Was Janet Leigh ever a star? Maybe not. Off the top of my head I can't think of a movie which was a Janet Leigh vehicle, where she drove the action in the way of say Sandra Dee or Doris Day. But she was definitely a leading lady - very pretty and likeable, capable of giving a good performance when required... just look at her work in Psycho, which is terrific: the naked desperation, the anxiousness.
For over a decade Leigh could be counted on to prop up handsome leading men, notably Tony Curtis who was her husband off screen, a romance which in all honesty made her a bigger name than she otherwise would have been. But she was also a hard worker and seems like a good person - even though this is a rose coloured glasses view of her life I've never heard a bad word about her.
Leigh was very lucky in many respects. Her path to stardom has to be one of the easiest in history: her photo was up on the wall of her parent's lodge when spotted by Norma Shearer, who recommended her to MGM. She was cast in a leading role in her first movie, and that was it: from then on was never out of work, even if she had to learn acting on the job. Her peaches and cream image (doe eyes, big boobs) fitted in perfectly with MGM and the 50s, as did her romance with Curtis. Her image was a good girl who was up for a bit of nooky - she had little trouble segueing into more sexually explicit roles as her career went on.
Leigh's life had tragedy and incident - she eloped at 14 (saucy minx), married again before becoming a star, her father went broke and killed himself the year Curtis left her. (She was shooting The Manchurian Candidate at the time). She found happiness with a fourth marriage, had a great relationship with her kids, put her family before her career (she turned down the lead in The Pink Panther, something I didn't know), but kept busy in TV and stage shows for as long as she wanted.
This is a bright, fun doco which packs a decent amount in for a short running time - talks with Leigh, her two daughters, Chuck Heston. No Tony Curtis, which is a shame, but some great home movie footage.
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