♪♪ Narrator: Breathless, piercing eyes, and a will of iron.

At over 60 years old, Jamie Lee Curtis is still bravely defying the infamous psychopath from "Halloween," Michael Myers.

Laurie: [ Gasping ] [ Coughing ] ♪♪ Is Jamie Lee Curtis one of the most indestructible actresses in Hollywood?

Since her first appearance on the big screen in 1978, in the first "Halloween," she has played every female stereotype in the movies -- queen of horror, sex symbol, femme fatale, downtrodden wife... Helen: Yeah.

Great.

Narrator: ...and hooker with a heart of gold.

And yet she has managed to impose herself, thanks to her humor, natural class, and her way of scoffing at convention.

By turning her roles into cult figures, Jamie Lee Curtis has won over audiences and avoided all the pitfalls in a career of more than 49 years.

But how does a freedom-loving actress manage to say no to the dictates of Hollywood?

♪♪ ♪♪ The Chordettes: ♪ Mr.

Sandman ♪ [ Children shouting indistinctly ] ♪ Bring me a dream ♪ Narrator: In October 1978, "Halloween" hit the screen and changed the horror genre forever.

The Chordettes: ♪ Give him two lips like roses and clover ♪ Narrator: And with good reason.

Director John Carpenter and screenwriter Debra Hill had created a new type of monster, the terrifying hockey-masked serial killer Michael Myers.

[ Ominous music playing ] To destroy this dangerous psychopath, they confronted him with a young, unassuming babysitter -- Laurie Strode.

The public discovered a new face, that of an actress in her first movie role, Jamie Lee Curtis.

Laurie: Look.

Annie: Look where?

Laurie: Behind the bush.

Annie: I don't see anything.

Narrator: At the casting call for this B movie, they were looking for three young women to play high-school students -- one bright, one a majorette, and the other serious.

With her portfolio, she thought she had a chance of landing the part of the bright friend.

To her great surprise, she earned the role of the serious young woman.

Carpenter and Hill had picked up on the vulnerable side of Jamie Lee Curtis.

Curtis: I remember the first day we shot.

I remember going home and thinking I was gonna be fired.

I just thought I sucked, and my roommate said, "Jamie, the phone's for you.

It's John Carpenter."

And I thought, "Oh, man, this is it."

And he called to say how happy he was with the day's work, and I just thought that was great.

That's never happened to me again.

Narrator: Like her character who digs deep into her reserves to escape the psycho's clutches, she wanted to prove she was a real actress and, perhaps, a worthy heir.

Because Jamie Lee Curtis wasn't totally unknown, being the second daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, two actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

They became famous in movies that marked the history of film, like "Trapeze," "Some Like It Hot," "Touch of Evil," and "Psycho."

She grew up in the shadow of the two stars, with everything that such a heritage implied -- luxury and misdemeanors, but also family breakups, divorces, and remarriages, in a childhood torn between so-called normal life and that of the Hollywood brats.

Tony: Well, we both are, in action, oriented... Narrator: In the presence of a reporter, the 15-year-old, flanked by her mother and stepfather, tried to assert herself.

Leigh: Our daughter, Jamie Curtis.

Dunphy: Nice to have you here.

Leigh: Did you have a good day?

Dunphy: Glad you could make it.

Curtis: Yeah.

Leigh: Oh.

[ Chuckles ] Why don't we sit over there?

Come on, honey.

Dunphy: You ever think of following in your mother's footsteps?

Curtis: Well, I like dramatics.

I mean, I'm taking drama at school, and I'd just like to pursue it maybe.

Dunphy: Do you have that in mind maybe?

Curtis: Yes.

I have a lot of ideas, but that's one of them.

Narrator: After dropping out of university at aged 18, Jamie Lee decided to attend auditions and landed a role in the sitcom "Operation Petticoat."

She continued making TV appearances in the hope of being noticed.

Quincy: I'm sorry.

I-I was looking for someone.

Girl: You won't find who you're looking for in here, mister.

Quincy: I'm sorry.

Waitress: You buy that here?

♪♪ Narrator: At the time, John Carpenter was putting together his first horror movie.

The crew was mainly made up of friends and young technicians, like the still photographer Kim Gottlieb, who captured this new style of independent filmmaking on set.

While all the jobs were allotted, the big question still hung over which young woman would play the lead role.

Discussions between the filmmakers and the producers were tense.

But coincidence would play in Jamie Lee's favor.

Her mother, Janet Leigh, had played the female lead in Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece "Psycho," which can be considered the first-ever slasher movie, an argument that impressed both camps.

Marion: [ Screaming ] ♪♪ Narrator: In "Psycho," the victim makes the mistake of staying at an isolated motel alone.

