Psycho character
Marion Crane
Gender	female Female Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
Born	February 3, 1928
Died	December 12, 1959 (aged 31)
Race	White White people White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
Relationships	Lila Crane Lila Crane Lila Loomis is a fictional character from the 1959 Robert Bloch novel Psycho and its 1960 film adaptation. Additionally, she appears in Bloch's sequel novel and the unrelated sequel film of the same name.- Fictional biography :...  (sister) Sam Loomis (boyfriend) Mary Loomis (niece)
Portrayed by:	Janet Leigh Janet Leigh Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....  (Psycho) Anne Heche Anne Heche Anne Celeste Heche is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She started her career on the daytime soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Heche gradually landed supporting roles in feature films, and in 1997 appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer,...  (Psycho: 1998 remake)

Marion Crane is a fictional character from the 1960 film Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

.

Fictional character biography

Unhappy in her relationship with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin

John Gavin

John Gavin is an American film actor and a former United States Ambassador to Mexico. Gavin is half Mexican and fluent in Spanish....

), Marion rejects his idea to take the afternoon off and rushes back to her storefront real estate office. Her boss, Mr. Lowery, arrives shortly afterward with Tom Cassidy (Frank Albertson

Frank Albertson

Frank Albertson was an American character actor who made his debut in a minor part in Hollywood at age 13....

), a wealthy customer who gives her $40,000 to put in the bank for him. However, instead of going to the bank, Marion steals the money and goes on the run. She turns off the main road without realizing it, and arrives at the Bates Motel

Bates Motel

Bates Motel is a 1987 television movie about Alex West, a mentally disturbed youth who was committed to an asylum after killing his abusive stepfather. There he befriends Norman Bates and ends up inheriting the infamous Bates Motel.-Plot:...

 and checks in with the proprietor, Norman Bates

Norman Bates

Norman Bates is a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel Psycho, and portrayed by Anthony Perkins as the main antagonist of the 1960 film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock...

 (Anthony Perkins

Anthony Perkins

Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...

), who shyly invites her to have dinner with him. After wrapping the remaining money inside a newspaper, Marion overhears a heated argument between Norman and his mother about letting Marion into the house.

During dinner, Marion listens to Norman's tale of being trapped by his obligation to his mentally ill

Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

 mother, and realizes that she, too, is stuck in a "private trap", and can only escape it by taking responsibility for stealing the money. She gently suggests to Norman that he put his mother in a mental hospital

Mental Hospital

Mental hospital may refer to:*Psychiatric hospital*hospital in Nepal named Mental Hospital...

, which he heatedly refuses to do. She bids him goodnight, and returns to her room. There, she undresses while Norman watches through a peephole hidden in the wall of his office. Resolving to make amends to her employer, Marion makes a few calculations based on how much the escapade has cost her. She then takes a shower. Suddenly, a mysterious figure enters the bathroom — shadowy through the shower curtain — and stabs Marion to death. Mother has supposedly committed the murder, and Norman hides the body in a swamp.

Creation and filming

Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....

, who portrayed Marion in the original film, has said that when he cast her, Hitchcock gave her the following charter: "I hired you because you are an actress! I will only direct you if A: you attempt to take more than your share of the pie, B: you don't take enough, or C: if you are having trouble motivating the necessary timed movement."

According to Leigh, wardrobe worn by her character Marion Crane was not custom made for her, but rather purchased "off the rack" from ordinary clothing stores. Hitchcock wanted female viewers to identify with the character by having her wear clothes that an ordinary secretary could afford.

Contrary to a widely told tale, Hitchcock did not arrange for the water to suddenly go ice-cold during the shower scene to elicit an effective scream from Leigh. This urban legend appears to have originated with Universal Tour

Universal Parks & Resorts

Universal Parks and Resorts is the theme park division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and General Electric. The division is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the various Universal Studios resort properties around the world...

 guides as they passed the "Psycho" house, one of the most popular attractions on the lot. Leigh said that the crew took great care to keep the water warm, and filming of the scene took an entire week.

Hitchcock tested the shock value of Mother's corpse by placing it in Leigh's dressing room and listening to how loud she screamed when she discovered it there.

