Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Biography / Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Related Material
Descriptive Summary
Title: Janet Leigh collection
Dates: 1947-2004
Collection number: MSS 320
Collector:
Leigh, Janet
Collection Size: 14.5 linear foot
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Dept. of
Special Collections
Stockton, California 95211
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.
Physical location: For current information on the location
of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
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.
Biography / Administrative History
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
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.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
University of the Pacific
Motion picture actors and actresses --
United States
Morrison, Jeanette Helen
Brandt, Janet Leigh
Reames, Jeanette
Related Material
"Leigh, Janet" and "Curtis, Jamie Lee" student folders in the University
Archives
Awards and posters at the Janet Leigh Pacific Theatre on the University
of the Pacific campus