Movie Legends Janet Leigh and Ronald Neame sign for Hollywood Heritage

by Robert W. Nudelman

Two of Hollywood’s finest talents, and nicest people, attended the Ray and Sharon Courts’ Hollywood Collectors and Celebrities Show at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in North Hollywood for Hollywood Heritage. Janet Leigh, actress and author, attended the April 3 show, drawing a crowd that did not want her to leave. Ms. Leigh generously stayed on as long as she could, 2 extra hours, to sign for everyone. A popular and versatile actress, the variety of her starring films is second to none: Little Women, Prince Valiant, My Sister Eileen, A Touch of Evil, The Vikings, Psycho, Bye Bye Birdie, The Manchurian Candidate, Harper, and many more. She signed hundreds of photos, books, posters, DVDs, etc. and donated all the sales to Hollywood Heritage, as well as the sales there of her latest book, The Dream Factory, a novel based on the many stories she heard or experienced at the Hollywood studios.

At the June 26-27 show, famed English director Ronald Neame, with his delightful wife Donna, signed everything from photos to a baseball for Hollywood Heritage. Mr. Neame recently turned 92, though no one who met him believed it. He also signed his autobiography From The Horse’s Mouth, which, as Ms. Leigh had done with her book earlier, sold out during the show. Mr. Neame’s amazing career started in silent films in England, including work as an assistant cameraman on Hitchcock’s Blackmail, which was shot as a silent film, and then, as England’s first talkie in 1929. He would later partner with a young David Lean and Noel Coward to make such films as In Which We Serve and Great Expectations.

His directing career included several hit films with Alec Guinness, as well as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the ever-popular The Poseidon Adventure, which was filmed for only $5 million in 1972, the same as the catering budget for Titanic.

Hollywood Heritage thanks Janet Leigh, her assistant Kristi Kittendorf, Ronald and Donna Neame, Robert Nudelman, Marc Wanamaker, Marvin Paige, Hollywood Heritage members Ray and Sharon Courts, and Beverly Garland for their help in raising funds and the profile of Hollywood Heritage at these events.