- “Summer Under the Stars” – Janet Leigh: On Aug. 15, TCM will present 13 titles starring MGM’s peaches-and-cream heroine who went on to prove herself a capable performer once her roles took a turn to the dark side, notably in Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
TCM ‘Summer Under the Stars’ – Aug. 15: 13 Janet Leigh movies, including Welles’ Touch of Evil and Hitchcock’s Psycho
Turner Classic Movies’ “Summer Under the Stars 2025” continues on Aug. 15 with 13 titles starring Janet Leigh, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s peaches-and-cream heroine who, once no longer at the studio, proved herself a skillful actress in two unsettling thrillers: Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. (See TCM’s Janet Leigh movie schedule further below. Most titles will remain available for a while on the Watch TCM app.)
Note: This time around, TCM won’t be showing any of the five movies Janet Leigh made with husband Tony Curtis (1951–1962): Houdini (1953), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Vikings (1958), The Perfect Furlough (1958), and Who Was That Lady? (1960). (Both also have cameos in the 1960 comedy Pepe.)
Actresses Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis (Oscar winner for Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2022) are their daughters.
Below are brief comments about Janet Leigh’s “Summer Under the Stars” movies.
Holiday Affair (1949)
Director Don Hart and screenwriter Isobel Lennart’s romantic comedy Holiday Affair – based on John D. Weaver’s 1948 short novel Christmas Gift – stars an unusually unthreatening Robert Mitchum as a seasonal New York City department store clerk who allows the Christmas Spirit to take the better of him by not pressing charges against a lovely shoplifter (Janet Leigh). Christmasy trouble follows – not only for them but also for the nice but unexciting guy (Wendell Corey) who wants to marry the girl.
Little Women (1949)
In some quarters less fondly remembered than George Cukor’s 1933 version starring Katharine Hepburn, Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Women is a good-looking, pleasantly acted transfer of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868–1869 novel about four New England sisters and their troubles during the Civil War.
June Allyson stars, along with Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh (Frances Dee in the original), and Margaret O’Brien as her sisters. Peter Lawford and Italian import Rossano Brazzi – the latter in his Hollywood debut – are the handsome men in their lives. Veteran Oscar winner Mary Astor (The Great Lie, 1941), by then in movies for nearly three decades, plays Marmee.
Note: Little Women marked the final big-screen appearance of another veteran, C. Aubrey Smith, who died at age 85 in 1948.
Angels in the Outfield (1951)
The narrative in Clarence Brown’s Angels in the Outfield is centered on the following message: “If you behave, they will win.”
“You” is abusive Pittsburgh Pirates (“they”) manager Paul Douglas,* who starts hearing a disembodied voice not because he has gone insane but because one of God’s angels has decided to interfere in the all-important issue of American baseball. (The angel, who happens to have James Whitmore’s voice, used to play ball himself.)
Janet Leigh was cast in the role a local reporter who exposes the manager’s ungodly methods.
Screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley and George Wells, from a radio story by Father Richard F. Grady (as “Richard Conlin”).
* In place of Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, and James Cagney.
Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)
More enjoyable than its reputation would lead one to expect, James V. Kern’s color musical Two Tickets to Broadway features pleasant songs, choreography by Busby Berkeley, and a generally peppy cast that includes Janet Leigh, Gloria DeHaven, Eddie Bracken, and Ann Miller.
Its musical highlight is DeHaven and Bracken’s “Baby, You’ll Never Be Sorry“* number, which might remind viewers of (the admittedly more stylish) “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” from Neptune’s Daughter.
Now, if only someone had taken the trouble to inject some vitamins into Two Tickets to Broadway’s final third.
Note: TCM has aired a good print of Two Tickets to Broadway. This however imperfect musical deserves a full-fledged restoration.
* Words and music by Jule Styne and Leo Robin. (Frank Loesser composed “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”)
Just This Once (1952)
Don Weis’ romantic comedy Just This Once stars Janet Leigh and Peter Lawford as, respectively, overseeing lawyer and overseen millionaire playboy whose spending habits are about to send him to the poorhouse. What this clash of priorities leads to: Richard Anderson discovers he needs to find himself a new fiancée.
The Naked Spur (1953)
Oscar winner James Stewart (The Philadelphia Story, 1940) isn’t one of the strong elements in Anthony Mann’s stunning-looking, Colorado Rockies-set Technicolor Western The Naked Spur – cinematography by William C. Mellor – but charismatic tough guys Robert Ryan and Ralph Meeker more than compensate for the leading man’s inadequacies. The generally ladylike Janet Leigh is amusing as a feisty tomboy.
The Naked Spur earned Harold Jack Bloom and Sam Rolfe an Oscar nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category.
The Naked Spur was restored a few years ago. The new print is great.
