The Hindu : Entertainment / Cinema : 'Psycho' star Janet Leigh dead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 05, 2004

Entertainment

Entertainment - Cinema

'Psycho' star Janet Leigh dead

LOS ANGELES, OCT. 4. Janet Leigh, the wholesome beauty whose shocking murder in the classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho was credited with making generations of film fans think twice about stepping into a motel room shower, has died at her Beverly Hills home. She was 77.

The stunning blonde enjoyed a long and distinguished career, appearing in such films as the 1962 political thriller The Manchurian Candidate and in Orson Welles' 1958 film noir classic Touch of Evil.

But she gained lasting fame in Psycho as the embezzling office worker stabbed to death in the shower by cross-dressing madman Anthony Perkins. The role earned her an Oscar nomination as best supporting actress. Hitchcock compiled the shower sequence in 70-odd takes of two and three seconds each, for which Leigh Janet spent seven days in the shower.

Rumours circulated that she was nude, but she wore a flesh-coloured moleskin. Although tame by today's standards, the scene was shocking for the time for its brutality. Leigh wrote in her 1995 book Psycho: Behind the Scenes in the Classic Thriller that the filming was easy until the last 20 seconds when she had to express total horror as her character was being slashed to death.

She often said she had not been able to take a shower since the movie. ``It's not a hype, not something I thought would be good for publicity,'' she insisted. ``Honest to gosh, it is true.''

Dubbed Janet Leigh, she starred in 1947 at 19 in her first movie, The Romance of Rosy Ridge. Janet's first contract was for $50 a week. However, it rose to $150 week. She became one of the busiest stars, appearing in six movies in 1949.

— AP

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'Psycho' star Janet Leigh dead