Veteran movie star Janet Leigh just turned 60, which may surprise those of you who still picture her in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Psycho — particularly that terrifying shower scene.
And this year brought another important milestone for Leigh, as well. On Sept. 25 she celebrated 25 years of happy marriage to Los Angeles stockbroker Robert Brandt.
The silver wedding anniversary was the third major event in Leigh’s life within one year. Just last December, she became a grandmother for the first time when daughter Jamie Lee Curtis, 28, and her husband, actor Christopher Guest, adopted a baby girl.
“This is the happiest year of my life,” says Leigh, who was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars during the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. “I must be the luckiest woman in the world.”
“I was always told that when you got to 60 you just sat back and let the world wait on you,” she says, laughing. “But it doesn’t seem to have happened that way for me.
“I always try to get eight hours sleep every night because every day I’m on the go. I do a lot of charity work, I play sports, I’m a consultant in my husband’s stockbroking firm, I run a house, I cook, I’m writing a novel, I make personal appearances, and I see a lot of my daughters, Jamie and Kelly.”
Jamie Lee and Kelly were born when Leigh was married to Tony Curtis. Their stormy 11-year marriage ended in divorce in 1962.
Leigh, whose 50 films include Little Women (1949), Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958), Psycho (1960) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962), says she’s “kind of retired” from moviemaking.
ON TURNING 60
Becoming a grandmother and turning 60 have not made Leigh feel old. “It’s just another year,” she says. “I’m not going to lay down and roll over and play dead just because of a number. I don’t even think about it. What does that label ’60 years old’ mean?
“I have never lied about my age. I know a lot of people in Hollywood do. But I think it’s silly because it’s so easy to check. They are only kidding themselves. It doesn’t change anything — they are still as old as they are.
“I haven’t had a face lift, or had my eyes done. Sure, I have some wrinkles and a sag here and there. But at this point in my life I’m very comfortable with the way I look.
“If in a few years I get too saggy and it really starts to bother me, maybe I’ll have a nip and tuck. But not yet.”
Leigh believes that meticulous care of her skin has helped her stave off the need for a face lift.
“I was lucky. God gave me good facial bones,” she says. “But whatever kind of skin you’re born with, you have to look after it if you want it to last.
“I clean my face very carefully every morning and every night. First I clean it with cold cream. Then I take a cotton ball and soak it in astringent and go over my face again to clean up any residue. Then I use a moisturizer to make sure my skin doesn’t dry out.
“When I’m out in the sun I always layer the sunblock on my face. When I was younger I was always working so much that I never seemed to get the chance to get to the beach and soak up the sun. I was always jealous of people with great tans. I always felt deprived.
“But now, I’m glad I didn’t spend much time in the sun in those early years. There’s been so much research evidence lately of the terrible damage that sunlight can do to the skin, I’m grateful I didn’t get those opportunitites to go lie on the beach.”
STAYING IN SHAPE
Despite her busy domestic schedule, Leigh always makes time for exercise.
“I get up at about 7 o’clock every day and at least three mornings a week I work out for about 45 minutes in the gym we have in our garage. My husband is an exercise buff and we have all sorts of exercise machines and weights.
“I walk at least two miles on the treadmill, pedal on the exercycle for a few minutes and lift some light weights.
“The exercise keeps me toned, it’s good for my heart and circulation, and it gets my blood going. I also play tennis twice a week and in the winter I ski a lot. I never pass up an opportunity to walk, instead of drive or ride.”
The other big key to Leigh’s terrific shape is her diet.
“I don’t count calories,” she says. “I just eat sensibly. I eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit and carbohydrates like pasta, wheat bread and potatoes. A lot of people think potatoes are fattening but they’re not — it’s what you put on them, things like butter and sour cream, that are fattening.
“I only have red meat once a week. Instead I eat fish or chicken. I also eat a lot of soups, which I make myself. I throw in lots of vegetables and stocks, mix it all up and it comes out pretty well.
“I don’t take salt or sugar and I avoid butter and other fats like the plague. I eat every kind of low-fat item there is — skimmed milk, low- cholesterol oil and margarine, low-fat salad dressings. And I don’t eat cakes or desserts — except low-fat ice cream.”
Leigh does allow herself two departures from her healthy lifestyle. “I do like a couple of glasses of wine with dinner occasionally,” she says. “And I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. I started smoking when I was about 23. I’m not proud of it. But I must admit that I haven’t really tried to give it up either.”
A HAPPY MARRIAGE
Leigh loves to cook for her husband, who also turned 60 in July. And that, she says, is part of the recipe for their happy marriage.
“The one big secret to our enduring marriage is establishing priorities. My husband and children have always come before my career. When we were first married, my career was in full swing, but if I was offered a movie part that would take me away for months, then I would turn it down.
“I feel the same way now. Sure, if I was offered a movie or TV role I liked and it fitted in with my lifestyle, I’d like to do it. But not if it takes me away for a long time. Being with my husband is too important to me.
“Both of us had been married before and in those marriages we had both started out thinking, ‘This is for life.’ Well, those marriages didn’t work out so when we married we decided to take one day at a time, instead of setting an unattainable goal. Taking things day by day is a goal you can reach every day.”