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
Written by Irving Brecher from Michael Stewart’s book and the subsequent Broadway musical, George Sidney’s Elvis Presley-inspired satirical musical Bye Bye Birdie follows singing sensation Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson), who, after being drafted, is scheduled to perform a song composed by a biochemistry grad (Dick Van Dyke) in a farewell performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Janet Leigh plays the the biochemist’s secretary/girlfriend. Bye Bye Birdie’s show-stealer, however, is an explosive Ann-Margret.
Note: Dick Van Dyke will be turning 100 years old next Dec. 13. Ann-Margret, most recently seen in the 2022 TV movie A Holiday Spectacular, turned 84 last April 28.
Psycho (1960)
Anthony Perkins stars as the titular character in Alfred Hitchcock’s box office hit Psycho, a classic horror thriller about an environmentally conscious mama’s boy who brutally punishes water-wasters.
With embezzler Janet Leigh at its center, the brief, superbly edited shower sequence – editing by George Tomasini, storyboarding by Saul Bass, music by Bernard Herrmann – did for showers what, in the following decade, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws would do for larger bodies of water.
Oddly, Anthony Perkins, in one of the most iconic roles in film history, was not shortlisted for that year’s Best Actor Oscar. Newly crowned Scream Queen Janet Leigh, however, was a Best Supporting Actress contender (her sole nomination), and so was director Hitchcock (his fifth and final nod).
Leigh lost to Shirley Jones, another good girl (Oklahoma, Carousel) gone bad (sex working) in Elmer Gantry. Hitchcock lost to Billy Wilder for The Apartment.
Note: Vera Miles – Janet Leigh’s sister in Psycho – will be turning 95 next Aug. 23.
Touch of Evil (1958)
Masterfully directed and written by Orson Welles, Touch of Evil features excellent action scenes, superb black-and-white cinematography (Russell Metty), groovy camera angles that reflect the dizzying narrative, and several top-notch performances.
A stolid, granite-faced actor, Charlton Heston was never better than in Touch of Evil, in which, under skin-darkening makeup, he plays a Mexican narcotics officer out to rescue his kidnapped American wife (Janet Leigh, at her best) while dealing with an assortment of border problems. These range from drug trafficking and murder to police corruption and scene-stealing macho biker Mercedes McCambridge (Oscar winner for All the King’s Men, 1949).
Another standout: Veteran Oscar nominee Marlene Dietrich (Morocco, 1930–1931) as a jaded madam named Tana.
One undeniable problem: As the corrupt American cop, Welles doesn’t deliver his dialogue; he chews on it.
Stop and think about it: A 1958 Hollywood movie in which the hero is a Mexican national and the villain an American law enforcement officer.
Touch of Evil is loosely based on the 1956 novel Badge of Evil by “Whit Masterson” (pseudonym for Robert Allison Wade and H. Bill Miller).
Act of Violence (1949)
Like William Wyler, Henry King, George Cukor, Michael Curtiz, Billy Wilder, and most other top filmmakers of Hollywood’s studio era, Fred Zinnemann tried his hand at just about every movie genre: Suspense (The Seventh Cross), musical (Oklahoma), romance (From Here to Eternity), Western (High Noon), socially conscious drama (The Search), psychological drama (The Member of the Wedding, A Hatful of Rain), crime drama (Eyes in the Night, Act of Violence).
A gripping socio-psychological noir, Act of Violence stars an unusually effective Van Heflin as a well-respected World War II veteran whose Model Citizen image is threatened when a fellow combatant (Robert Ryan) reenters his life. In terms of “Greatest Generation” demystification, think Crossfire meets Hail the Conquering Hero.
Taut screenplay by Robert L. Richards’ from Collier Young’s screen story. Excellent shadowy black-and-white cinematography by Robert Surtees, editing by Conrad A. Nervig, music by Bronislau Kaper, and sound design (recording director Douglas Shearer, brother of Norma Shearer*).
Besides Heflin, also delivering quality performances are Robert Ryan, Mary Astor, and Broadway/silent era veteran Taylor Holmes. Looking very pretty, Janet Leigh plays Heflin’s unsuspecting wife.
Act of Violence is not to be missed.
* The former “Queen of MGM” was the one who, in 1946, discovered Janet Leigh. Norma Shearer was staying at a Sierra Nevada, California, ski resort where Leigh’s parents were working at the time. Decades later, Leigh would pay tribute to Shearer in one of TCM’s most moving “homage” shorts (“For Turner Classic Movies, I’m….”).
Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955)
Jack Webb produced, directed, and stars as a bandleader in Warner Bros.’ Pete Kelly’s Blues, a minor 1920s-set musical crime drama based on a 1951 radio series also starring Webb.
MGM’s sweet Janet Leigh plays a partying flapper, but music icon Peggy Lee, in one of her rare big-screen appearances, landed the showier role of an alcoholic jazz singer. For her efforts, Lee received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.
Confidentially Connie (1953)
Don’t hold the title against Edward Buzzell’s Confidentially Connie, a lowkey comedy that features a personable cast, several funny situations, and a bit of social commentary. Van Johnson and Janet Leigh star as a – poorly paid – small-town college professor and his wife, who is not only economizing (“meat” she drools at one point) but also expecting (and smoking).
