MARLI RENFRO, a pin up model, who doubled for Janet Leigh in Psycho’s infamous shower scene, was interviewed on 15th October 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
“I was 21 years old when I made Psycho. They wanted a pin up model to double for Janet Leigh in the shower scene. I was hired for 2-3 days and worked for a total of 7 days. When I first met Alfred Hitchcock, he was everything I thought he would be. I’ve always been a big fan of Hitchcock, and would have done the movie for free to work with him. He was very polite, very professional, knew exactly what he wanted. He put me at ease.”
“I have heard various people in the business not speak kindly of him, but for one thing I think it might be personality clashes. The other thing is he knows exactly what he wants. To the T. I can’t say anything bad or negative about him. He was totally professional and had a great sense of humour.”
“I was almost naked doing the shower filming. Except I had a little rubber patch on my crotch and that was it. I was a nudist at the time, so being without clothes was very comfortable. My first day of work I showed up for make up, I was there for 2-3 hours, and I wore a grey and white wig which matched Janet Leigh’s hairstyle. One of the make up men walked me to the set, I took off my robe, and started doing some stretching exercises and stood there nonachantly. When you don’t have any clothes on it’s really very boring compared to wearing say a sexy negligee.”
“Hitchcock was very professional and made sure everyone was very respectful to me. I never got the impression that Hitchcock was lecherous. Nothing even bordering, not a tinge. I would have been aware of it if he had.”
“Once he brought the measuring tape from the lens of the camera and brought it to my left nipple. I thought that was very funny, it was his sense of humour showing. But he didn’t touch me!
“It’s so easy to say things after someone has passed on. I don’t agree with anything like that. To continually press on after somebody has passed on, I take that with a grain of salt myself. To me he is a genius in his field. When filming the shower scene was over, Hitch said thank you, it was a pleasure working with you, and he was very cordial.”
save hitchcock 
One of my favourite interviews on your website. Marli Renfro’s account is important since as a nudist, she has to deal with very vulgar and disrespectful individuals. Had she sensed anything gross or vile from Alfred Hitchcock, she would have noticed it right away and would have informed anyone. And that Hitch insisted to everyone on the crew that she should be treated with respect is a great trait of his human principles. It showed how he could sense her presence could be tempting to some unpleasant persons and his words were a way to warn everyone that there should display respectful manners around Marli Renfro. As for his little joke with the tape measurer, which she found hilarious and so did everyone on the set, I think it was his way to defuse any uncomfortable uneasiness that some might have working around someone nude. It helped lighten up the atmosphere and it made everyone stop worrying about working with a nude model (something that was still unconventional back then in Hollywood). Thank you for this important interview that shows how Hitchcock was around on the set of Psycho, which debunks certain claims made by two individuals.