The trailer was shot after completing the movie, and because Leigh wasn't available anymore, Hitchcock used costar Vera Miles

Vera Miles

Vera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho and Psycho II.-Early life:...

 in the shower sequence in the trailer.

Leigh wore moleskin

Moleskin

Moleskin, originally referring to the short, silky fur of a mole, is heavy cotton fabric, woven and then sheared to create a short soft pile on one side. The word is also used for clothing made from this fabric, as well as adhesive pads stuck to the skin to prevent blisters.Clothing made from...

 adhesive patches covering her nipple

Nipple

In its most general form, a nipple is a structure from which a fluid emanates. More specifically, it is the projection on the breasts or udder of a mammal by which breast milk is delivered to a mother's young. In this sense, it is often called a teat, especially when referring to non-humans, and...

s when she acted out the shower scene. However, after the warm water of the shower washed off the moleskin, Hitchcock still did one more take. The take was used in the finished film.

Appearances in the rest of the series

Psychos first sequel, 1983's Psycho II, starts off with a flashback to the shower scene. Vera Miles

Vera Miles

Vera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho and Psycho II.-Early life:...

 returns as Marion's sister, Lila Crane

Lila Crane

Lila Loomis is a fictional character from the 1959 Robert Bloch novel Psycho and its 1960 film adaptation. Additionally, she appears in Bloch's sequel novel and the unrelated sequel film of the same name.- Fictional biography :...

, now Lila Loomis, who is on a crusade to keep Norman committed. The film introduces Mary Loomis (Meg Tilly), Lila's daughter with Sam and Marion's niece. Both are killed in the film; Lila is stabbed while in Norman's fruit cellar by a woman who looks like him in his "Mother" guise (later revealed to be Emma Spool

Emma Spool

Mrs. Emma Spool is a fictional character in the Psycho film series, created by Tom Holland for the screenplay of the 1982 sequel to the 1960 film Psycho, Psycho II. More attention is given to her character in Psycho III, although she's a corpse...

, played by Claudia Bryar

Claudia Bryar

Claudia Bryar was an American actress who mostly specialized in television. Active from the 1950s to the 1980s, she is perhaps best known for her role as Mrs...

), and Mary is shot by a policeman when she attempts to stab Norman, thinking he killed Lila and the other victims in the film.

In the second sequel, 1986's Psycho III

Psycho III

Psycho III is a 1986 sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The film stars Anthony Perkins , Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey and Roberta Maxwell. The screenplay is written by Charles Edward Pogue...

, the shower scene appears again in a flashback again, this time when Norman sees a woman (Maureen Coyle, played by Diana Scarwid

Diana Scarwid

Diana Scarwid is an American actress. Scarwid has done work in film, television and theater.-Personal life:Scarwid was born in Savannah, Georgia, and left Georgia at the age of 17, heading to New York to become an actress. She graduated from Pace University and The American Academy of Dramatic...

) that reminds him of Marion.

Marion makes no appearance in the final sequel, 1990's made-for-TV Showtime film Psycho IV: The Beginning

Psycho IV: The Beginning

Psycho IV: The Beginning is a 1990 made-for-cable-television horror film that serves as both the third sequel and a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho, as it includes both events after Psycho III while focusing on flashbacks of events that took place prior to the original film...

. She is merely referred to a few times as "the girl he killed in the shower."

Comic books

Marion appears in the 1992 three-issue comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 adaptation of the first Psycho film released by Innovation Publishing

Innovation Publishing

Innovation Publishing was an American comic book company based in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was co-founded by David Campiti in 1988 after writing a business proposal and raising US$400,000 to finance its launch...

.

Portrayals

Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....

 played the character of Marion in the original film. Anne Heche

Anne Heche

Anne Celeste Heche is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She started her career on the daytime soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Heche gradually landed supporting roles in feature films, and in 1997 appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer,...

 played Marion in the 1998 remake

Psycho (1998 film)

Psycho is a 1998 American horror film produced and directed by Gus Van Sant for Universal Pictures, a remake of the 1960 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock...

.