A little more care might have turned Confidentially Connie into a “minor” classic. As is, it’s an amusing pastime marred by an abrupt, unconvincing conclusion.
Screenplay by Max Shulman, from a screen story by Shulman and Herman Wouk. As the self-important college dean, Oscar nominee Gene Lockhart (Algiers, 1938) steals every scene he’s in.
Night of the Lepus (1972)
And then there were, among others, Them! (ants), Godzilla (unidentified reptilian), It Came from Beneath the Sea (octopus), The Birds (birds), The Deadly Bees (bees), and William F. Claxton’s Night of the Lepus (rabbits).
How two Oscar nominees – Stuart Whitman (The Mark, 1961) and Janet Leigh (see Psycho) – got themselves involved in this one is unclear. Night of the Lepus producer A.C. Lyles was known for his routine B Westerns of the 1960s, which starred performers who had enjoyed more prestigious days (Dana Andrews, Jane Russell, Howard Keel, Virginia Mayo, etc.). Looks like Lyles had a knack for luring talent eager to work in whatever.
Immediately below is Janet Leigh’s “Summer Under the Stars 2025” movie schedule.
Janet Leigh movies: TCM schedule (EDT) – Aug. 15
6:00 AM Holiday Affair (1949)
Director: Don Hartman.
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey, Gordon Gebert, Esther Dale, Henry O’Neill, Harry Morgan, Larry J. Blake.
87m7:45 AM Little Women (1949)
Director: Mervyn LeRoy.
Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Margaret O’Brien, Rossano Brazzi, Mary Astor, Lucile Watson, C. Aubrey Smith, Elizabeth Patterson, Leon Ames, Harry Davenport, Richard Stapley, Connie Gilchrist, Ellen Corby.
121m10:00 AM Angels in the Outfield (1951)
Director: Clarence Brown.
Cast: Paul Douglas, Janet Leigh, Keenan Wynn, Lewis Stone, Spring Byington, Bruce Bennett, Marvin Kaplan, Ellen Corby, Donna Corcoran, Jeff Richards, John Gallaudet, King Donovan, Don Haggerty, Paul Salata.
102m12:00 PM Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)
Director: James V. Kern.
Cast: Janet Leigh, Tony Martin, Gloria DeHaven, Eddie Bracken, Ann Miller, Barbara Lawrence, Bob Crosby, Charles Dale, Joe Smith, Taylor Holmes, Buddy Baer.
106m2:00 PM Just This Once (1952)
Director: Don Weis.
Cast: Janet Leigh, Peter Lawford, Lewis Stone, Richard Anderson, Marilyn Erskine, Douglas Fowley, Hanley Stafford, Henry Slate, Jerry Hausner, Benny Rubin, Ida Moore.
90m4:00 PM The Naked Spur (1953)
Director: Anthony Mann.
Cast: James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker, Millard Mitchell.
91m6:00 PM Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
Director: George Sidney.
Cast: Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, Maureen Stapleton, Bobby Rydell, Jesse Pearson, Paul Lynde, Mary LaRoche, Michael Evans, Robert Paige, Gregory Morton, Frank Albertson, Ed Sullivan, Kim Darby.
120m8:00 PM Psycho (1960)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, John McIntire, Martin Balsam, Simon Oakland, Frank Albertson, Patricia Hitchcock.
109m10:00 PM Touch of Evil (1958)
Director: Orson Welles.
Cast: Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Joanna Moore, Ray Collins, Dennis Weaver, Valentin de Vargas, Joi Lansing, Harry Shannon, Marlene Dietrich, Mercedes McCambridge, Zsa Zsa Gabor, William Tannen, Joseph Cotten.
95m12:00 AM Act of Violence (1949)
Director: Fred Zinnemann.
Cast: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter, Berry Kroeger, Taylor Holmes, Harry Antrim, Connie Gilchrist, Will Wright.
82m1:30 AM Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955)
Director: Jack Webb.
Cast: Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O’Brien, Andy Devine, Lee Marvin, Ella Fitzgerald, Martin Milner, Than Wyenn, Herb Ellis, John Dennis, Jayne Mansfield.
95m3:15 AM Confidentially Connie (1953)
Director: Edward Buzzell.
Cast: Van Johnson, Janet Leigh, Louis Calhern, Walter Slezak, Gene Lockhart, Marilyn Erskine, Hayden Rorke, Robert Burton, Kathleen Lockhart, Arthur Space, Barbara Ruick.
74m4:30 AM Night of the Lepus (1972)
Director: William F. Claxton.
Cast: Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun, DeForest Kelley, Paul Fix, Melanie Fullerton, Chris Morrell, Chuck Hayward.
88m
“Janet Leigh Movies on TCM” notes
Janet Leigh “Summer Under the Stars” movie schedule via the TCM website.
Janet Leigh publicity image: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
“Janet Leigh Movies on TCM: Peaches and Scream” last modified in August 2025.