite Van Johnson in the love story ‘The Romance of Rosy Ridge’, set in the post-Civil War era.She acknowledged that nearly all of the subsequent roles offered her were variations on the Rosy Ridge character of a vulnerable and innocent beauty.Leigh’s second movie, ‘If Winter Comes’, starred Walter Pidgeon and Deborah Kerr.She followed with such high-profile fare as ‘Words and Music’, with Mickey Rooney and July Garland; ‘Act of Violence’, with Robert Ryan; ‘Little Women’, with Elizabeth Taylor; and ‘That Forsyte Woman’, with Greer Garson.’Psycho’ was bracketed by two other classic movies:In 1958, she appeared as Charlton Heston’s wife in the moody ‘Touch of Evil’, and in 1962 she played a woman who encounters Frank Sinatra in the original version of ‘The Manchurian Candidate’.Although she had two brief marriages in the ’40s, her marriage to fellow star Tony Curtis in 1951 launched the couple into a whirlwind of attention, celebrated as they were as Hollywood’s Perfect Couple.They established a family together before divorcing in 1962.”Tony and I had a wonderful time together; it was an exciting, glamorous period in Hollywood,” Leigh said in an interview.”A lot of great things happened, most of all two beautiful children.”But it was Leigh’s 1964 marriage to businessman Brandt that would prove the more long-lasting.Throughout her adult life, Leigh was very active in a number of charitable causes, many involving mental health.Her volunteer civic efforts won widespread admiration, including the respect of President Johnson, who at one time offered her the ambassadorship to Finland, a post she turned down to be with her family.For her charitable activities, she received the Special Achievement Award from the Exceptional Children’s Foundation in 1976 for her work with SHARE on behalf of the mentally handicapped.- Nampa-Reuters

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