In "Halloween," the psychopath Michael Myers spreads fear in a quiet American neighborhood where the babysitters are left to their own devices... Woman: Well, I'll keep my doors locked.

Thanks for telling me.

Narrator: ...a prudish America that looks down on loose young women who think of nothing but smoking and sex and therefore deserve to be slain.

[ Ominous music playing ] Laurie Strode looks on powerlessly as her friends die.

She's the only survivor of the massacre.

Laurie: [ Gasping ] Narrator: She has unwittingly become a new cinema trope -- the final girl.

With the character of Laurie Strode, Jamie Lee Curtis embodied a serious and brave young woman who immediately arouses our empathy.

For the young actress, "Halloween" was much more than a first movie.

It was also an encounter with a cinema family.

With John Carpenter and Debra Hill barely older than herself, she discovered acting freedom and the effervescence behind a low-budget production.

Children: Trick or treat!

Narrator: Shot in 20 days in the spring with very few extras, every morning, they scattered fake dead leaves on the ground.

And the illusion of fall worked.

"Halloween" became a global phenomenon.

The small, independent movie, which cost only $320,000 to make, grossed upwards of $70 million at the box office.

After this internationally acclaimed role, a promising career seemed to beckon.

But Jamie Lee received no further movie offers and feared she would simply disappear, like many young actresses.

[ "Love Boat Theme" plays ] So it was back to square one and small roles in TV series, like this one alongside her mother.

Gail: Hello there!

Wayne: Gail!

Linda: Mother.

Gail: Hi.

[ Chuckles ] Hi, sweetheart.

Wayne: Hi!

Linda: What are you doing here?

We didn't expect you to see us off.

Gail: Oh, well, any chance I get to see my baby.

Linda: Oh!

Narrator: Having learned her craft in the studio system, Janet Leigh knew the tough nature of the profession.

Leigh: There is a misconception.

Movie stars do not lay back on chaise lounges and pop bonbons.

We work.

We get up at 4:30 or 5:00, and we work all day and, um, have to be... You know?

It's, um -- It's work.

Narrator: Her mother's lesson was taken on board, and Jamie Lee accepted everything she was offered, from brief appearances on TV shows such as "Charlie's Angels" to the role of narrator in a documentary directed by John Landis.

Curtis: Hi.

I'm Jamie Lee Curtis, and this is Castle Dracula at Universal Studios.

Narrator: It was John Carpenter who once again gave her a break in movies.

Announcer: Look into the darkness across the water.

Look for the fog.

John Carpenter's "The Fog."

What in the living hell is out there?

Narrator: John Carpenter was the leading light among a new generation of horror movie directors.

With this supernatural movie, Jamie Lee re-encountered her filmmaking family, and the energy of a low-budget shoot.

Man: There's something in the fog.

[ Ominous music playing ] Elizabeth: [ Screams ] Narrator: She became the go-to actress for B-movie directors.

She was in demand everywhere -- Canada, Australia.

She was the best known scream queen of the time.

♪♪ [ Up-tempo music plays ] Pardo: Ladies and gentlemen, Jamie Lee Curtis!

[ Cheers and applause ] Curtis: You know, I got to tell you, one thing I've always seemed to notice is that audiences expect certain things from certain performers.

They always want Steve Martin to say, "I'm a wild and crazy guy," right?

And you can never hear Springsteen sing without hearing "Born to Run," right?

Man: Right!

Curtis: I know a lot of people out there have seen me in "Halloween" and "The Fog," and -- [ Cheers and applause ] Thank you.

And they're all expecting me to do one thing.

Well, this is for you.

[ Screams ] [ Cheers and applause ] Narrator: Three years after "Halloween," she stepped back into Carpenter's world and the shoes of Laurie Strode, once again up against her first adversary, Michael Myers.

[ Ominous music playing ] ♪♪ How could she escape from this impasse?

How could she get to play someone other than a young woman hunted by a slasher?

At 23 years old, the actress decided to stop taking on scream queen roles, even if it meant endangering her career.

Carter: What's the perfect role for Jamie Lee?

Is there anything you're dying to do as an actress?

Curtis: No.

I -- I really just want to keep working, basically.

Um... In today's acting world, you can't formulate what you're gonna do with your career right now.

It's all you've got -- The jobs aren't that easily come by.

The competition is extreme.

I just want to keep working.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] Narrator: Jamie Lee Curtis wanted a role the complete opposite of the sensible girl in "Halloween."

She took on the role of Dorothy Stratten, a centerfold murdered by her estranged husband.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] Here she was this time embodying another fantasy character -- the sexy platinum blonde.

The TV movie tells the tragic tale of a young model who becomes an object of desire.

Jamie Lee Curtis took what could be a trap for a young actress and turned it into a golden opportunity to show another facet of her repertoire.

