There are certain movie moments that become so deeply embedded in popular culture that it's almost impossible to separate the actor from the scene. For Janet Leigh, that moment came in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho, when her character, Marion Crane, stepped into a shower at the Bates Motel and became the victim of one of cinema's most shocking murders.
When I interviewed Leigh in 1984, 24 years had passed since Psycho first terrified audiences, yet the film remained an inescapable part of her life. What struck me, though, was how warmly she embraced that association, despite some genuinely disturbing experiences that followed the movie's release.
At the time, Leigh was 57 and promoting her autobiography, There Really Was a Hollywood. She had a great deal on her plate, including preparations for a reunion with Dick Van Dyke, Bobby Rydell and Ann-Margret to perform numbers from their 1963 musical Bye Bye Birdie at the American Cinema Awards Foundation.
She admitted to feeling overwhelmed by everything she was juggling, including her health. When she began a thought with "When I got old," I suggested "Older" as an alternative. She smiled, accepted the correction and continued.
(courtesy the Everett Collection)
JANET LEIGH: "I thought life was going to be sitting on a chaise lounge, popping bonbons, and it just doesn’t work that way. Everyone says, ‘You know, as you get older, things get easier. You don’t do as much.’ For some reason, I’m doing more than I ever did."
The reunion rehearsals were adding to her workload, but she considered them worthwhile.
JANET LEIGH: "It’s important to me, because this business has been great to me and I love it."
That affection for the entertainment industry was evident throughout our conversation, particularly when the subject turned to Psycho. Although her career had encompassed everything from The Romance of Rosy Ridge and Scaramouche to Touch of Evil and The Manchurian Candidate, Leigh understood that Marion Crane would always occupy a special place in movie history.
JANET LEIGH: "If an actor can be remembered for one role, then they’re very fortunate."
Why Marion Crane's Death Changed Everything
One of the most remarkable aspects of Psycho is the way Hitchcock encourages audiences to believe they're following Marion Crane's story, only to eliminate her unexpectedly. Having stolen $40,000 from her employer, Marion checks into the Bates Motel during a rainstorm, meets its seemingly mild-mannered manager, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), and decides to return home and make amends for her crime. She never gets the opportunity. For Leigh, the power of the sequence came not simply from the violence, but from the emotional journey that preceded it.
(courtesy the Everett Collection)
JANET LEIGH: "Here’s a woman who had come to terms with what she had done. What I thought about was the inevitability of comeuppance. She was a victim of the time, the situation, her passion and, yet, her morality. It was really a very unconventional role, if you think about it."
The shower itself carried symbolic importance.
JANET LEIGH: "She was taking the shower and it was like a cleansing. She was going to go back and face the music. And to have that kind of ending was so against what the audience wanted or expected."
"People have asked me why Hitchcock never used me again, and we talked about it, because he used Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren multiple times. But there was such a definitive impression about Marion that he said, ‘The whole picture of Psycho, everyone kept thinking Marion was going to come back. They could not believe that she was gone.’"
Hitchcock felt that audiences had formed such a strong identification between Leigh and Marion that casting her in another of his films would have been a mistake.
(courtesy the Everett Collection)
The actress herself had no such reservations about the character's fate. She'd read Robert Bloch's original novel before seeing the screenplay and recognized that Marion's disappearance didn't mean she would cease to be central to the film.
JANET LEIGH: "The rest of the picture was devoted to what happened to Marion. All you talked about or thought about the whole picture was Marion, because everyone kept thinking they were going to see her again. How could anyone argue with that kind of a part?"
Working With Alfred Hitchcock
Over the decades, Hitchcock has been the subject of countless stories about his directing methods and relationships with actors. Leigh's memories of making Psycho were overwhelmingly positive, particularly when it came to his meticulous preparation.
JANET LEIGH: "We shot that picture so easily, so quickly, because of Mr. Hitchcock’s preparation. The planning, the concept, the details — everything was done before. It was never a haphazard, ‘Well, let’s see what we do now.’ He gave me great respect, but it had to be within the framework of his concept, his camera. He already knew how the camera could make it exciting, how the camera could make it work."
