This lanky, down-to-earth leading lady, the daughter of film stars Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, made her film debut starring as a bookish suburban teen stalked in John Carpenter's landmark horror thriller, "Halloween" (1978), which--in the words of British film critic David Thomson--"drew on her iron-jawed air of integrity". Curtis' performance played an important role in making that film one of the most profitable ever made. Fittingly, she went on to star in a succession of films of that ilk ("The Fog", "Prom Night" and "Terror Train", all in 1980). Curtis reprised the role of Laurie Strode,