Actress Janet Leigh Dies at 77
NEW YORK (AP) - Janet Leigh, the wholesome beauty who co-starred with James Stewart, John Wayne and Frank Sinatra in films of the 1940s to 1960s and achieved her most lasting fame as the victim of a shower slashing in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho,'' died Sunday at her Beverly Hills, Calif. home, the New York Daily News reported on its Web site Monday. She was 77.
The actress' daughters, Kelly Curtis and actress Jamie Lee Curtis were at their mother's side when she died, Jamie Lee Curtis' spokeswoman, Heidi Schaeffer, told the newspaper. Leigh had suffered in recent months from vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, the Daily News said.
Schaeffer did not immediately return calls before business hours Monday from The Associated Press. The Beverly Hills Police Department, the Los Angeles County coroner's office or Leigh's agent, John Frazier, could immediately confirm the death.
A stunning blonde beauty, Leigh enjoyed a long and distinguished career, appearing in such films as "The Manchurian Candidate'' in 1962 and in Orson Welles' 1958 film noir classic "Touch of Evil.''
But she gained her most lasting fame in "Psycho'' as the embezzling office worker who is stabbed to death in the shower by cross-dressing madman Anthony Perkins. The role earned her an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.
Leigh wrote in her 1995 book "Psycho: Behind the Scenes in the Classic Thriller'' that the filming was easy until the last 20 seconds when she had to express total horror as her character was being slashed to death.
She often said she hadn't been able to take a shower since the movie. "It's not a hype, not something I thought would be good for publicity,'' she insisted. "Honest to gosh, it's true.''
Her other films included "Act of Violence,'' "Little Women,'' "Holiday Affair,'' "Strictly Dishonorable,'' "The Naked Spur,'' "Living It Up,'' "Jet Pilot,'' "Bye Bye Birdie'' and "Safari.''
Leigh appeared with daughter Jamie Lee in the 1980 thriller "The Fog'' and made occasional television appearances in her later years. She had married Curtis' father, Tony Curtis, in 1951 when both stars were at the height of their fame. They divorced in 1962.
10/04/04 07:00
******
Comic Rodney Dangerfield dies in L.A. at age 82
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Rodney Dangerfield, the goggle-eyed comic famed for his self-deprecating one-liners and signature phrase "I can't get no respect," died Tuesday at age 82, his spokesman said.
Dangerfield, who became a pop culture sensation in middle age with a string of broad film comedies starting with "Caddyshack" in 1980, died at the UCLA Medical Center, where he had undergone heart valve replacement surgery on Aug. 25, spokesman Kevin Sasaki said.
Dangerfield, whose initial forays into show business ended in failure, restarted his career as a comedian in his 40s. He went on to become a national sensation in his own right and helped launch the careers of such comics as Jim Carrey and Jerry Seinfeld.
Dangerfield suffered a stroke following the surgery in August and "developed infectious and abdominal complications from which he did not recover," Sasaki said.
During the past week, the entertainer emerged from a coma he had slipped into sometime after the operation, according to his wife, Joan. "When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand, and smiled for the doctors," Joan Dangerfield said in a statement.
A native of New York's Long Island, Dangerfield had endured a series of health problems in recent years. Last spring, he underwent brain surgery.
A month later, Dangerfield greeted reporters at the hospital dressed in a sports shirt and Bermuda shorts and declared, "My brain is OK. I feel like a new man." Later, responding to a medical question, he answered, "Ask me about things I'm familiar with, like drugs or prostitution."
TWO STARTS AT SHOWBIZ
Born Jacob Cohen in Babylon, New York, in 1921, Dangerfield began writing jokes as a teenager, struggling as a comic and singing waiter in the "Borscht Belt" resorts of the Catskill Mountains under the name of Jack Roy in the 1940s.
Leaving show business to earn a living as a house painter and aluminum siding salesman, he returned to the comedy circuit about a decade later, this time as Rodney Dangerfield.
He eventually opened a New York nightclub and became a nationally recognized act with comedy albums and numerous TV appearances. Along the way he is credited with helping give a start to an impressive array of once-obscure talents who went on to become stars, among them Carrey, Seinfeld, Roseanne and the late Sam Kinison.
Moving easily from nightclubs to TV to commercials to film, Dangerfield remained popular well past the peak of his career in the 1980s, forever tugging at his tie and drawing laughs with his catch phrase "I can't get no respect."
Dangerfield made his film debut in the 1971 low-budget comedy "The Projectionist," playing the dual supporting roles of a tyrannical cinema manager and a serial villain, The Bat.
But his big-screen breakout came in a string of rowdy comedies in the 1980s -- "Caddyshack," "Easy Money" and "Back to School." His movie appearances generally have mirrored his stand-up comedy persona, with Dangerfield playing boisterous, casually ribald characters with a rapid-fire patter of one-liners.
Later film roles included the coach of a girl's soccer team in "Ladybugs" (1992), an abusive father in Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" (1994), a tabloid TV show reporter in "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997) and a wannabe opera star in "The 4th Tenor" (2002).
Reuters/VNU
10/05/04 20:50
The entertainment biz is poorer for having lost them. May they rest in peace.