From one stereotype to the next, Jamie Lee Curtis beat her own path, like with Ophelia, her character in "Trading Places," where she smoothly passed from one world to another.

Man: Hey, how you doing?

[ Laughs ] Louis: You know those people?

Narrator: In this John Landis movie, she wore a tight-fitting dress that highlighted her perfect figure and a wig that disguised her, but she nonetheless managed to reveal her style and uniqueness as an actress.

For the role of Ophelia, John Landis remembered the funny and natural young woman he had cast in his documentary on the horror genre.

He wanted Jamie Lee Curtis for his next film, but how could he convince the studio when she had only appeared in B movies and was still labeled the scream queen?

Landis stood firm.

He knew she would surprise audiences.

Ophelia: The only thing I got going for me in this whole big wide world is this body, this face, and what I got up here.

Narrator: In one movement, Jamie Lee Curtis imposed herself as she is, without artifice and different from Hollywood's canons of beauty.

Ophelia: 99 1/2.

You're not getting out of bed, though, until it's normal.

Narrator: The part was small and fairly naked, but who cares?

Ophelia: By the way, food and rent are not the only things around here that cost money.

You sleep on the couch.

[ Door slams ] Narrator: For the first time, the actress appeared alongside two established movie stars -- Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd.

She was only 25 and had a short career behind her.

And yet, Jamie Lee barely smiled in photos.

Despite appearances, she had complexes.

As a kid, she always avoided smiling because of her teeth, which were gray due to the medication her mother took when she was pregnant with her, and she often admitted to having an imperfect face.

Carter: Have your good looks hurt you in any parts that you've been up for?

Curtis: I -- I'm very flattered.

I -- It's one of the things that I've always never really thought I was very pretty, so I've always thought that I should play, like, the unattractive girl in movies.

So my good looks have never hurt me because I don't really think that they're that good.

They're weird.

I've got a really bizarre little face.

It's, like, all crooked.

It's like when I came out, I came out on a real weird angle.

It's like "nyo," down the chute, but it was like... You know?

I have a crooked smile.

I mean, I'm all screwed up.

Narrator: How do you meet expectations when you're the daughter of two movie stars admired for their beauty?

Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis were one of the most glamorous couples in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

In 1958, the birth of their daughter was announced in the press.

Throughout her childhood, family photos filled the pages of the celebrity magazines.

She grew up in one of those mansions where stars kept to themselves around the pool.

[ Children shouting indistinctly ] The glossy image of happiness hid the cracks.

She was 4 when her parents divorced.

Her mother took her with her, and she grew up distanced from her father.

Her tomboy look reflected her inner revolt.

There was now someone missing from the family snapshots.

To keep up the family narrative, Jamie Lee Curtis would post her close connection with her parents on social media.

In spite of the family breakup, she put forth the image of a woman who's always been comfortable with herself no matter what.

1980s, Los Angeles.

Sport took over the streets.

The United States wanted its body to be healthy, but one sport in particular became all the rage -- aerobics.

It symbolized women reclaiming power over their bodies, which had long been the focal point of men.

Fonda: I hope you're ready for a great lower-body class.

First part, the aerobics class, is a low-impact workout... Narrator: Jane Fonda started the fashion among American women.

She opened the door to fitness centers for them.

This new dictate found its way into film.

For one movie, the 27-year-old Jamie Lee would sculpt her body until it was the very ideal that her fellow American women aspired to -- an androgynous, muscular woman who retained her sex appeal.

In "Perfect," Jamie Lee Curtis played Jessie Wilson, a former swimming champion turned fitness coach.

In the male lead, Hollywood's sexiest actor/dancer, John Travolta.

Adam: ...watching your class.

You're great.

Jessie: Thanks.

Adam: Really good.

I'm a reporter for Rolling Stone.

I'm doing a story about the Sports Connection here.

Jessie: Really?

Adam: Yeah.

Jessie: Rolling Stone?

Adam: [ Chuckling ] Yes.

Narrator: With suggestive body movements and gyrating hips, the actress drove the actor so far into a corner that she dethroned him to become the body.

♪♪ Beyond her perfect physique, Jamie Lee Curtis turned Jessie into a woman seeking to heal her own deep wounds.

Like her lead character, the actress was still lacking in self-confidence, something she would admit to years later.

Curtis: I'll tell you now -- the amount of time that I spent [voice breaking] thinking that I wasn't good enough.

Pollak: Oh, yeah.

Curtis: The amount of time that I thought that someone else was better, was... Pollak: Right.

Curtis: What I would give... for that time, the amount of time of that, um... Pollak: Wasted energy.

Curtis: ...wasted comparison to other people would be -- Pollak: Yeah.

Curtis: I would beg.

I would -- I would plead.

I would do anything to get it back.

[ Camera shutters clicking ] [ Indistinct shouting ] Narrator: And yet she had started to gain recognition from her peers.

