Date of Birth
4 April 1932,
New York City, New York, USA
Date of Death
12 September 1992, Hollywood, California, USA (pneumonia as a complication of AIDS)
Nickname
Tony
Height
6' 2" (1.88 m)
Spouse
Trade Mark
Played psychotic roles.
Trivia
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 (of "MisteRogers' Neighborhood" (1968)) who graduated in 1951 and John Reardon, class of 1952. In 1953 he was offered a leading part in the movie The Actress (1953). Almost immediately after returning to his studies he left to replace John Kerr 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 "The Sopranos" (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 "The Simpsons" (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 and Joseph Stefano, 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.
Became an ordained minister and performed the marriage of actor Dennis Hopper to his fourth wife, Katherine LaNasta, in 1989.
Was a fan of Elvis Presley.
Personal Quotes
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 cutthroat, competitive world in which I spent my life.
[statement made shortly before his death, on why he was private about his battle with AIDS] I chose not to go public about this because, to misquote Casablanca (1942), I'm not much at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of one old actor don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
[part of his last letter, given to his sons after his death] Boys, don't try to find a woman as wonderful as your mother to marry because if you do, you'll stay single your whole lives.
[on playing "Norman Bates" in Psycho (1960)] Not many people know this, but I was in New York rehearsing for a play [Frank Loesser's "Greenwillow"] when the shower scene was filmed in Hollywood. It is rather strange to go through life being identified with this sequence knowing that it was my double. Actually, the first time I saw Psycho (1960) and that shower scene was at the studio. I found it really scary. I was just as frightened as anybody else. Working on the picture, though, was one of the happiest filming experiences of my life. We had fun making it - never realizing the impact it would have.
[When his interviewer suggested that a boy's best friend is his mother] She's not only his best friend, she's his most ardent lover.
I have a lot of affection for Norman Bates and a lot of sympathy. So does the audience, I think. He's not just a monster. He's tortured. The real secret of the "Psycho" movies is that they're tragedies first and horror movies second.
The violence in the "Psycho" movies is born out of plot, passion and character ... Don't just dispatch people by six to the reel and say its entertainment.
[On playing Norman Bates and the Psycho movies] I think it's my favorite role as well. So many thousands of people have come up to me on the street and in hotel lobbies and in department stores and have shared their experiences of seeing the films with me. It's always been with the greatest amount of pleasure that they've done so. They've told me stories about the dates they had with their future wives, and they've told me stories about sneaking out of the bathroom window and seeing it against their parents orders - and many stories like that, which have imprinted it into their minds. Always with a feeling of having been entertained and having been taken in by the story and having a good time. Of course, I enjoy that.
[On playing Norman Bates] It is the Hamlet of horror roles, and you can never quite get enough of playing Norman Bates. It's always interesting.
The real secret of Psycho (1960) is that it's a tragedy first and a horror movie second.
[On Norman Bates] I do have affection for Norman as a person. He does the best he can out of the diminished circumstances with which his personality stranded him, and Norman's childhood was difficult and traumatic. Norman is, at heart, a benevolent soul, with a dark side, but Norman's conscious mind is always on the positive things in life.
Salary
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