She was 77, and had suffered from vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood cells, for the last year. Her husband Robert Brandt and daughters, actresses Kelly and Jamie Lee Curtis, were at her side.
Leigh, playing wholesome roles in the 1940s, found her career resurrected as she moved into darker films in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Examples of enduring successes of that era include Orson Welles' classic Touch Of Evil and the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate, with Frank Sinatra.
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Her lasting celluloid imprint, however, came with the sensational shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho, where Leigh is stabbed to death.
Hitchcock crafted the scene from 70-odd takes of a few seconds each, for which the actress spent seven days in the shower.
It is one of cinema's most unforgettable images, and Leigh was nominated for an Academy Award for her traumatised performance.
She often said she hadn't been able to take a shower since then.
Photograph: Getty Images