Background and career
Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. Perkins' first film role was in The Actress (1953). The next year, he debuted on Broadway in Tea and Sympathy, a performance for which he received critical acclaim. In 1956, he played his first major film role in Friendly Persuasion, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best New Actor of the Year and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Following the film's success, he signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures, where he was regarded as the studio's last matinee idol. In 1957, he starred in Fear Strikes Out. During this period, Paramount promoted Perkins in romantic roles and he also embarked on a singing career. He also took on more dramatic roles, including the Broadway production of Look Homeward, Angel, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award, and the film On the Beach (1959). Psycho, a horror thriller in which he was cast against type, then profoundly changed his image, after which Perkins moved to France and worked for several years in Europe. The first film he made there, Goodbye Again (1961), earned him a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and a David di Donatello for Best Actor. His other European films include Orson Welles' The Trial (1962). He returned to American cinema with Pretty Poison (1968). Other films include Catch-22 (1970), for which he was nominated for a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (shared with his role in WUSA, also released in 1970), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Mahogany (1975) and Crimes of Passion (1984). In the later part of his career, Perkins often portrayed troubled, neurotic or mentally unstable characters. He reprised the role of Norman Bates in Psycho II (1983), Psycho III (1986), and Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990). His performance in Psycho III, which he also directed, earned him a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Actor. His final acting role was in the NBC television film In the Deep Woods, which aired a month after his death on September 12, 1992, from AIDS-related causes.
Anthony Perkins was born on April 4, 1932, in Manhattan, New York City, the son of actor Osgood Perkins (1892–1937) and Janet Esselstyn (née Rane; 1894–1979). His paternal great-grandfather was the wood engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony. Throughout his early years, Perkins had limited contact with his father, who was occupied with acting roles. The family employed a French nanny named Jeanne, which led to Perkins's fluency in French. In a 1983 interview with People magazine, he recalled, "I became abnormally close to my mother; whenever my father came home I was jealous. It was the Oedipal thing in a pronounced form, I loved him but I also wanted him to be dead so I could have her all to myself." Osgood Perkins died of a heart attack on September 21, 1937. Following his father's death, Perkins experienced intense feelings of guilt. He later stated, "I was horrified. I assumed that my wanting him to be dead had actually killed him. I prayed and prayed for my father to come back. I remember long nights of crying in bed. For years I nursed the hope that he wasn't really dead. Because I'd see him on film, it was as if he were still alive. He became a mythic being to me, to be dreaded and appeased."
A consistent female companion in Perkins's life was aspiring playwright Michaela O'Harra, who developed a close relationship with his mother. According to accounts from those who knew the family, including childhood friend John Kerr, the bond between O'Harra and Perkins's mother was notably intimate. While the exact nature of their rapport has been subject to interpretation, it has been widely suggested they were in a lesbian relationship. It was also during that time that Perkins's mother, according to his account, began to sexually abuse him. Perkins said, in a 1983 interview, "She was constantly touching me and caressing me. Not realising what effect she was having, she would touch me all over, even stroking the inside of my thighs right up to my crotch." The behavior continued into his adulthood. In 1942, when Perkins was ten years old, his family moved to Boston. Through her connections in the theatre industry, his mother secured a position at the American Theatre Wing's Boston Stage Door Canteen, where she managed many of the canteen's operations. The job provided financial support for the two of them. When she was occupied with work, Perkins was often sent to stay with his grandmother. During this period, Perkins began to struggle at the public school he attended. He was described as a "gifted drifter" and began exhibiting rebellious behaviour, which was attributed to his mother's neglect. In response, she enrolled him at Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts. The experience proved difficult: his childhood stutter reemerged, he avoided athletic activities, and his mother insisted he participate in baseball. The pressure of the new environment led to extended school absences during his second year due to consecutive bouts of scarlet fever, and his academic performance declined. Perkins eventually negotiated with his mother that if he improved his grades, he would be permitted to return to Boston for school the following year. He subsequently ranked in the top third of his class. His headmaster noted that Perkins was significantly more mature than his peers and lacked interest in many of their typical activities. Following this improvement, he was allowed to transfer back to Boston.