In 1984, in Britain, she won the prestigious BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ophelia in "Trading Places."

Her role caught the eye of comedian and screenwriter John Cleese.

The famous member of Monty Python, known for his off-beat humor, had found the ideal partner.

Cleese co-wrote a screenplay for Jamie Lee Curtis and was convinced the movie would be a huge hit.

♪♪ On its release, "A Fish Called Wanda" was immediately top of the box office and still lists as one of the best English-language comedies of all time.

Wanda: Hi, Ken.

Ken: Hello, Wanda.

Narrator: John Cleese not only created a tailor-made role for Curtis, but also brought out her humor.

She plays Wanda, a funny and sexy manipulator, and a member of a zany gang of diamond thieves.

Otto: That was fun.

I love robbing the English.

So polite.

Ken: The d-d-d-- What is it, Ken?

Ken: The -- The dog!

Wanda: We didn't hit the dog, Ken.

It's okay.

Otto: $20 million, and he's worried about an insect.

Narrator: For the first time in the upside-down world of Monty Python, a woman had found her place.

[ Siren wailing ] [ Tires screech ] Wanda: Ken?

[ Engine starts ] Bye.

Narrator: During the shoot in England, Jamie Lee Curtis and the Pythons were on the same wavelength.

Archie: What do you really want out of life, Wanda?

Wanda: I don't know.

Archie: Why do I like you so much?

Wanda: Archie?

Archie: Hmm?

Wanda: Do you speak Italian?

Archie: I am Italian!

Sono italiano in spirito!

Narrator: Far from the pressures of Hollywood, she let herself go.

When the director asked her to play a seductive scene naked, she suggested reversing the roles and having John Cleese naked instead.

Archie: V dushe kak bremya skatyatsya somneniya daleko.

I varitsya i plachetsya, i tak legko!

Leg-- [ Cheers and applause ] Narrator: This state of grace continued after the shoot.

Donahue: Jamie Lee, how did you get on with these talented men that surround you in this whole film?

Curtis: Well, because I'm totally untalented, it was very difficult.

[ Laughter ] But, uh, I really -- I learned a lot.

And, um, I'm even learning how to spell better.

Thank you.

[ Laughter ] Donahue: Uh, what is that on your cheek?

Cleese: [ Chuckles ] This is the same as the kiss that I have on the poster for the movie.

Curtis: He hasn't washed his face since I kissed him.

I have that effect on people.

[ Laughter ] Narrator: Jamie Lee Curtis was enjoying one of the most flourishing times of her acting career.

[ Electric guitar playing ] Narrator: And soon, another encounter would change her private life.

He was Anglo-American, an actor, and his name was Christopher Guest.

[ Electric guitar humming ] He had just finished shooting "This Is Spinal Tap," a mockumentary about a fictional heavy metal band.

[ Instruments squealing ] In this parody of the rock scene, he plays the wacky lead guitarist.

Jamie Lee first saw him as she flicked through a copy of Rolling Stone magazine.

Clarkson: How did you meet?

Pollak: Is it true you looked at a photograph... Narrator: Now an unavoidable question on every talk show set, she still delights in talking about meeting the man of her life.

Curtis: I was single.

1984.

My friend Debra Hill was over.

We opened the May issue of Rolling Stone, with Cyndi Lauper on the cover.

And then you flip the page, and there's the characters, all three characters.

Narrator: She told her friend she would marry the man on the right in the photo.

She even left her phone number with his agent.

But Christopher Guest never called.

A few weeks later, just by chance, they ran into each other at a restaurant.

Curtis: And he looked at me, and he went... And I went... And then I kind of did that, "Oh... There's this guy I called and left my number and he never called me.

Oh, I'm really embarrassed."

And then basically, he got up to leave.

His dinner was over.

He got up to leave.

And he stood there, and he went... And I went... Narrator: How could he resist this woman prepared to risk so much?

30 years later, Christopher Guest would speak of the importance of this meeting when reminiscing about the days of "Spinal Tap."

Guest: I was in a hotel in Los Angeles, waiting for a friend in the lobby, and an English band was checking in.

This was 1974.

The manager and -- I think there were four of them.

They went up to the desk and he started doing the thing and I was just waiting for my friend.

And the manager says to one of them, [English accent] "Where's your bass?"

"What?"

[ Laughter ] "Where's your bass?"

"I don't know.

I think I left it at the airport."

[ Laughter ] "You left your bass at the airport?

"I don't know.

Where is it?"

"Well, I don't know.

I'm asking you."

[ Normal voice ] Well, it went on for 15 minutes.

[ Laughter ] I don't think I've ever been happier.

[ Laughter ] Except for the night that... I met my wife.

[ Cheers and applause ] Narrator: That first encounter was in July 1984.

