The Truth About Her INSPIRING LIFE
THE SCREEN ICON’S DAUGHTERS RECALL A MOTHER WHO PRIZED HARD WORK, FAMILY AND COURAGE
Psycho star Janet Leigh felt real heartpounding terror the first time she watched the movie’s infamous shower scene with director Alfred Hitchcock. “I was just stunned,” she recalled. “It was like you could actually feel the thrusts of the knife. Like it was going through me. It was very, very emotional.”
Poor Marion Crane met a tragic end at the Bates Motel — but the actress who played her was never anyone’s victim. Despite growing up poor, Janet was already on the way to making a better life for herself when Hollywood came calling. She would go on to star in more than 60 films, including other classics like
The Manchurian Candidate. “Her face was undeniably beautiful,” says daughter Jamie Lee Curtis, 61. “She was intoxicating.”
In addition to beauty, Janet possessed intelligence and drive, which helped make her one of the hottest stars of the 1950s — but her many blessings couldn’t protect her from pain. In 1962, her highprofile marriage to actor Tony Curtis ended in a betrayal. Rather than vilify him, Janet held her head high and found a way to forgive. “[She taught me] to be grateful for the life and gifts that God has given me,” daughter Kelly Curtis, 63, tells Closer. “That compassion, self-reliance, courage and humility are the greatest human qualities to learn and live.”
BIG DREAMS
The only child of a California working-class couple, Janet, who was born Jeanette Morrison, excelled in her studies and graduated from high school at 16. She was doing odd jobs and taking college courses when actress Norma Shearer spotted her photo at a ski lodge where her parents worked. “She brought it back to Hollywood with her,” said Janet. “They sent for me, I went to MGM and signed a contract that day.”
She became a star in 1947’s The
Romance of Rosy Ridge, but success came at a price. “Mom and Dad grew more and more apart, and more was lived through me, especially by my mother,” Janet said. “It was heavy on me.”
Her life changed again in 1950, when she met aspiring actor Tony Curtis at a party. It was love at first sight. “Her face was exquisite,” he recalled. “It just devastated me to