Anthony Perkins

From New York City, New York, USA • 1932 - 1992

Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor. Born in Manhattan, he began his acting career as a teenager in summer stock theatre, and appeared in films prior to his Broadway debut. His first film role was in The Actress (1953). That same year, he debuted on Broadway in Tea and Sympathy, a performance for which he received critical acclaim. Perkins starred in Friendly Persuasion (1956), which earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best New Actor of the Year, the Photoplay Award for Most Promising Male Star, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Following the film's success, he signed a seven-year, semi-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures, where he was regarded as the studio's last matinee idol. In 1957, he appeared in Fear Strikes Out. During this period, Paramount promoted Perkins in romantic roles, pairing him on screen with actresses including Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, and Shirley MacLaine. 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). He was cast as a romantic lead opposite Jane Fonda in her film debut, Tall Story (1960). Perkins's portrayal of Norman Bates in Psycho (1960) became his most recognizable role. For this performance, he received a Bambi Award nomination for Best Actor and won the International Board of Motion Picture Reviewers Award for Best Actor. The success of Psycho led to typecasting, prompting Perkins to buy out his Paramount contract and move to France, where he made his European film debut in Goodbye Again (1961). For this role, he received a Bravo Otto nomination for Best Actor, a second Bambi Award nomination, the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and a David di Donatello Award for Best Actor. Perkins returned to American cinema in 1968 with Pretty Poison. He subsequently appeared in several commercially and critically successful films, including Catch-22 (1970), which earned him a National Society of Film Critics Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (shared with his role in WUSA, also released in 1970), Play It as It Lays (1972), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and Mahogany (1975). He married photographer and actress Berry Berenson in 1973. 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 Saturn Award nomination 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. (Via Wikipedia)