Six months later, they married.

Jamie Lee Curtis would take her revenge on the Hollywood curse of divorces and multiple marriages.

In 1988, Jamie Lee Curtis took her husband and their 18-month-old daughter to the set of the movie "Blue Steel" in New York.

This time, the director was a woman, Kathryn Bigelow.

A product of the New York underground scene, the director creates worlds inspired by the codes of movie genres.

Officer: So, Turner, how come?

For the action?

Narrator: She asked Jamie Lee Curtis to embody the ambivalence of a feminine rookie cop caught up in a brutal, masculine world.

Officer: I looked at those guys, the men in blue, and I thought to myself, "Nobody...with a cop."

Ever since you were a kid, huh?

Turner: Yeah, I wanted to shoot people.

Officer: No kidding?

Narrator: A role that seemed written for her.

Like the character she played, police officer Megan Turner, the actress also displayed total commitment to her craft.

Kathryn Bigelow plunged the actress into male-centric urban violence.

Robber: You want to play games, huh?

You want to play some...games?

You better give me that...change.

Turner: Police!

Don't move!

Put the gun down!

Robber: Get out of my face, baby.

Turner: I said put the gun down now!

Robber: Oh...you!

[ Glass breaking ] Narrator: For a few seconds, the rookie, Megan Turner, loses her self-confidence and is confronted with the misogyny and power of a male-dominated system.

Mann: ...some poor slob's face off, and 24 hours later, she's off the force.

Turner: It was justifiable circumstances.

Mann: What did he draw on you?

Turner: Looked like a .44.

Mann: Why didn't you just tackle him?

Turner: 'Cause he was 40 feet away.

Mann: So, then how could you tell if it was a .44?

Turner: Because I could.

Narrator: In this world ruled by men, a woman has no room for error.

Mann: ...figured it out yet, Turner, every aspect of your life is my business.

I own you.

Narrator: Like the young cop Megan, who thinks she's protected by her uniform and firearm and discovers that nothing is further from the truth, Jamie Lee Curtis felt fragile.

With so many night scenes to shoot, the actress, who had dreamed of becoming a mother, saw little of her daughter.

This tough, distressing role touched a nerve with her and revived some of her childhood traumas.

♪♪ She had long borne the traces of her father's scandals, his multiple marriages, and his long battle with alcoholism.

Curtis: I tried to take care of him a little bit.

I -- I -- Uh, there was a point, oddly enough, where, as I explained earlier, there was a time where all five of his kids lived with him and I was the ostracized one.

There was a point in time where I was the only one who was communicating with him.

♪♪ Narrator: When Megan Turner slipped away into the New York night, Jamie Lee Curtis left the shoot with one certainty -- from now on, her family would be her priority.

It was a key moment in her career.

She was now an established leading movie actress.

But once again, she made a radical decision.

Man: Are you comfortable?

Hannah: Oh, yeah.

[ Polygraph buzzes ] Alright.

[ Chuckles ] I'm a little nervous.

[ Polygraph buzzes ] Hannah: Okay, I'm a lot nervous.

[ Polygraph buzzes ] Man: What do you have to be nervous about?

Narrator: She quit the movie sets for the sitcom "Anything But Love," a popular comedy co-starring comedian Richard Lewis.

The family atmosphere on set and the effervescence of live filming reminded her of her beginnings.

Jamie Lee Curtis had struck the perfect balance between her acting career and her life as a mother.

This so-called retirement was seen as an affront by Hollywood, and years later, she still found herself having to justify her choice.

Curtis: No, I never said the word "retired."

That's not my word, not my word, not "retired."

Interviewer: Well, you told me you don't want to keep working as an actor.

Curtis: No, I merely said I was just raising my children.

Big difference.

Narrator: In the 1990s, just like her characters confronted with the world's violence, Jamie Lee Curtis stepped back into the ring.

Curtis: I used to listen... to the "Rocky" theme song in my car before auditions.

Pollak: That's a great thing to admit.

Narrator: This self derision, unusual in Hollywood, would help her overcome her lack of self-confidence and make her stand out.

Curtis: And I had just -- How the...do we do it?

Pollak: [ Laughing ] Oh, my God.

Curtis: How does anybody do this frickin' job?!

Pollak: Oh, it's... Narrator: And each disappointment gave her the guts to keep auditioning in the race for leading roles.

Curtis: I have tried to get jobs.

I have screen-tested for movies.

Pollak: Yes.

It's been me and Debra Winger, me and Debra Winger many, many, many times, and Debra Winger...got it every...time.

Pollak: Right.

Curtis: It's what happened.

And then the phone rings a couple times in your life.

I've said, like, "How does that happen?"

And for whatever reason, it happens.

[ Telephone rings ] Helen: I'll get it.

Hello?

Man: Doris.

