Biography for Janet Leigh:
Janet Leigh as Kathy Williams &
Jamie Lee Curtis as Elizabeth Jolley
The Fog is an instant horror classic from the first scene- a salty, old sailor tells a group of young children the true story of a ghostly, wrecked ship. The scene was so simple yet so thrilling that the viewer is hooked for the rest of the film. The cast is great and the music sets the tone just as it did for Halloween. The best part of the film is that it made no attempt to explain everything away in a hokey horror sense (Why are the bodies returning to life?). Things happen simply because they happen. Much like Night of the Living Dead, the characters are not concerned with why they are in danger, but more concerned with getting out of danger. On a side note, John Carpenter has the best endings of any filmmaker on the market. Just as Halloween and The Thing both ended with a sense of foreboding and silent terror, The Fog ends with style and allows the viewer one final scare.
Biography for Janet Leigh:
Janet was an only child of a couple who often moved from town to town. Living in apartments, Janet was a bright child who skipped several grades and finished high school when she was 15. As a lonely child, she would spend much of her time at movie theaters. She was a student, studying music and psychology, at the University of the Pacific until she was "discovered" visiting her parents in Northern California. Her father was working the desk at a ski resort where her mother worked as a maid. Retired MGM actress Norma Shearer saw a picture of Janet on the front desk and asked if she could borrow it. This led to a screen test at MGM and a starring role in 'The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947)'. MGM was looking for a young naive country girl and Janet filled the bill perfectly. She would play the young ingenue in a number of films and work with the leading stars, including, Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Orson Welles and Judy Garland. Her career would include a number of successful movies including 'Little Women (1949)', Angels in the Outfield (1951), Scaramouche (1952), Houdini (1953), 'The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)' and many others. Janet would appear in many types of films, from comedies to westerns to musicals to dramas. Of her more than fifty movies, she would be remembered for the forty-five minutes that she was on the screen in the small budget movie 'Psycho'. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this 1960 thriller would include the shower scene that would become a film classic. Even though Janet is killed off early in the picture, she would be nominated for an Academy Award and receive a Golden Globe. Her next film would be 'The Manchurian Candidate (1962)' where she would star with Frank Sinatra. For the rest of the decade, her appearances in films would be rare, but she would work with Paul Newman in 'Harper (1966)'. In the seventies, she would appear on the small screen in a number of made for Television Movies.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trivia
Was 'discovered' by Norma Shearer from a photo on the desk of Janet's father.
In 1950's was known as a "Hollywood badgirl" along with Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood.
There were rumors that Howard Hughes (I), who owned RKO, was romantically interested in Janet, but she wed Tony Curtis.
Mother of Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis (I).
(1995) Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#99).
Eloped at the age of 14 -- marriage was later annulled. Thus, Tony Curtis was her 3rd husband when she married him in her 20s.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal quotes
When asked if it was true that she doesn't take showers: "It's actually, honestly true. And not because of the shooting of it. It was the seeing of it. It never dawned on me how truly vulnerable we are. But that's what Hitchcock did. A shower. A bird. All these things that are absolutely ordinary, he made extraordinary."
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Millions of female moviegoers swore they'd never step into a shower again after seeing this pretty, curvaceous blond actress hacked to death in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). The performance earned Leigh an Oscar nomination, and it remains the career high point of a talented actress who survived the studio system to appear in some of the most noteworthy films of the 1950s and 1960s. She was initially signed to MGM after being spotted by Norma Shearer while still in her teens (debuting in 1947's The Romance of Rosy Ridge), but only a handful of her films there were memorable, notably Little Women (1949), the baseball fantasy Angels in the Outfield (1951), and the psycho-Western The Naked Spur (1953).
In 1951 Leigh married Universal contract player Tony Curtis, and they were celebrated as Hollywood's Perfect Young Couple, appearing together in Houdini (1953), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Perfect Furlough and The Vikings (both 1958). She played the luscious younger sib in the musical My Sister Eileen (1955), a Russian flier in the campy Jet Pilot (1957), a newlywed kidnapped by drug dealers in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958), and long-suffering girlfriends in two wildly different films, The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Bye Bye Birdie (1963, in which she performed an energetic dance routine). Leigh was more active on TV than in features from the late 1960s on, as an attractive, mature lead or in strong secondary roles. She costarred with daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in The Fog (1980). In 1984 she published an autobiography, "There Really Was a Hollywood" and her memoir of the filming of Psycho appeared in 1995.
AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001) (TV) .... Herself
Fate Totally Worse Than Death, A (2000)
Mary Pickford: A Life on Film (2000) .... Herself
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies (2000) (TV) .... Herself
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999) (TV) .... Herself
... aka Dial H Hitchcock: The Genius Behind the Showman (1999) (TV)
... aka Dial H for Hitchcock (1999) (TV) (Canada: English title)
Unmasking the Horror (1998) (V) .... Herself, Norma Crane
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) .... Norma Crane, Laurie's Secretary
... aka Halloween 7 (1998) (USA)
... aka Halloween: H20 (1998) (USA: promotional title)
... aka Halloween: H20 (20 Years Later) (1998) (USA: promotional title)
In My Sister's Shadow (1997) (TV) .... Kay Connor
Ei, Das (1993) (voice) .... Das Ei
... aka Janet Leigh ist das Ei (1993) (Germany)
Horror Hall of Fame, The (1990) (TV) .... Interviewee/Presenter
Salute to Jack Lemmon, A (1988) (TV) .... Herself
... aka 16th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to Jack Lemmon, The (1988) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Fantasy Film World of George Pal, The (1985) .... Herself
Hitchcock: il brividio del genio (1985) (TV)
... aka Thrill of Genius, The (1985) (TV)
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Marion Crane (segment "Psycho")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: English title: video title)
Fog, The (1980) .... Kathy Williams
... aka John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) (USA: complete title)
Boardwalk (1979) .... Florence Cohen
Mirror, Mirror (1979) (TV) .... Millie Gorman
Salute to Alfred Hitchcock, A (1979) (TV) .... Herself
... aka 7th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to Alfred Hitchcock, The (1979) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Telethon (1977) (TV) .... Elaine Cotten
Murder at the World Series (1977) (TV) .... Karen Weese
... aka Woman in Box 359, The (1977) (TV)
Circus of the Stars (1977) (TV)
Salute to Orson Welles, A (1975) (TV) .... Herself
... aka 3rd American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to Orson Welles (1975) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Columbo: Forgotten Lady (1975) (TV) .... Grace Wheeler Willis
Murdock's Gang (1973) (TV) .... Laura Talbot
Night of the Lepus (1972) .... Gerry Bennett
One Is a Lonely Number (1972) .... Gert Meredith
... aka Two Is a Happy Number (1972) (USA: changed title)
Deadly Dream (1971) (TV) .... Laurel Hanley
House on Greenapple Road, The (1970) (TV) .... Marian Ord
Hello Down There (1969) .... Vivian Miller
... aka Sub-A-Dub-Dub (1969) (USA: reissue title)
Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969) (TV) .... Sandra Latham
Monk, The (1969) (TV) .... Janice Barnes
Ad ogni costo (1968) .... Mary Ann
... aka Diamantes a gog� (1969) (Spain)
... aka Grand Slam (1968) (USA)
... aka Top Job (1968) (West Germany)
... aka Um jeden Preis (1968) (West Germany)
Spy in the Green Hat, The (1966) .... Miss Diketon
American Dream, An (1966) .... Cherry McMahon
... aka See You in Hell, Darling (1966) (UK)
Three on a Couch (1966) .... Dr. Elizabeth Acord
Harper (1966) .... Susan Harper
... aka Moving Target, The (1966) (UK)
Kid Rodelo (1965) .... Nora
Wives and Lovers (1963) .... Bertie Austin
Bye Bye Birdie (1963) .... Rosie DeLeon
Manchurian Candidate, The (1962) .... Rosie Chaney
Pepe (1960) .... Cameo appearance
Who Was That Lady? (1960) .... Ann Wilson
Psycho (1960) .... Marion Crane
Perfect Furlough, The (1958) .... Lieutenant Vicki Loren
... aka Strictly for Pleasure (1958) (UK)
Vikings, The (1958) .... Morgana
Touch of Evil (1958) .... Susan Vargas
Jet Pilot (1957) .... Lt. Anna Marladovna/Olga
Safari (1956) .... Linda Latham
Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) .... Ivy Conrad
My Sister Eileen (1955) .... Eileen Sherwood
Living It Up (1954) .... Wally Cook
Black Shield of Falworth, The (1954) .... Lady Anne
Rogue Cop (1954) .... Karen Stephanson
Prince Valiant (1954) .... Princess Aleta
Confidentially Connie (1953) .... Connie Bedloe
Houdini (1953) .... Bess Houdini
Naked Spur, The (1953) .... Lina Patch
Walking My Baby Back Home (1953) .... Chris Hall
Fearless Fagan (1952) .... Abby Ames
Just This Once (1952) .... Lucille Duncan
Scaramouche (1952) .... Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon
Angels in the Outfield (1951) .... Jennifer Paige
... aka Angels and the Pirates (1951) (UK)
Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) .... Nancy Peterson
It's a Big Country (1951) .... Rosa Szabo Xenophon
Strictly Dishonorable (1951) .... Isabelle Dempsey
Act of Violence (1949) .... Edith Enley
Doctor and the Girl, The (1949) .... Evelyn 'Taffy' Corday
Holiday Affair (1949) .... Connie Ennis
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border (1949)
Red Danube, The (1949) .... Maria Buhlen
That Forsyte Woman (1949) .... June Forsyte
... aka Forsyte Saga, The (1949) (UK)
Little Women (1949) .... Margaret 'Meg' March
Hills of Home (1948) .... Margit Mitchell
... aka Master of Lassie (1948) (UK)
Words and Music (1948) .... Dorothy Feiner Rodgers
If Winter Comes (1947) .... Effie Bright
Romance of Rosy Ridge, The (1947) .... Lissy Anne MacBean
Biography for Jamie Lee Curtis
Nickname
The Scream Queen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jamie Lee Curtis was born to legendary parents Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. She got her big break at acting in 1978 when she won the role of Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978). After that she became very famous for roles in movies like Trading Places (1983), Perfect (1985), and Fish Called Wanda, A (1988). She soon starred in one of the biggest action films ever, True Lies (1994) in which she won a Golden Globe for her performance. In 1998 she starred in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) in which she reprised her role that made her famous back in 1978.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trivia
During the 1980s she was engaged to Hollywood production designer J. Michael Riva, the grandson of screen legend Marlene Dietrich. Her godfather was MCA-Universal CEO Lew Wasserman.
