Anthony Perkins

Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning American stage and screen actor, best known for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and its three sequels.

Biography

Early life

Perkins was born in New York City, the son of Janet Esselstyn (née Rane) and stage and film actor James Ripley Osgood Perkins. He attended The Brooks School, Buckingham Browne & Nichols, Columbia University and Rollins College, having moved to Boston, Massachusetts, after his father's death in 1942.

Career

Perkins made his film debut in The Actress (1953). He received the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his second film, Friendly Persuasion (1956). Following this, he released three pop albums in 1957 and 1958 on Epic and RCA as "Tony Perkins". His single "Moon-Light Swim" was a hit in the United States, peaking at #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1957. He showcased his musical talents in the film Matchmaker (1958).

He also acted on the stage. In 1958, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Look Homeward, Angel on Broadway.

Perkings starred as Norman Bates in the 1960 film Psycho. The role and its many sequels affected the remainder of his career.

Following the success of Psycho, Perkins had a successful career in Europe. He portrayed Joseph K. in Orson Welles' 1962 adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Trial. Upon returning to America, he took the role of a disturbed young murderer in Pretty Poison (1968). He also played Chaplain Tappman in Catch-22 (1970). Perkins also co-wrote, with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, the screenplay for the 1973 film The Last of Sheila, for which they received a 1974 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. He returned to the role of Norman Bates for the sequels, Psycho II, Psycho III (which he directed) and Psycho IV: The Beginning.

Among his Broadway credits are the Frank Loesser musical Greenwillow (1960) and Bernard Slade's 1979 play Romantic Comedy opposite Mia Farrow. Perkins' life was documented in the 1996 biography Anthony Perkins: Split Image written by Charles Winecoff.

Personal life

In August 1973, at age 41, Perkins married Berry Berenson, with whom he had two sons: actor Osgood "Oz" Perkins (b. 1974), and musician Elvis Perkins (b. 1978).

He was bisexual. He claimed to have had exclusively same-sex relationships until his late 30s, when he met actress Victoria Principal, at which point he underwent therapy. His affairs with men included actors Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and dancer-choreographer Grover Dale. Perkins had a six-year relationship with Dale prior to marrying Berenson.

Perkins died at age 60, on September 12, 1992, from complications of AIDS.

Berry Berenson died on American Airlines Flight 11, during the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Quote

I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding from the people I have met in this great adventure in the world of AIDS than I ever did in the cut-throat, competitive world in which I spent my life.

Filmography

• The Actress (1953)
• Friendly Persuasion (1956)
• Fear Strikes Out (1957)
• The Lonely Man (1957)
• The Tin Star (1957)
• Desire Under the Elms (1958)
• This Angry Age (1958)
• The Matchmaker (1958)
• Green Mansions (1959)
• On the Beach (1959)
• Tall Story (1960)
• Psycho (1960)
• Goodbye Again (1961)
• Phaedra (1962)
• Five Miles to Midnight (1962)
• The Trial (1962)
• The Sword and the Balance (1963)
• Agent 38-24-36 (1964)
• The Fool Killer (1965)
• Is Paris Burning? (1966)

• Evening Primrose (1966)
• The Champagne Murders (1967)
• Pretty Poison (1968)
• Catch-22 (1970)
• WUSA (1970)
• How Awful About Allan (1970)
• Ten Days' Wonder (1971)
• Someone Behind the Door (1971)
• Play It As It Lays (1972)
• The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
• Lovin' Molly (1974)
• Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
• Mahogany (1975)
• Remember My Name (1978)
• First, You Cry (1978)
• Les Misérables (1978)
• Winter Kills (1979)
• Twice a Woman (1979)
• The Black Hole (1979)

• Double Negative (1980)
• North Sea Hijack (1980)
• For the Term of His Natural Life (1982)
• The Sins of Dorian Gray (1983)
• Psycho II (1983)
• The Glory Boys (1984)
• Crimes of Passion (1984)
• Psycho III (1986)
• Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story (1987)
• Destroyer (1988)
• Edge of Sanity (1989)
• Chillers (1990)
• Daughter of Darkness (1990)
• I'm Dangerous Tonight (1990)
• Ghost Writer (1990)
• Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)
• The Man Next Door (1991)
• The Naked Target (1992)
• In the Deep Woods (1992)

References

External links

• Psycho star Anthony Perkins on playing Norman Bates