Narrator: At the other end of the line, James Cameron.

Helen: Um... Um, yes?

Narrator: The director of "Terminator" was offering her a leading role.

What happened next was straight out of a spy movie.

The actress had to read the screenplay in the company of an assistant who afterwards left with it without leaving her a copy.

Her agent didn't believe her.

And against all expectations, she landed the role of Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife.

[ Mid-tempo jazz music playing ] Jamie Lee, always at ease when her sense of humor is called upon, had found a role to match herself, embodying two movie clichés of women -- the awkward wife and the femme fatale.

Helen: [ Grunts ] Narrator: Walking the tightrope of caricature, she exceeded all the director's expectations in scenes where her virtuosity turned into cult sequences.

Curtis: Well, it's never easy for you to shoot anytime you're exposing yourself in a vulnerable way, in a physical way, You know, I have a sense of humor about anything I do.

It's the way I get through my life.

It's the way I get through my work.

So I think I just walked on the set the first day and kind of dropped my dress and said, "Okay, let's check me out now."

And I bent over and I, you know, lifted my leg up over on the bed and I kind of like grinded the bedposts and said, "Okay, we're there.

We're fine.

Everybody's seen this.

Now let's just do the work."

Hiatt: ♪ So I rub my nose in it, babe ♪ ♪ Till the roses... ♪ Narrator: At 36 years old, she had learned that self derision was her greatest weapon or how to cement a striptease scene in the annals of film.

Hiatt: ♪ All alone in the dark now, baby ♪ ♪ I'm all alone and drawing whiskey breath ♪ Narrator: On its release, "True Lies" shot to the top of the box office.

Jamie Lee Curtis entered the prize category of bankable actresses and came away with a Golden Globe for Best Actress.

Swayze: Jamie Lee Curtis, "True Lies."

Curtis: You know what?

I'm telling you.

I pulled out my daughter's good luck note literally right before they read the thing.

I'm serious.

It says, "'True Lies,' Mom."

I'm telling you.

[ Applause ] Jim, thank you for that.

Thank you for Helen.

Thank you for, um, letting me hang out of a helicopter the day before my 35th birthday.

Narrator: Jamie Lee Curtis had a career, two children, and a happy marriage.

Her gamble of plying her trade while cherishing family life had paid off.

[ Camera shutters clicking ] [ Indistinct conversations ] She had sworn never to appear in another horror movie, but nostalgia for a small family shoot got the better of her.

She asked her two friends and mentors, John Carpenter and Debra Hill, to let her once again confront her arch enemy, Michael Myers, this time in a production financed by a studio.

They were enthusiastic about the project, but ended up not being involved in the venture.

She would carry the movie alone.

20 years after "Halloween," she resumed her character of Laurie Strode, the role that revealed her to audiences, the role that would reveal her to herself.

Laurie: [ Screaming] Narrator: In this new episode, Laurie Strode is a mature woman, the headmistress of a private boarding school, divorced and raising her 20-year-old son alone.

He's played by Josh Hartnett in his first movie role.

Laurie: Yeah.

Yeah, please.

Thanks.

Josh: Sure.

Laurie: It's okay.

[ Breathing heavily ] [ Groaning ] Josh: [ Sighs ] Nightmares.

Nightmares.

[ Bottles clank] Nightmares.

[ Pills rattle ] Narrator: Every Halloween, Laurie Strode's trauma is reawakened.

Like her character, Jamie Lee Curtis was still unable to shake off an inexplicable ill-at-ease.

In "Halloween H20:" Janet Leigh has a minor role.

Although she doesn't play Jamie Lee's mother, their scene together is nonetheless disturbing.

Norma: Uh, Miss Tate.

I know it's not my place.

If I could be maternal for a moment... I don't like to see you like this.

I've seen you like this before, and we've all had bad things happen to us.

The trick is to concentrate on today.

What do I know?

You just take care of yourself, okay?

Laurie: Thank you very much.

I'll see you Monday.

Narrator: Was Janet Leigh aware of her daughter's difficulties?

"Halloween H20": deals with the subject of trauma.

Jamie Lee Curtis plays a Laurie Strode who is alone and keeping herself together with the help of drink.

Laurie: Ahh.

Narrator: The actress's life would change with this role, and years later, she would confess to her own addiction problems.

Curtis: I had been nursing a secret Vicodin addiction for a very long time, over 10 years.

Not one person knew except a Brazilian healer woman.

She had been staying with us.

And I was in my kitchen, and I had a pocket full of Vicodin.

I had a glass of wine on the counter.

It was 5:00 -- You know, it was Vic-o'clock.

I mean, it was just sort of like cocktail hour.

And I pocketed five of them, you know, put them in my mouth, took a swig of wine, and from behind me, I heard this -- "You know, Jamie, I see you."