As Perkins matured, the absence of his father became increasingly significant to him. According to his mother, as he observed other boys with their fathers, he began to feel the loss of his own more acutely. His connection to his late father developed through an interest in theatre. To support this interest, a family friend who operated a summer stock company agreed to allow Perkins to participate in minor roles, initiating his early involvement in summer stock theater. Perkins's first experience was with the Brattleboro Summer Theater in Vermont, where he performed small parts in Junior Miss, Kiss and Tell, and George Washington Slept Here. In addition to acting, he worked in the box office, earning $25 per week and obtaining his Equity card. The following year, in keeping with an earlier promise, his mother enrolled him at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, an all-boys school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, he distinguished himself and gained a reputation as the class magician and pianist. He was known for his impersonations, including a popular imitation of actor Roddy McDowall, which he frequently performed between classes. In 1948, Perkins returned to summer stock theatre, this time at the Robin Hood Theatre in Arden, Delaware, where his mother had secured a position as a manager. He again ran the box office and took on stage roles. His most notable performance that summer was in Sarah Simple. During this time he met Charles Williamson, the first boy to whom he was attracted romantically. The following academic year, Perkins joined the varsity tennis team and the glee club at school. He also became co-literary editor of the school newspaper, The Spectator, to which he occasionally contributed articles. Around this period, Perkins began to question his sexuality.
After Perkins graduated from high school in 1950, he enrolled at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, having been persuaded to attend after a college representative visited his school. That summer, Perkins returned to the Robin Hood Theatre in Delaware, which had by then become a prominent summer stock venue. While working there, he reconnected with Charles Williamson. They spent time together during breaks, including having lunch and swimming. Perkins developed a romantic attraction to Williamson during this time, though the feelings were not expressed or acted upon. During that summer, Perkins also played the role of Fred Whitmarsh in Years Ago, a part he would later reprise in its film adaptation. At Rollins College that fall, Perkins struggled to find the same sense of community he had previously experienced. His arrival coincided with a period marked by heightened scrutiny and discrimination against gay individuals, later known as the Lavender Scare. There were a few supportive peers, including Fred Rogers, who would later become known as a children's television host; Rogers allowed Perkins to use his piano, which he appreciated. Perkins participated in several stage productions and frequently changed fraternities, a pattern that frustrated his mother. During his time at Rollins, he reportedly began to explore his sexuality more openly. Not long after his arrival, a number of homosexual students—many of whom were his acquaintances—were expelled and arrested after a fellow student had beaten one of them. According to Perkins's biographer Charles Winecoff, who interviewed former alumni, Perkins's association with a theater professor helped him avoid disciplinary action. Despite avoiding expulsion, his association with those involved led to growing tension between him and other students, who knew of Perkins's sexuality. As a result of the increasingly hostile environment, Perkins transferred to Columbia University in New York City.
While still a student at Rollins College, Perkins traveled to California during summer vacation in hopes of beginning a film career. Aware that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was producing a screen adaptation of Years Ago, he spent time around the studio lot, hoping to be noticed by a casting director and offered a screen test. Perkins later recounted that he spent the summer running errands and delivering food for the studio guards. During a screen test for Margaret O'Brien, a director needed someone to appear in the background, and a studio worker suggested using Perkins. He was called in to stand in front of the camera, and when the director asked him to move, he responded, drawing attention to himself. This unplanned appearance led to his involvement in the screen test. Later that summer, Perkins was cast in the role of Fred Whitmarsh in the film adaptation, retitled The Actress (1953), alongside Jean Simmons and Spencer Tracy. The film was directed by George Cukor, who had been collaborator and friend of Perkins's late father. Perkins gained wider recognition in 1954 when he replaced John Kerr in the lead male role of Tea and Sympathy on Broadway, directed by Elia Kazan, another friend of his father. In the play, he portrayed Tom Lee, a college student perceived as homosexual who experiences personal growth through a romantic encounter with a woman. It was one of the first major Broadway productions to depict homosexuality explicitly, and it attracted a significant gay audience. Perkins had auditioned for the play with the prospect of co-starring with Deborah Kerr, whom he idolized and who helped him relax during his reading. However, one disappointment was that shortly after he was cast, Kerr was replaced by Joan Fontaine with whom he had no chemistry. Nevertheless, the role bore autobiographical parallels for Perkins, and he later described it as one of the most meaningful performances of his career. Joan Fickett, who played opposite Perkins in the play, commented on his suitability for the role, noting the authenticity and emotional depth he brought to the character. The play's success and Perkins's performance drew renewed interest from Hollywood. According to biographer Charles Winecoff, Perkins was drafted during the run of Tea and Sympathy, despite the Korean War having recently ended; he then informed the Selective Service that he was a "practicing homosexual" to be deemed unfit for military service. Having to reveal his orientation reportedly left Perkins deeply affected.
