Marli Renfro#Confusion regarding death

{{Infobox model

| name = Marli Renfro

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1938|4|3}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California

| occupation = Showgirl, photographic model, actress

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| height = {{convert|5|ft|4|in|m|2}}

| haircolor = Red

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Marli Renfro (born April 3, 1938 in Los Angeles, California) is an American former showgirl, model, Playboy cover girl and actress.

She was the body double for Janet Leigh in the shower scene of the 1960 film Psycho.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/work/psycho-39578/cast|title=Psycho - cast|publisher=allmovie.com|access-date=April 24, 2010}}

Early career

Renfro, described as a free spirit with a lifelong commitment to nudism,{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-mar-23-la-et-book23-2010mar23-story.html|title='The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower,' by Robert Graysmith|last=Kandel|first=Susan|date=March 23, 2010|work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=April 24, 2010}} appeared in many men's magazines including Ace, Adam, Beau, Dude, Escapade, Follies, Gala and Modern Man.{{cite web|url=http://oldmags.com/people/Marli-Renfro|title=Marli Renfro|publisher=oldmags.com|access-date=April 24, 2010}} She also appeared on the cover of the September 1960 edition of Playboy.{{cite web|url=http://www.playboycoverarchive.com/united-states/us-1960s/us-1960/us-playboy-cover-september-1960|title=Playboy Cover September 1960|date=January 5, 2010|publisher=playboycoverarchive.com|access-date=April 24, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100916200930/http://www.playboycoverarchive.com/united-states/us-1960s/us-1960/us-playboy-cover-september-1960|archive-date=September 16, 2010|df=mdy-all}}

Renfro spent some time working as a showgirl in Las Vegas, and also worked as a Playboy Bunny.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/29/psycho-body-double-marli-renfro|title=Secrets of the Psycho shower|last=Hodgkinson|first=Will|date=March 29, 2010|work=The Guardian |access-date=April 24, 2010}}

Film career

Unperturbed by working nude, Renfro was hired as the body double for the actress Janet Leigh in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. She was paid $500.{{cite news | url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article7072704.ece | archive-url=https://archive.today/20110615085120/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article7072704.ece | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 15, 2011 | title=Spotlight: Marli Renfro | work=The Times | date=March 27, 2010 | access-date=April 24, 2010 | last=Graysmith | first=Robert}} The shower scene in Psycho is considered one of the most famous scenes in cinema history.{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8593508.stm | title=How Psycho changed cinema | publisher=BBC News | date=April 1, 2010 | access-date=April 24, 2010 | last=Robb | first=Stephen}} It features more than 50 camera cuts in three minutes and took six days to film. Although nudity is implied in the rapid cuts, none is seen. Hitchcock and Leigh initially maintained that only Leigh appeared in the shower. Only later did Hitchcock acknowledge that when Leigh's face is seen it is her, otherwise it is Renfro.{{cite news | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/book-em-the-girl-in-alfred-hitchcocks-shower/ | title=Book 'Em: The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower | publisher=CBS News | date=February 1, 2010 | access-date=April 24, 2010 | last=Leibowitz | first=Barry}} Leigh's account of the shower scene, however, says all the actual shower footage in the film was of her and the only time Renfro was used was in an overhead shot that was eventually cut due to censors' concerns.{{Cite book|last1=Leigh|first1=Janet|title=Psycho - Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller|last2=Nickens|first2=Christopher|publisher=Harmony Books|year=1995|isbn=0-517-70112-X|location=New York, New York|pages=74, 74, 76}}

Renfro subsequently appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's 1962 film Tonight for Sure.{{cite web | url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/50370/Tonight-For-Sure/overview | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017020904/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/50370/Tonight-for-Sure/overview | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 17, 2007 | title=Tonight For Sure | access-date=April 24, 2010 | last=Deming | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=The New York Times | date=2007 | first=Mark}}

Decades later, Renfro was interviewed and featured in 78/52, director Alexandre O. Philippe's 2017 documentary film that examines Psycho and the shower scene.

Confusion regarding death

During the filming of Psycho, Janet Leigh also had a stand-in to check lighting. Her name was Myra Davis, also known as Myra Jones.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0205208/|title=Myra Jones |publisher=IMDb |access-date=April 24, 2010}} In 1988 Davis was raped and murdered by her neighbor and handyman Kenneth Dean Hunt.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-15-cl-63532-story.html|title=The Man Who Almost Got Away |last=Decker|first=Twila|date=May 15, 2001|work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=April 24, 2010}} Possibly due to fascination with the shower scene, sections of the media confused Davis's role and published that she had been Leigh's body double.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/25/us/national-news-briefs-jurors-fail-to-agree-on-penalty-in-2-murders.html|title=National News Briefs; Jurors Fail to Agree On Penalty in 2 Murders|date=March 25, 2001|work=The New York Times |access-date=April 24, 2010}} The BBC went further and not only asserted that Davis was Leigh's body double, but also that Davis was the voice of Norman Bates' mother,{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1225073.stm|title=Jail for 'Psycho' killer|date=March 16, 2001|publisher=BBC News |access-date=April 24, 2010}} although this character had been voiced by Virginia Gregg and Jeanette Nolan. In his 2002 book Body Double, author Don Lasseter compounded the confusion and wrote that Davis and Renfro were the same person, meaning that Renfro was dead.{{cite news|url=http://www.macleans.ca/2010/02/11/the-psycho-effect/|title=The Psycho Effect|last=Johnson|first=Brian D.|date=February 11, 2010|work=Macleans |access-date=April 24, 2010}}

Author Robert Graysmith, who had a lifelong fascination with Renfro, noted a comment by Davis's granddaughter that Davis would never have done nude work. He set out to find Renfro and discovered that she was living in California. He subsequently wrote a book, The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower (2010), about Renfro's role in Psycho and the confusion over Davis's death.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/03/psycho-hitchcock-america-david-thomson|title=The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder by David Thomson – The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower by Robert Graysmith|last=Bradshaw|first=Peter|date=April 3, 2010|work=The Guardian |access-date=April 24, 2010}}

Personal life

Renfro married and is known as Marli Renfro Peterson.{{cite web|url=http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/blog/?p=274 |title=8 frames of "Psycho" |date=May 8, 2008 |publisher=hitchcockwiki.com |access-date=April 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409193048/http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/blog/?p=274 |archive-date=April 9, 2010 }} She has lived in the Mojave Desert since 1970.{{cite magazine |url=http://issuu.com/thesunrunnermagazine/docs/feb10dig|title=Coachella Valley Confidential|last=Ortuna Neil|first=Denise|date=February 2010|magazine=The Sun Runner|pages=25|access-date=April 24, 2010}}

References

External links

{{IMDb name|0719505}}

Category:1938 births

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Actresses from Los Angeles

Category:American female models

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American women