"I see you with your little pills.

And you think you're so fabulous and so great.

But the truth is, you're dead.

You're a dead woman."

That was a first big, shocking realization that someone saw it.

Narrator: Addictions are common in the world of appearances that is Hollywood.

Liquor is almost a must-have accessory for an actress with highs and lows.

It helped Jamie Lee Curtis get over a devastating remark from a director of photography who refused to film her with bags under her eyes.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] After having plastic surgery to remove them, she became dependent on painkillers... ...a drug that would help her cope with other wounds accumulated through a career where self-esteem takes a constant beating.

Curtis: You know, it's a hard thing on your self-esteem.

And how do you keep that up all your life?

I'm 58 years old.

I have been an actress since I was 19.

Narrator: Jamie Lee Curtis went into rehab and assumed public battle for the actress in her 50s.

Curtis: For me, what is the value of having fame if not to sort of pull this to me and then push it back out there and hopefully for good?

I do believe in the role of a public person and the responsibility of a public person.

That's why I'm here, really, is to just, again, as I said in the piece, broaden the dialogue.

Narrator: Having won the toughest battle of her life, she would once again surprise people with another decision.

[ Indistinct shouting ] In Hollywood, once an actress turns 40, she's past her sell by date.

Those who resist are generally cast as evil women or wives of cheating husbands, but Jamie Lee Curtis opted for roles of zany, laid-back mothers.

In "Freaky Friday," a fantasy comedy in which a mother and daughter's bodies are switched, Jamie Lee Curtis plays opposite Lindsay Lohan, then a rising Walt Disney Pictures star.

Anna: I'm old!

Tess: I beg your pardon?!

Anna: Ohh, I'm like the Crypt Keeper!

Tess: Okay, that's enough.

[ Both scream ] Narrator: After a few days of shooting, the director suggested she play it down a bit.

She riposted by telling him to leave her free to play it as she is -- a woman freed from her image and prepare to make a fool of herself in public... Together: Ready?

Okay!

Narrator: ...like the mom she played in "You Again."

Together: We're gonna dribble and fight, fight, fight!

Mark: Yeah!

Together: Snap those jaws!

Let's begin!

Ridgefield Gators gonna win, win, win!

Goooooo... Gators!

[ Cheering ] Narrator: She who had always scoffed at labels simply refused to be anything but herself.

Gail: Gator Power!

Mami: Mom!

Gail: Yeah!

Ramona: Ooh.

Curtis: Honestly, for me, the whole movie was just kind of looking for anything I could do to sort of not have to stand there.

So, any time I can try to find something silly to do, I will try.

Nora: Hello.

Excuse me.

I am looking for a ham, a hickory honey ham.

Narrator: Her character in "Christmas with the Kranks" brought her comedy scenes that allowed her to break even further with her former image.

[ The Brian Setzer Orchestra's "The Nutcracker Suite" plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Nora: [ Gasps ] [ Screaming ] [ Grunts ] Woman: Happy holidays.

♪♪ Narrator: In the mid-2010s, she took part after part.

She imposed her own style, that touch of zaniness that directors would use to give a little extra soul to the characters... ♪♪ ...like this cutting university principal... Dean Munsch: I hate sororities, and I hate you.

Narrator: ...this despotic U.S.

vice president... Burke: Alright.

Good enough for me.

Narrator: ...this blasé heiress.

Linda: No.

Chanel: Oh, my God, she looks... Narrator: With her particular characterization and the originality of her acting style, she has made her own place in Hollywood.

♪♪ She has shared her experience with younger generations, like with this other queen of horror, played by Lady Gaga in the series "American Horror Story."

Curtis: I was once on the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, and I remember feeling that I had to be smarter and better.

I felt very, uh, little -- and -- and insecure.

And I ran into Terry Gilliam, who is a filmmaker and very interesting guy.

And I remember talking to him there.

And he asked me what I was doing, and I said, "Well, I really feel like I should be doing more and I should really be focusing and much more serious about my work."

And he looked at me, and he said, "Why don't you stop trying to be such a...good actress and just do what you're...good at?"

Lady Gaga: Yeah.

Narrator: To reveal this part of herself, she would take many different paths, avoiding the pitfalls of convention.

At 38 years old, Jamie Lee Curtis began writing children's books.

Her stories talk of the difficulties of motherhood, she, who adopted two children with her husband and for whom family has always been primordial.

Curtis: The one thing that's important for me to say about the book is that it's not just a book about adoption.

It's just a book that introduces the issues of adoption to people that I think, quite frankly, just don't know anything about it and think it's -- It's the building of a family.

You know, the inclusion of a child in your life, however that child comes to you, is how a family is born.

Narrator: At a reading she gave at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the movie star turned author told the class of children what she would take with her to a desert island.

