Jeanette Helen Morrison was born on 6 July 1927 in Mercend California, the only child of Helen Lita Westergard and frederick Robert Morrison. She was discovered by actress Norma Shearer, who was visiting a ski resort where Janet's parents worked. She secured a contract with MGM and began her film career at age 19 when she appeared in her first film, The Romance of Rosy Ridge in 1947.

Janet worked regularly during the late 40s and 50s, most notably in Words and Music (1948) Little Women (1949), Angels in the Outfield (1951), Scaramouche (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), My Sister Eileen (1955), and Touch of Evil (1958). But, most fans will best remember Leigh's role in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). That part as Marion Crane resulted in her one and only Oscar nomination.

After Psycho, she appeared in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), and Harper (1966), among other films, but her big screen roles began to fall off after the 1960s. She lent her talents to a number of TV movies in the 1970s.

Janet married Tony Curtis in 1951, her third marriage. They were divorced in 1962, after producing two children, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis, both actresses. She died from cardiac arrest at age 77 on October 3, 2004, after suffering from vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, during the previous year.

Leigh was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California on May 14, 2004.

Image: Janet Leigh (middle) with her daughters Kelly (left) and Jamie Lee Curtis (right) at the National Film Society convention in 1979.