SOURCE: http://channels.netscape.com/ns/celebrity/news.jsp?p=18
*
NEW YORK (AP) - Janet Leigh, the wholesome beauty who co-starred with James Stewart, John Wayne and Frank Sinatra in films of the 1940s to 1960s and achieved her most lasting fame as the victim of a shower slashing in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho,'' died Sunday at her Beverly Hills, Calif. home, the New York Daily News reported on its Web site Monday. She was 77.
The actress' daughters, Kelly Curtis and actress Jamie Lee Curtis were at their mother's side when she died, Jamie Lee Curtis' spokeswoman, Heidi Schaeffer, told the newspaper. Leigh had suffered in recent months from vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, the Daily News said.
Schaeffer did not immediately return calls before business hours Monday from The Associated Press. The Beverly Hills Police Department, the Los Angeles County coroner's office or Leigh's agent, John Frazier, could immediately confirm the death.
A stunning blonde beauty, Leigh enjoyed a long and distinguished career, appearing in such films as "The Manchurian Candidate'' in 1962 and in Orson Welles' 1958 film noir classic "Touch of Evil.''
But she gained her most lasting fame in "Psycho'' as the embezzling office worker who is stabbed to death in the shower by cross-dressing madman Anthony Perkins. The role earned her an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.
Leigh wrote in her 1995 book "Psycho: Behind the Scenes in the Classic Thriller'' that the filming was easy until the last 20 seconds when she had to express total horror as her character was being slashed to death.
She often said she hadn't been able to take a shower since the movie. "It's not a hype, not something I thought would be good for publicity,'' she insisted. "Honest to gosh, it's true.''
Her other films included "Act of Violence,'' "Little Women,'' "Holiday Affair,'' "Strictly Dishonorable,'' "The Naked Spur,'' "Living It Up,'' "Jet Pilot,'' "Bye Bye Birdie'' and "Safari.''
Leigh appeared with daughter Jamie Lee in the 1980 thriller "The Fog'' and made occasional television appearances in her later years. She had married Curtis' father, Tony Curtis, in 1951 when both stars were at the height of their fame. They divorced in 1962.
10/04/04 07:00
******
Comic Rodney Dangerfield dies in L.A. at age 82
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Rodney Dangerfield, the goggle-eyed comic famed for his self-deprecating one-liners and signature phrase "I can't get no respect," died Tuesday at age 82, his spokesman said.
Dangerfield, who became a pop culture sensation in middle age with a string of broad film comedies starting with "Caddyshack" in 1980, died at the UCLA Medical Center, where he had undergone heart valve replacement surgery on Aug. 25, spokesman Kevin Sasaki said.
Dangerfield, whose initial forays into show business ended in failure, restarted his career as a comedian in his 40s. He went on to become a national sensation in his own right and helped launch the careers of such comics as Jim Carrey and Jerry Seinfeld.
Dangerfield suffered a stroke following the surgery in August and "developed infectious and abdominal complications from which he did not recover," Sasaki said.
During the past week, the entertainer emerged from a coma he had slipped into sometime after the operation, according to his wife, Joan. "When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand, and smiled for the doctors," Joan Dangerfield said in a statement.
A native of New York's Long Island, Dangerfield had endured a series of health problems in recent years. Last spring, he underwent brain surgery.
A month later, Dangerfield greeted reporters at the hospital dressed in a sports shirt and Bermuda shorts and declared, "My brain is OK. I feel like a new man." Later, responding to a medical question, he answered, "Ask me about things I'm familiar with, like drugs or prostitution."
TWO STARTS AT SHOWBIZ
Born Jacob Cohen in Babylon, New York, in 1921, Dangerfield began writing jokes as a teenager, struggling as a comic and singing waiter in the "Borscht Belt" resorts of the Catskill Mountains under the name of Jack Roy in the 1940s.
Leaving show business to earn a living as a house painter and aluminum siding salesman, he returned to the comedy circuit about a decade later, this time as Rodney Dangerfield.
He eventually opened a New York nightclub and became a nationally recognized act with comedy albums and numerous TV appearances. Along the way he is credited with helping give a start to an impressive array of once-obscure talents who went on to become stars, among them Carrey, Seinfeld, Roseanne and the late Sam Kinison.
Moving easily from nightclubs to TV to commercials to film, Dangerfield remained popular well past the peak of his career in the 1980s, forever tugging at his tie and drawing laughs with his catch phrase "I can't get no respect."
Dangerfield made his film debut in the 1971 low-budget comedy "The Projectionist," playing the dual supporting roles of a tyrannical cinema manager and a serial villain, The Bat.
But his big-screen breakout came in a string of rowdy comedies in the 1980s -- "Caddyshack," "Easy Money" and "Back to School." His movie appearances generally have mirrored his stand-up comedy persona, with Dangerfield playing boisterous, casually ribald characters with a rapid-fire patter of one-liners.
Later film roles included the coach of a girl's soccer team in "Ladybugs" (1992), an abusive father in Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" (1994), a tabloid TV show reporter in "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997) and a wannabe opera star in "The 4th Tenor" (2002).
Reuters/VNU
10/05/04 20:50
The entertainment biz is poorer for having lost them. May they rest in peace.
SOURCE: http://channels.netscape.com/ns/celebrity/news.jsp?p=18
*