Janet Leigh

Highest Rated: 100% Harper (1966)

Lowest Rated: 8% Night of the Lepus (1972)

Birthday: Jul 6, 1927

Birthplace: Merced, California, USA

Actress Janet Leigh's early film career found her playing wholesome ingénues in everything from musicals and Westerns to comedies and thrillers, which made excellent use of her generous smile and unflaggingly positive nature. But in 1960, Leigh's name - and terrifying screams - became synonymous with cinematic legend as Alfred Hitchcock's doomed heroine in the infamous stabbing shower scene from "Psycho." Despite her later roles, which were eventually superseded by turns as a mother, humanitarian and best-selling author, audiences would still forever remember those fateful 45 seconds of the dying Leigh, glimpsed in silhouette, her hands tearing vainly at the shower curtain as her blood spirals down the drain. Like the film itself, Leigh became an enduring part of the fabric of movie history.