That didn't mean Leigh was simply following instructions without contributing anything of her own.
(courtesy the Everett Collection)
JANET LEIGH: "So as an actress, you do what you have to do and bring to Marion all the things you want to bring to her. That’s why I put in the vulnerability, the passion or whatever, because I had my thoughts and he said, ‘Fine, great. Just don’t go beyond what I want.’ If I didn’t have a motivation to make a move when his camera had to move, I had to create or invent my own motivation. That, to me, is a compliment as an actress."
The Truth About the Famous Shower Scene
Naturally, I couldn't interview Janet Leigh about Psycho without asking about the shower sequence itself. By 1984, the scene had acquired its own mythology, particularly concerning whether Leigh had actually appeared nude or whether a body double had performed the sequence. She was happy to set the record straight.
JANET LEIGH: "At the time, there was still the ‘Hays Code,’ which was a censorship program. It was not possible to really show what you’ve got. The fact that I was in the opening scene in a half-slip and half-bra almost caused them to go crazy. So when the shower scene was done, I wore moleskin over my vital parts. And as much as you think you saw something, you never saw anything, because you could not show it back then. Now, I’ll tell you when they did use a nude model: when Norman goes into the bathroom at the end of all this and drags the body out wrapped in the shower curtain. That’s the only time I knew of a nude model."
She credited the editing and Bernard Herrmann's unforgettable music with creating the illusion that audiences had seen considerably more than was actually photographed.
Another persistent rumor involved the close-up of Marion's lifeless eye, with some suggesting that the shot had been accomplished using a still photograph. That particular suggestion brought out Leigh's wonderfully spirited side.
(courtesy the Everett Collection)
JANET LEIGH: "That is not true. About three weeks before we shot it, Mr. Hitchcock and I went off to the optometrists. He wanted me to put in those lenses that would give me a scary look. At the time — remember, we’re talking late 1959/early 1960 — for me to wear those lenses would’ve taken six weeks for my eyes to get used to them. And if I didn’t, it could have damaged my eyes."
Hitchcock abandoned the idea of contact lenses and asked Leigh to achieve the effect herself.
JANET LEIGH: "So I held that look. It’s not a photograph, goddamnit!"
She smiled before acknowledging that maintaining the unblinking stare hadn't been easy.
The Frightening Aftermath of 'Psycho'
For all her affection for the film, Psycho left Leigh with some very real fears. The most famous was her aversion to showers, something she discussed without the humor that accompanied many of her other recollections.
JANET LEIGH: "I stopped taking showers and I only take baths. And when I’m someplace where I can only take a bath, I make sure the doors and windows of the house are locked. I also leave the bathroom door open and shower curtain open. I’m always facing the door, watching, no matter where the shower head is."
(courtesy the Everett Collection)
Even more troubling were the letters she received from people who apparently had difficulty distinguishing the actress from the character she portrayed.
JANET LEIGH: "There were people who were disturbed and who took Psycho as a way to vent their unfortunate demons, and I really got a lot of letters where they told me that they were going to do the same thing to me that Norman Bates did to Marion Crane. I don’t get as many now as I did in the beginning, but I have to say, it was pretty serious. The FBI had to come in. Luckily nothing ever happened."
Why Janet Leigh Never Regretted Making 'Psycho'
Leigh received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Psycho. Although she didn't win, what disappointed her more was Hitchcock's failure to receive the Best Director Oscar. Her appreciation for the filmmaker was deeply personal.
JANET LEIGH: "We’re talking about a man who gave so much to our industry, and to me personally. He gave me the opportunity to be a part of something that has become a classic, and it provided me acceptance as an actress. I feel incredibly honored to have been a part of it."
Janet Leigh died on October 3, 2004, two decades after our conversation. Looking back on that interview, I remember an actress who could speak candidly about the unsettling consequences of her most famous role while remaining genuinely grateful for the opportunity to have played it.
Near the end of our discussion, I asked whether the fear of showers, the threatening letters and the fact that Psycho would forever define a significant part of her career had ever made her regret accepting the role. Her response was immediate.
JANET LEIGH: "I wouldn’t have missed it for anything."