Most of us have asked our parents for advice at some point. Scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, best known for her role as Laurie Strode in the Halloween series, is no exception. But her words of parental wisdom come from two stars, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.
Decades before Jamie Lee Curtis took on Michael Myers in Halloween, her mother Janet Leigh was the victim of the infamous shower in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Tony Curtis was one of Hollywood’s first “pretty boys.” Think of it like Brad Pitt before Brad Pitt was born.
Although her parents had immense star power, Curtis rarely spoke to them about her career. “It’s not like we talk about work,” Jamie Lee Curtis said during the Spotlight panel at New York Comic Con 2022. “No one talks to their parents about work. I remember my mother, and I think she understood early on that I was anxious.”
“My mother knew this because she told me one time that she wanted me to be myself. Somehow she knew that was what I needed to hear. Now, I didn’t heed her advice. , I look back at the hairstyles, the clothes, the really bad choices, and it’s something that I’ve finally arrived at now that I’m 64 years old. But then I was exploring. “
Although Curtis doesn’t have many memories of her father, Tony Curtis, she says he taught her two important lessons that have helped her in her career. “Dad, I swear to you, this is literally true. I didn’t know my dad very well. I didn’t grow up with him and I didn’t know him very well. He said two things about show business and I That one, you don’t really understand unless you’re a film student. I remember we were in the car, we stopped at a traffic light, and I was sitting here, and my dad turned to me and said, “(Tony Curtis’s thoughts) Never let him shoot anything under 50.”
“He was trying to explain to me that lenses smaller than 50mm would distort my face, and that 35mm or 28mm lenses wouldn’t make me look good. Now, my face is about the size of a door wedge, so actually, my face is a little thinner, so wider lenses actually work better. But somehow, strangely enough, Tony Curtis felt like he needed to share that with me.”
“Another important piece of advice I would give to anyone alive who signs their name on something is to remember that whatever you sign, there are two little words in the legal description that mean perpetuity, forever. That’s what they’re trying to give by presenting themselves to whatever they’re filming, that it’s theirs forever. And he said he uses that as a reminder.
While some of Hollywood’s advice may not apply to us, the advice here is very good. Pay close attention to every contract you sign and consider every word. And most importantly, always be your most authentic self. We can’t all have famous parents, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of their life lessons.
