ArtsEtc.

Hitchcock’s leading lady dead at 77

Janet Leigh, whose lucrative acting career garnered both popular and critical acclaim, died in her Beverly Hills home Oct. 3 after a year-long battle with vasculitis. She was 77 years old. Following 53 years in Hollywood, Leigh reportedly died at peace. Present at her death were fourth husband Robert Brandt and daughters Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis.

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Associated Press

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Janet Leigh, whose lucrative acting career garnered both popular and critical acclaim, died in her Beverly Hills home Oct. 3 after a yearlong battle with vasculitis, an inflammation of blood vessels. She was 77 years old. Following 53 years of toil in Hollywood, Leigh reportedly died at peace. Present at her death were fourth husband Robert Brandt and daughters Jamie Lee Curtis (“Freaky Friday”) and Kelly Curtis.

To the masses, Leigh is best known as director Alfred Hitchcock’s leading lady in “Psycho,” which could arguably be the best slasher movie of all time. Her character may have been nutty Norman Bates’ first victim, but the role secured her a place in Tinseltown for many decades.

At the time of her death, Leigh had performed in over 60 movies, including such critically acclaimed fare as “Little Women” (1949), “Angels in the Outfield” (1951), “My Sister Eileen” (1955), “Touch of Evil” (1968) and the 1962 version of the “Manchurian Candidate.” Her career purportedly began after actress Norma Shearer (“The Women”) saw a picture of Leigh and initiated an MGM screen test for the budding starlet. The rest, as they say, is movie history.

Throughout her successful career, Leigh transcended all film genres and worked alongside such icons as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Orson Welles and Errol Flynn, but ultimately her claim to fame was a single, bloody shower scene. Leigh gave respect to the career making role in a 1995 book entitled “Psycho: Behind the Scenes in the Classic Thriller.” She also paid homage to Hitchcock’s masterpiece in the 1998 gore fest “Halloween: H20,” starring daughter and former scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. For a career made famous by “Psycho’s” death and brutality, it is only fair that Hollywood icon Janet Leigh can finally rest in peace.