Curtis: I would take a photograph at my wedding of my whole family because I have a family of many families.

I have -- I'm the product of many different marriages and kids.

And at my wedding, the gift I asked my dad for was to have everybody in my immediate family in one room.

And it is the only time in my life they were ever in one room.

And I have a photograph of it from my wedding.

By the way, no one is looking at the camera.

[ Laughter ] You know, I am.

I'm right in the middle in my wedding dress like this.

And everybody else is, like, looking up and looking down and talking to the person next to them, but they're there.

And so I would, too, take a photograph of my entire family with me to remember who I came from.

Narrator: Jamie Lee Curtis has kept the best of her family history.

By posting her private photos on Instagram, she maintains the Hollywood legend and lays claim to her artistic heritage.

In the series "Scream Queens," she recreated her mother's mythical shower scene from Hitchcock's "Psycho."

Viewers waited for the famous conclusion with bated breath.

[ Paper rustles ] [ Faucet squeals ] [ Ominous music plays ] [ Door opens, creaks ] [ Footsteps approaching ] ♪♪ Dean Munsch: [ Grunting ] I saw that movie 50 times.

Unh!

Narrator: For a long time, she tried to rid herself of the "queen of horror" label, but today, with this photo, she seems almost proud of it and addresses a kind of last show of love to her parents.

Curtis: My parents are both dead, and I'm out of their shadow.

I'm -- I'm basking in the glow of my own life, my own personal life.

I'm married for a long time.

I have two beautiful children I have raised to adulthood.

And I thought, "If not now, when?"

And so I said, "Okay, if we're gonna to do it, let's go for it."

And so we did.

Narrator: Since 1978, "Halloween" has become a franchise with a dozen movies brought to the screen.

Although Jamie Lee Curtis didn't appear in all of them, for fans, she is Laurie Strode.

They gather at conventions to meet their heroine and listen to her stories from backstage... ...like this animated discussion alongside the producers on the immortality of Michael Myers.

Curtis: I walk in, and I'm like, "What the... is happening here?"

[ Laughter ] "I don't understand this.

We had a stake through the heart.

We had a head chopped off.

We had it all."

And they looked at me and said, "Jamie..." "...there's a clause in the contract with Moustapha Akkad that says you can't kill him."

[ Laughter ] "What?!"

The whole construction of the story is that this woman stops running, turns back, and faces him, mano a mana until the death.

And she's willing to die for this.

[ Ominous music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Narrator: Although Michael Myers cannot die, Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, claims she can never be beaten.

She's grown old with her role and never lied about her age, which is a rarity in Hollywood.

She's no longer the innocent young woman, but an experienced woman bearing deep wounds.

40 years after the first "Halloween," Hollywood has launched a new trilogy, and a new generation of directors is appropriating the cult horror movie of their childhood.

Curtis: You know, what we tried to do with the new movie is really make a movie about trauma and what happens to somebody when they're traumatized 40 years before and when they're given no help, no mental health services.

Nobody swept in and tried to help her figure out why this random act of violence occurred.

And the woman we meet 40 years later is a woman who has lived with that trauma, so much so that her child was taken from her.

Man: Action!

[ Gunshots ] Narrator: For the violent scenes in the movie, at 63 years old, Jamie Lee Curtis turned herself into a warrior.

This time, she portrays a paranoid woman preparing for the return of Michael Myers.

The psychopath has escaped once again from the asylum and is spreading terror in the small town of Haddonfield.

Only this time, he's threatening Laurie Strode's daughter and granddaughter.

[ Ominous music playing ] Laurie: [ Whispering ] I have to finish this.

[ Footsteps ] Narrator: One last time, Laurie protects her loved ones, just as Jamie would have loved to be protected.

Laurie: Goodbye, Michael.

♪♪ ♪♪ Narrator: By confronting absolute evil, she sends out a message to women -- the final girl is no longer alone.

Women must never be victims again.

Curtis: We all would like to go back to our 15-year-old selves and give ourselves a hug and say, "It's gonna be okay."

Everybody walked through glass, broken glass and fire in their adolescence.

Everybody.

Nobody, nobody, nobody got through that unscathed.

It is the pro-- It's the process of human evolution.

It's a difficult time.

And so the message I would give you, me, and anybody who's watching this anywhere in the world... is, "You're gonna be okay."

Narrator: Role by role, Jamie Lee Curtis has often gone from victim to survivor.

Her acting career reflects the values she has always upheld -- the courage to confront her fears and freedom of choice.

[ Cheers and applause ] Like her atypical character in "Scream Queens," she has become a pop icon by putting across to younger generations the image of a liberated actress.

Sweeping aside the codes and stereotypes of the ideal woman, Jamie Lee Curtis has won the craziest gamble in Hollywood -- simply being herself.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