Perkins, Anthony (1932-1992), was an American actor known for his convincing portrayals of awkward and neurotic young men. Perkins gained international fame for his performance as the homicidal Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller Psycho (1960).
Perkins was born in on April 4, 1932, New York City. His father was Osgood Perkins, a noted Broadway actor. Anthony began his acting career in summer stock at the age of 15 and made his motion-picture debut in The Actress (1953). His major early films include Friendly Persuasion (1956), Fear Strikes Out (1957), The Tin Star (1957), and The Matchmaker (1958). Perkins also made several appearances on Broadway , most notably in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Look Homeward, Angel (1957), the musical Greenwillow (1960), and the Neil Simon comedy The Star Spangled Girl (1966).
After achieving popularity in Psycho, Perkins made a number of films for European directors during the 1960’s, none of them commercially successful. Perkins resumed his American film career in the late 1960’s, starring in such movies as Pretty Poison (1968), WUSA (1970), and Murder on the Orient Express (1974). He also starred in three sequels to Psycho—Psycho II (1983), Psycho III (which he also directed, 1986), and Psycho IV: In the Beginning (1990). Perkins died on Sept. 12, 1992.
