By Frank Worth

Tony Curtis leaping in the air with wife Janet Leigh looking on, circa 1955.

Born Bernard Schwartz, Tony Curtis (born June 3, 1925) is an Academy Award-nominated American film actor. Famous for his thick black wavy hair, handsome good looks, flashing long eyelashes and trademark New York accent, he was popular during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

His most enduring role has been in Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. He has appeared in over 100 films since 1949. He made two movies with Kirk Douglas, The Vikings and Spartacus.

He appeared frequently on television co-starring with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders.

He was nominated for an Oscar for his role as a bigoted escaped convict chained to Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones.

In March 2006, Curtis received the Sony Ericsson Empire Lifetime Achievement Award. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received France's honour, the Order of Arts and Letters, in 1995.

His first (and most famous) wife was Janet Leigh to whom he was married for 11 years, and with whom he fathered actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis.

Born Jeanette Helen Morrison, Janet Leigh (1927-2004) was an American film actress.
She was best known for the shower stabbing scene in the thriller film Psycho, for which she received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

She made over 25 films including The Vikings and The Manchurian Candidate, and two horror films with her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, in The Fog and, 20 years later, a cameo appearance in Halloween H20 (1998).

She married Tony Curtis in 1951 and for a while they were Hollywood’s Golden Couple.