Jamie Lee Curtis: My Father Leaves Behind a "Legacy of Great Performances"

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is speaking out on the passing of her father, actor Tony Curtis.

"My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages," she said in a statement Thursday. "He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and in-laws who were devoted to him. He also leaves behind fans all over the world."

Pictures: Jamie Lee Curtis
Pictures: Tony Curtis

The Hollywood legend died on Wednesday at his Las Vegas area home of a cardiac arrest, Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said Thursday. He was 85.

Jamie Lee is the daughter of Tony Curtis and his first wife, "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh, who died in 2004. The couple divorced in 1963.

Curtis took a fatherly pride in his daughter's success. The two were estranged for a long period, then reconciled.

"I understand him better now," she said, "perhaps not as a father but as a man."

Curtis also had five other children. Daughters Kelly, also with Leigh, and Allegra, with second wife Christine Kaufmann, also became actresses. His other wives were Leslie Allen, Lisa Deutsch and Jill VandenBerg, whom he married in 1998.