Jamie Curtis

Janet Leigh & Tony Curtis Jamie Curtis

Tony Curtis, born Bernard Schwartz on June 3rd, 1925, Manhattan, New York City, New York, U. S., was a film actor whose career spanned six decades, having been most popular in the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 movies, in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama. In his later years, Curtis made many TV appearances. Although he got his early film roles partly for his good looks, by the latter half of the 1950s he'd developed a strong screen presence, with the range to act in many dramatic and comedy roles. In his earliest roles he acted in a string of mediocre films, including swashbucklers, westerns, light comedies, sports films and a musical. However, by the time Curtis starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, "his first clear success," as stated critic David Thomson, his acting had greatly progressed. Curtis received his first serious recognition as a dramatic actor in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in The Defiant Ones (1958) then gave what was probably his best performance, with three interrelated roles in the comedy Some Like It Hot (1959). Janet Leigh, born Jeanette Helen Morrison in Merced, California, US, on July 6th, 1927 was an actress, singer, dancer & author, whose career lasted over 5 decades. Raised in Stockton, California by working-class parents, Jeanette was discovered when aged 18 by actress Norma Shearer, who helped her get a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Leigh featured in radio programs before getting into acting, making her movie debut in the drama The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947). She appeared in many motion pictures from a wide variety of genres, including the crime-drama Act of Violence (1948), the drama Little Women (1949), the comedy Angels in the Outfield (1951), the romance Scaramouche (1952) then western drama The Naked Spur (1953). Janet played dramatic roles during the late '50s, starring in Safari (1956) then Orson Welles's film noir Touch of Evil (1958), among others. Jeanette had her biggest hit as Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's classic psychological thriller Psycho (1960), winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress then being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. She continued to appear in movies intermittently, including Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Harper (1966), Night of the Lepus (1972) then Boardwalk