Marli Renfro
Biography
Renfro was a professional model and showgirl who appeared in several men's magazines during the 1960s, including the front cover of Playboy. She was hired for $500 to act as a body-double for Janet Leigh during the shower scene in Psycho (1960).
Although Leigh (who was never nude or topless during the filming) always maintained that Renfro only appears in the final film during the section where Anthony Perkins drags Marion's body onto the shower curtain, some of the shots of the murder sequence are undoubtedly Renfro. In particular, Hitchcock managed to slip the following segment past the Production Code Administration censors, with Renfro's breasts are visible in the background:
In the late 1980s, media reporting into the murder of Myra Davis led to a rumour that Davis and Renfro were one and the same person (Davis was a stand-in for Leigh during the filming of Psycho). Author Robert Graysmith, who had a lifelong fascination with Renfro, investigated and subsequently wrote a book, The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower about Renfro's role in Psycho and the confusion over Davis's death.
Marli Renfro Peterson has lived in the Mojave Desert area of California since 1970.
Filmography
With Hitchcock...
- Psycho (1960) - shower scene double: Janet Leigh (uncredited)
Articles
Links
Images
Image Gallery
Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...