Saw her [now] husband Christopher Guest on front of magazine and she gave her telephone number to his agent.
Adopted two children: Annie b.1987 and Thomas b.1996.
Daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh
She played the aerobic class instructor in Jermaine Jackson's "(The Closest Thing To) Perfect" music video.
Became Baroness, Lady Haden-Guest, when her husband inherited the Barony in 1996.
(1983) Dated english rocker Adam Ant for 9 months.
Sister of actress Kelly Curtis (I)
Graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall private school in 1976.
It was on her suggestion that Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) was made.
Her deleted scene from Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The (1984) is included on the MGM Special Edition DVD, 2001, as the "Alternate Opening".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal quotes
"I believe people are entitled to a private life. I'm not sure where it's written that because you're in the public eye you are required to expose your private business, with anybody. It is nobody's business, and it's interesting because obviously in today's marketplace people don't abide by that. There are no boundaries that people won't cross...We're in a bit of a "Wild West" thing with media, and, I think, it's just kind of like no holds barred - the Internet. You know, there are no criteria on the Internet...I've chosen a public life to express myself, not to tell what I do with my husband in bed, not to do, to talk about my parents and my family life. And I just think it's wrong, and obviously it's an insaitable appetite that people have for gossip and inuendo and things that are nobody's business. And there's a term that they use in this called "legitimate public concern." What is legitimate public concern? If an elected official has an illness, that's legitimate public concern because they're our president or elected official. We, we, we need to know that they're healthy because we want them to live a long life and protect, you know, the Constitution...but in the marketplace, in the world, I don't believe it's anybody's concern. And that's what I think." --comments made on The View, Sept. 19, 2000.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salary
Halloween II (1981) $100,000
Halloween (1978) $8,000
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: A consistently engaging performer, Curtis managed to escape typecasting in teen slasher movies to carve a reputation as a first-class comedienne. Neither as pretty nor as voluptuous as her mom, actress Janet Leigh, the attractive, intelligent Curtis has also shown considerable range and technical skill as a dramatic actress, particularly in some of her 1980s films. She first attracted attention in the cast of the TV sitcom "Operation Petticoat" (1977-78), based on the 1959 movie that starred her father, Tony Curtis, but she came to prominence in a string of low- and medium-budget horror films, beginning with John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) and followed by Prom Night, Terror Train, The Fog (all 1980), and Halloween II (1981). She showed promise in a more demanding role, that of doomed Playboy model Dorothy Stratten in the made-for-TV Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story (1981).
Curtis' "breakout" film, and first comedy success, was the Dan Aykroyd-Eddie Murphy starrer Trading Places (1983); her turn as a good-natured prostitute raised eyebrows and won her leading-lady status. Roles in the modest Love Letters (1983) and Grandview, U.S.A (1984) boosted her stock, although the box-office fizzle of Perfect (1985), in which she played an aerobics instructor to John Travolta's investigative reporter, was a temporary setback. A Man in Love (1987) gave Curtis a plum part as the wife of Peter Coyote thrown over for glamorous Greta Scacchi, but it was her starring role in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) that cemented her reputation as a gifted comic actress. She worked hard, to little avail, in the silly cop thriller Blue Steel (1990), and was positively ubiquitous in 1991, appearing in Queens Logic, Dreamland, My Girl and Criminals on the big screen, and costarring in the comedy series "Anything But Love" (1989-92). She also wrote a children's book. 1994 films include My Girl 2, Mother's Boys (as a psycho!), and True Lies. She is married to Christopher Guest.
