Anthony Perkins

Anthony Perkins was born on April 4, 1932, in Manhattan, New York City, the son of actor Osgood Perkins and Janet Esselstyn. His father's demanding acting schedule meant limited contact during Perkins's early years, and the family employed a French nanny named Jeanne, through whom Perkins became fluent in French. Osgood Perkins died of a heart attack on September 21, 1937, when Anthony was five years old. In a 1983 interview with People magazine, Perkins reflected on the psychological impact of that loss, describing intense guilt and long nights of grief, and noting that seeing his father on film created a sense that he remained alive as a mythic presence.

Following his father's death, Perkins's mother developed a close relationship with aspiring playwright Michaela O'Harra. In 1942, the family relocated to Boston, where his mother secured a position at the American Theatre Wing's Boston Stage Door Canteen. Perkins attended public school during this period but struggled academically and behaviorally, leading his mother to enroll him at Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts. His time there was marked by a recurrence of his childhood stutter, extended absences due to scarlet fever, and declining grades, though he ultimately ranked in the top third of his class before transferring back to Boston.

Perkins's connection to his late father deepened through an interest in theatre. A family friend who operated a summer stock company offered him minor roles, initiating his early stage career. His first experience was at the Brattleboro Summer Theater in Vermont, where he performed in Junior Miss, Kiss and Tell, and George Washington Slept Here, working in the box office for $25 per week and obtaining his Equity card. In 1948, he returned to summer stock at the Robin Hood Theatre in Arden, Delaware, with his most notable performance that season in Sarah Simple. At Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he distinguished himself as the class magician and pianist and served as co-literary editor of the school newspaper, The Spectator.

Perkins made his first film appearance in The Actress in 1953, the same year he debuted on Broadway in Tea and Sympathy, a performance that earned him critical acclaim. He received a Theatre World Award in 1955. His Broadway work during the 1950s included Greenwillow and the production of Look Homeward, Angel, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. His stage career extended across several decades, with additional Broadway credits including Harold, The Star-Spangled Girl, Sondheim: A Musical Tribute, and Romantic Comedy, with his Broadway appearances spanning from 1953 to 1979.

His film career gained significant momentum with Friendly Persuasion in 1956, 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 that success, he signed a seven-year, semi-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures, where he was regarded as the studio's last matinee idol. Paramount cast him in romantic roles opposite actresses including Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, and Shirley MacLaine. He appeared in Fear Strikes Out in 1957 and was cast opposite Jane Fonda in her film debut, Tall Story, in 1960.

The role that defined Perkins's public image was Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in 1960. The performance earned him the International Board of Motion Picture Reviewers Award for Best Actor and a Bambi Award nomination. The typecasting that followed prompted him to buy out his Paramount contract and relocate to France, where he made his European film debut in Goodbye Again in 1961. That role brought him the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, a David di Donatello Award for Best Actor, a Bravo Otto nomination for Best Actor, and a second Bambi Award nomination.

Perkins returned to American cinema in 1968 with Pretty Poison and subsequently appeared in Catch-22 and WUSA, both released in 1970, for which he received a shared National Society of Film Critics Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Additional film credits from this period include Play It as It Lays and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, both from 1972, Murder on the Orient Express in 1974, and Mahogany in 1975. He married photographer and actress Berry Berenson in 1973.

Perkins reprised the role of Norman Bates in Psycho II in 1983, Psycho III in 1986, and Psycho IV: The Beginning in 1990. He also directed Psycho III, and his performance in that film earned him a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor. His final acting role was in the NBC television film In the Deep Woods, which aired one month after his death on September 12, 1992.