Before she saw her own name up in lights, it was Jamie Lee Curtis‘ parents who dazzled moviegoers. In an issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly ICONS, we revisited a relationship full of more twists and turns than any big budget epic.
Janet Leigh never expected to receive a phone call from Cary Grant. But when she heard the actor’s distinctive voice down the line asking her on a date, something niggled inside her.
Janet had just attended a ritzy RKO publicity party where she was introduced to Tony Curtis, a “devastatingly handsome man … with black unruly hair and large sensitive eyes”. Tony was reknowned for his Cary Grant impression and Janet was no fool. And so she played along with what she knew to be a ruse, twirling the phone cord around her finger while declining “Cary’s” request. She already had a date planned, she explained, with rising Hollywood heart-throb Tony Curtis.
It was a sign of the relationship to come – flirty, playful, sexy, a match made in Hollywood heaven.
“It just devastated me to look at this woman,” Tony sighed after first spotting Janet at the RKO party in 1950. “There was a sweetness about her that I found most appealing.” But it was not all fun and games, and that spark would soon burn both of them.
Who was Janet Leigh?
Janet Leigh was the blue-eyed, blonde-haired Hollywood starlet who was hitting the height of her fame.
“That smile made it the most fascinating face I had seen in years. I felt I had to show that face to somebody at the studio,” said actress Norma Shearer, who spotted an 18-year old Janet in a photo at a ski lodge where her parents worked, setting the young actress’ trajectory.
Janet was later signed to MGM and shone in films such as Little Women and That Forsyte Woman (both 1949). She was well-educated and admired, a true beauty who everyone knew had a gleaming future ahead of her.
Who was Tony Curtis?
Tony Curtis had a bigger hill to climb. With a thick Bronx accent, he was given smaller parts and frequently made fun of due to his struggles with diction. But no one could quite get past the boy with tousled black hair and bright blue eyes, and he was signed with Universal.
Tony was marketed as Hollywood’s next “big thing”, a bevy of beautiful ladies lining the streets and swooning at the mere sight of him. But while there were many faces the handsome rising star could choose from, there was only one that stood out to him in the crowd at the RKO party.
“We both needed each other physically, and we were a perfect match,” he said, summing up the honeymoon phase of their relationship, which was renowned for being hot and heavy. Blissfully in love, both achingly beautiful, Tony and Janet became a pairing the rest of the world couldn’t get enough of.
They made their first appearance as an official couple at the touring show Ice Follies in 1950. Upon seeing the genetically blessed duo, reporters and fans went wild, stunned by their attractiveness and desperate to get a photo of the two stars. But while movie-goers loved seeing them together, the same couldn’t be said for those closest to them.
It was during his press tour for The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951) that Tony realised he could not live without Janet. He picked up the phone and called her, proposing to her on the spot. Janet was stunned but incredibly excited, launching herself into wedding plans and pulling together all the formalities for the nuptials. They both told their friends, family and studios, but were met with disdain and caution.
Tony’s friend Jerry Lewis was the first one to try to dissuade him. “What are you doing?” Jerry cried. “Are you nuts? Getting married will kill your career.” His boss at Universal was even worse, trying to convince him to wed Piper Laurie, his current co-star, saying they would make a better match.
When did Janet Leigh marry Tony Curtis?
Janet received the same pressure from her studio. Her own father even tried to warn her off. But neither of them was deterred. Tony and Janet eloped on June 4, 1951, marrying in a small ceremony with just Jerry Lewis as a witness – and instead of the union killing their careers, it made them soar.
Fans couldn’t get enough of the glamorous newlyweds, and it was producer George Pal who had the brilliant idea to cast Janet and Tony in a film together. And so Paramount borrowed the duo for Houdini (1953), a biopic on the life of the famous escape artist. Janet loved the smaller, family-oriented studio and Tony relished learning all the tricks, using them later in life to have fun with friends. The film did well for the small production that it was, and Janet and Tony won the Golden Apple Award for the most press-cooperative stars of the year.
They went on to appear in more films together – The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Vikings and The Perfect Furlough (both 1958) and Who Was That Lady? (1960). Their chemistry was dynamite and their pairing in films was seen as a stroke of genius. The press couldn’t get enough of them and it seemed there was no limit to what this dynamic duo could do. But while the on-screen chemistry sizzled, smaller fires were starting in their private life and threatening to burn the whole house down.
Janet came from a churchgoing family and had excelled in her education. “She had a powerful drive for immaculate order and control,” remembered Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet and Tony’s daughter. The same sentiment was echoed by Jerry Lewis, who described her as “an excellent organiser … always meticulous”.
Tony admired his wife for these qualities but, ironically, it soon became a source of friction. Janet hated his lack of manners, while Tony hated the corrections.
“She tried to turn me into her idea of a gentlemen,” he remembered. “She found me crude and clumsy …” On one occasion he broke a wine glass in front of actress Ethel Merman. Ethel didn’t mind, breaking a glass herself to make Tony feel better, but for Janet it was mortifying.
How old is Jamie Lee Curtis?
As their stars continued to ascend, Janet shied away from the spotlight. “My husband and children have always come before my career,” said the actress, whose daughters Kelly and Jamie Lee were born in 1956 and 1958 respectively.
Tony, on the other hand, relished the fame, enjoying all the attention he was receiving.
“I was 30 years old, in my prime and … beautiful girls with fantastic figures were constantly throwing themselves at me,” he said. He was a regular at Hugh Hefner’s notorious Playboy parties and embarked on affairs with notable co-stars such as Gloria DeHaven and Marilyn Monroe. Meanwhile, it was said he was also bitterly jealous – hating to see his wife romancing other men on the big screen.
What happened to Jamie Lee Curtis’ parents?
After two children and years of struggling to keep the magic alive, it was Tony who delivered the final blow, calling Janet on the set of her film The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and telling her it was over after more than a decade. “Neither Janet nor I were the best of spouses,” Tony said. “I couldn’t believe how flimsy our relationship had become.”
He was convinced she was having an affair with her current co-star, Frank Sinatra, even citing it as the reason for the divorce. In reality, he had let his Lothario lifestyle get the better of him, falling for his 17-year-old co-star Christine Kaufmann. Janet was humiliated, horrified that Tony had swapped her out for a younger version. She quickly got the divorce proceedings under way and their separation was settled in Mexico on September 14, 1962.
The end of their marriage was the death knell for Tony, whose career limped along and never regained the heights it once had. He had a slew of marriages, finally finding lasting love with his last wife Jill Vandenberg, who was more than 40 years his junior. Janet had a more stable life, marrying stockbroker Robert Brandt the day after her divorce became final. She went on to do a few more movies and TV roles, even appearing with her daughter Jamie Lee in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998).
Janet always remained classy about the marriage, never saying a bad word about her ex-husband. “Tony and I had a wonderful time together,” she said. “It was an exciting, glamorous period in Hollywood … a lot of great things happened, most of all two beautiful children.”
However, Tony had a more difficult time, as his relationship with his children became challenging and the majority of his friends sided with Janet after the divorce.
“I realised that whatever I was, I wasn’t enough for Janet,” he later lamented. “That hurt me a lot and broke my heart.”
It was a relationship that set Hollywood and the world on fire, but for Janet and Tony, the flame burned too brightly. Successful careers, public attention and the allure of younger women proved too much and cut short the wild ride they shared.
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