Halloween: The Homecoming (2002) .... Laurie Strode
True Lies 2 (2002) .... Helen Tasker
Doin' the Splits (2001)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys (2001) (V) (voice) .... Queen Camilla
Boogeymen (2001) (V) (archive footage) .... Laurie Strode (Halloween)
AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001) (TV) .... Herself
Daddy and Them (2001)
Tailor of Panama, The (2001) .... Louisa Pendel
"Pigs Next Door" (2000) TV Series
Celebrity Profile: Jennifer Love Hewitt (2000) (TV) .... Herself
Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song (2000) (voice) .... Narrator
Drowning Mona (2000) .... Rona Mace
'Halloween' Unmasked 2000 (1999) (V) .... Herself
Virus: Ghost in the Machine (1999) (V) .... Herself
Virus (1999) .... Kit Foster
... aka Virus (1999) (France)
Unmasking the Horror (1998) (V) .... Herself/Laurie Strode
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) .... Laurie Strode/Keri Tate
... aka Halloween 7 (1998) (USA)
... aka Halloween: H20 (1998) (USA: promotional title)
... aka Halloween: H20 (20 Years Later) (1998) (USA: promotional title)
Nicholas' Gift (1998) (TV) .... Maggie Green
... aka Dono di Nicholas, Il (1998) (TV) (Italy)
Homegrown (1998) .... Sierra Kazan
Fierce Creatures (1997) .... Willa Weston
Ellen's Energy Adventure (1996) (uncredited) .... Dr. Judy Peterson
House Arrest (1996/I) .... Janet Beindorf
Heidi Chronicles, The (1995) (TV) .... Heidi Holland
67th Annual Academy Awards, The (1995) (TV) (uncredited) .... Presenter - Scientific and Techical Awards
My Girl 2 (1994) .... Shelly Sultenfuss
True Lies (1994) .... Helen Tasker
Mother's Boys (1993) .... Jude Madigan
Forever Young (1992) .... Claire Cooper
My Girl (1991) .... Shelly DeVoto
Queens Logic (1991) .... Grace
Blue Steel (1990) .... Megan Turner
"Anything But Love" (1989) TV Series .... Hannah Miller
Dominick and Eugene (1988) .... Jennifer Reston
... aka Nicky and Gino (1988)
Fish Called Wanda, A (1988) .... Wanda
Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987) .... Lynn Taylor
... aka Silent Voice (1987)
Un homme amoureux (1987) .... Susan Elliott
... aka Man in Love, A (1987) (USA)
... aka Uomo innamorato, Un (1987) (Italy)
Welcome Home (1986)
As Summers Die (1986) (TV) .... Whitsey Loftin
Annie Oakley (1985) (TV) .... Annie Oakley
... aka Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends: Annie Oakley (1985) (TV)
Perfect (1985) .... Jessie
Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) .... Michelle 'Mike' Cody
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Laurie Stroude (segment "Halloween I & II")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: English title: video title)
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The (1984) (deleted scene) .... Sandra Banzai
... aka Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, The (1984) (USA: short title)
Love Letters (1983/I) .... Anna Winter
... aka My Love Letters (1983)
... aka Passion Play (1983)
Trading Places (1983) .... Ophelia
"Callahan" (1982) TV Series .... Bartlett, Rachel
Coming Soon (1982) (V) .... Herself
Money on the Side (1982) (TV) .... Michelle Jamison
Road Games (1981) .... Pamela
Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story (1981) (TV) .... Dorothy Stratten
Halloween II (1981) .... Laurie Strode
... aka Halloween II: The Horror Continues (1981) (USA)
... aka Halloween II: The Nightmare Isn't Over! (1981) (USA: video box title)
Escape from New York (1981) (voice) .... Opening narration/Computer
... aka John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981) (USA: complete title)
She's in the Army Now (1981) (TV) .... Rita Jennings
Terror Train (1980) .... Alana Maxwell
... aka Monstre du train, Le (1980) (Canada: French title)
... aka Train of Terror (1980)
Prom Night (1980) .... Kim Hammond
Fog, The (1980) .... Elizabeth Solley
... aka John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) (USA: complete title)
Halloween (1978) .... Laurie Strode
... aka John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) (USA: complete title)
"Operation Petticoat" (1977) TV Series .... Lieut. Barbara Duran (1977-78)
Operation Petticoat (1977) (TV) .... Lieutenant Barbara Duran
... aka Life in the Pink (1977) (TV) (USA: reissue title)
Columbo: Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case, The (1977) (TV) .... Waitress
Other Jamie Lee Curtis pages on Women of Horror:
Halloween
Halloween II
Halloween H20
Halloween Resurrection
Psycho
