Janet Leigh collection, 1947-2004

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Summary

Creators:
Leigh, Janet
Abstract:
The majority of the collection is material that decorated Leigh's home. Including: photographs, movie posters, correspondence, advertisements and magazine covers, and recognitions and awards.
Extent:
14.5 linear foot
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

Janet Leigh collection. MSS 320. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library.

Background

Scope and content:

The majority of the collection are materials that decorated Leigh's home. Following her death in 2004, her heirs donated her materials to the University of the Pacific. Her Golden Globe award and items from the collection are on exhibit in the Holt-Atherton reading room. The remainder of her personal papers were donated by her heirs in 2013.

The Janet Leigh Collection consists of four series: photographs, movie posters, correspondence, advertisements and magazine covers, and recognitions and awards.

Biographical / historical:

Jeanette Helen Morrison was born in Merced, California on July 6, 1927 and died Janet Leigh Brandt in Los Angeles on October 3, 2004. She started at the College of the Pacific in September of 1943 and studied music and psychology (music therapy), joined Alpha Theta Tau, and was involved in student government. She married a fellow student, Stanley Reames, in the fall of 1945. The Reameses left Pacific in the spring semester of 1946 and moved to Los Angeles - the same year that actress Norma Shearer discovered Jeanette. She soon signed a contract with MGM, changed her name to Janet Leigh, and debuted in The Romance of Rosy Ridge. She later married Tony Curtis (1951-1962) and Robert Brandt (1962-2004).

Leigh is most famous for the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. She was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress and won the Golden Globe Award for best supporting actress in 1960. She also appears in dozens of other films including Touch of Evil, Manchurian Candidate, and Bye Bye Birdie.

Her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, attended the University of the Pacific briefly (fall semester 1976 and winter session 1977) before her film career took off.

Throughout the years Leigh focused her energy on helping numerous charitable causes, including SHARE, Inc. (women who raise funds for the "developmentally disabled, abused and neglected children as well as medical research for all forms of developmental disabilities") and the Motion Picture and Television Fund (assists those in the industry with limited means). Leigh received an honorary degree from the University of the Pacific in May of 2004.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection open for research.

Terms of access:

Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

Janet Leigh collection. MSS 320. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library.

Location of this collection:
University of the Pacific, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University Library
Stockton, CA 95211, US
Contact:
(209) 946-2404
Website