Anthony Perkins

For other people named Anthony Perkins, see Anthony Perkins (disambiguation).

Anthony Perkins
Resting place	Cremated
Years active	1953–1992
Spouse(s)	Berry Berenson (1973–1992)
Awards	Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival) 1961 Goodbye Again

Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning American 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 in 1942, five years after his father's death.

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. During this time he also starred in Green Mansions (1959) with Audrey Hepburn and Tall Story with Jane Fonda.

Perkins was cast as Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed film Psycho (1960). The film was a critical and commercial success and gained Perkins international fame. 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. In 1972, he starred in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset and Victoria Principal. Perkins was one of the many stars featured in the 1974 hit Murder on the Orient Express, reuiniting him with Bisset and costarring Sean Connery and Albert Finney among others. Perkins also hosted Saturday Night Live in 1976. He starred in his only science fiction film, The Black Hole, in 1979. Among his Broadway credits are the Frank Loesser musical Greenwillow (1960) and Bernard Slade's 1979 play Romantic Comedy opposite Mia Farrow.

Perkins returned to the role of Norman Bates in three sequels to Psycho. The first was Psycho II, which was the second-highest grossing film during the summer of 1983. He starred in the sexually provocative film Crimes of Passion (1984) opposite Kathleen Turner. He starred in and directed Psycho III in 1986, followed by the made-for-cable sequel Psycho IV: The Beginning in 1990.

Although Perkins was fighting disease, he appeared in eight television productions between 1990 and 1992, including Daughter of Darkness (1990) with Mia Sara, The Naked Target (1992) with Roddy McDowall and made his final appearance was in In Deep Woods (1992) with Rosanna Arquette. Perkins' life was documented in the 1996 biography Anthony Perkins: Split Image written by Charles Winecoff.

Personal life

On August 9, 1973, Perkins married photographer Berry Berenson. They had two sons: actor Oz Perkins (b. February 2, 1974), and musician Elvis Perkins (b. February 9, 1976). They remained happily married until Perkins' death in 1992.

Perkins was bisexual. He once said he felt too nervous around women, and resisted actresses Jane Fonda and Brigitte Bardot, who had tried to seduce him during his youth. Sources say he had exclusively same-sex relationships until his late 30s. He reportedly had affairs with actors Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and dancer-choreographer Grover Dale prior to marrying Berenson. At one point, Perkins underwent therapy to "cure" his sexuality. His first heterosexual affair was with actress Victoria Principal. On the morning after their first night together, Perkins said he was a changed man, and that his last trace of anxiety of women was gone.

Perkins died at age 60, on September 12, 1992, from complications of AIDS. He was cremated, and his ashes were given to his family.

His widow Berry Berenson was killed on American Airlines Flight 11, during the September 11 attacks in 2001, a day before the ninth anniversary of Perkins' death.

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)

External links

• Please use a more specific IBDB template. See the documentation for available templates.
• Anthony Perkins at the TCM Movie Database
• Psycho star Anthony Perkins on playing Norman Bates