Jamie Lee Curtis Reveals the Movie Role That Changed Her Life — And It’s Not ‘Halloween’
Jamie Lee Curtis recently stopped by 60 Minutes to talk about her career, her early life, and even those odd Activia yogurt commercials. And while looking back, she made an admission that will surprise many fans: While many of us know her from her starring roles in the beloved Halloween franchise, Curtis admitted that her iconic role as Laurie Strode actually didn’t make a huge difference in her acting career — her true big break didn’t come until five years later.
Curtis booked the 1978 film Halloween when she was just 19 years old and trying to start her acting career, following in her parent’s Tony Curtis and Janet’s Leigh‘s very famous footsteps. Though the film would go on to be an international hit and launch the teen slasher genre, Curtis said that the role wasn’t very competitive: “This was a $300,000 horror movie. This was not a job that a lot of people wanted.”
The role raised her profile, but mostly landed her “scream queen” roles in films like Prom Night and The Fog. Her actual mainstream breakthrough, she reveals, involved some far less spooky roles.
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She admitted on 60 Minutes, “My big break after Halloween was, I was on Love Boat with Janet Leigh. Beautiful Janet Leigh playing my mother. And then I was in a Charlie’s Angels episode where I am Cheryl Ladd‘s best friend, pro golfer. So those are the two jobs I get post Halloween.”
In 1983, Curtis starred in her first comedy titled Trading Places, a film also starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd; she played the gritty-yet-lovable Ophelia, Aykroyd’s love interest, and the role that she believes truly began her career as a mainstream actress. She shared about the role, “John [Landis] stuck gum in my mouth every day. Literally I would stand there and he’d walk up, I’d go, ‘OK.’ I mean, it’s– you know, it’s just a great part. But here’s the other thing, and– this is crucial, and this will make the piece. If I’m not in Trading Places, John Cleese does not write A Fish Called Wanda for me. If I’m not in A Fish Called Wanda, Jim Cameron does not write the part in True Lies for me. And that grouping of films gave me my career, for sure.”
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Curtis also opened up about why she did so many commercials when she was making big money as a movie star. She admitted that the gigs would allow her to stay home with her kids and have a much better work-life balance, so she sucked it up and joked that she sold “yogurt that makes you sh**.”
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