Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an Academy Award-nominated American stage and screen actor best known for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and its three sequels.
Boycotted the 1987 television movie Bates Motel (1987) (TV).
Son of Osgood Perkins.
Father of Oz Perkins and Elvis Perkins.
Entered Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida in September 1950. Also on campus during his first year were Fred Rogers (I) (of "MisteRogers' Neighborhood" (1968)) who graduated in 1951 and John Reardon (II), class of 1952. In 1953 he was offered a leading part in the movie Actress, The (1953). Almost immediately after returning to his studies he left to replace John Kerr (I) in "Tea and Sympathy" on Broadway. He never completed his degree but was given an honorary degree by the college some 20 years later.
On September 11, 2001 his widow and mother of his two sons, Berry Berenson was one of the 58 victims on AA-11 out of Boston that terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center.
Former brother-in-law of Marisa Berenson.
Attended prestigious Buckingham Browne & Nichols high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other alumni include "Sopranos, The" (1999) actress Ari Graynor, jazz musician Nate Peterson and Broadway star Lizzie Rose.
Was an only child, and his mother and father gave him no middle name.
Was cremated, and the superscription on his urn reads "Don't Fence Me In".
Was into psychoanalysis, and was treated by Dr. Mildren Newman in New York, starting in the early 1950s and continuing into the late 1970s.
During 1990, he got a blood sample taken due to a palsy on the side of his face. The "National Enquirer" illegally had Tony's blood sample tested for the AIDS virus, and found out that it was positive. Later that year, the "National Enquirer" wrote a story about his battle with AIDS, but the ironic thing was that he only found out that he was HIV positive from this article. He suspected that he probably was, but he never checked for it before the article was written.
Had agreed to voice the dentist on "Simpsons, The" (1989) episode "Last Exit to Springfield" but died before work began. The role then went to Hank Azaria.
Was nominated twice for Broadway's Tony Award: in 1958, as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Look Homeward, Angel," and in 1960, as Best Actor (Musical) for "Greenwillow."
Shares his birthday with director Andrei Tarkovsky .
Was a huge admirer of Orson Welles , and was even planning on writing a book about him, but aborted the project in fear of upsetting his idol. Welles later said that he would have loved the idea.
His performance as Norman Bates in Psycho (1960) is ranked #4 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Claimed that he was only attracted to men until he fell in love with Victoria Principal in the 1960s.
Auditioned for the role of the Phantom in the original Los Angeles production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera". He lost the role to Robert Guillaume.
Charles Winecoff's book "Anthony Perkins: Split Image" (Alyson Books, first published in 1996; 2006 10th Anniversary Revised Edition) illuminated Perkins' early life, his homosexuality, his later drug use and life with his family. Some contributors to the biography were Janet Leigh, Hilton A. Green, Jeff Fahey, John Gavin (I) and Joseph Stefano (I), plus an impressive number of Perkins' friends and relatives. His wife, Berry Berenson, however, did not participate. According to the book, Perkins contracted the AIDS virus around the time of Psycho III (1986) and kept the illness secret for six years until his death so he could keep working and not worry his friends and his two sons. The only person who knew he was sick was his wife Berry. Anthony officially found out that he was HIV positive when the tabloid "National Enquirer" wrote a story about it in 1990. Author Winecoff amended his book with a chapter about the death of Berry Perkins nine years after the death of her husband, as a passenger on board ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11th, 2001.
