Anthony Perkins

Anthony Perkins

Anthony Perkins was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for playing Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and its three sequels. His single, Moon-Light Swim, was a moderate hit in the United States, peaking at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1957.

About Anthony Perkins in brief

Summary Anthony PerkinsAnthony Perkins was an American actor, director, and singer. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his second film, Friendly Persuasion. Perkins is best remembered for playing Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and its three sequels. His single, Moon-Light Swim, was a moderate hit in the United States, peaking at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1957. Perkins was a descendant of a Mayflower passenger, John Howland. He appeared in a series of films shot in Europe: Phaedra, Five Miles to Midnight, Murder on the Orient Express, Mahogany, The Black Hole, North Sea Hijack, and Crimes of Passion. He released three pop music albums and several singles in 1957 and 1958 on Epic and RCA Victor under the name Tony Perkins. He had the lead role in a TV movie, How Awful About Awful, supported by Charles Brathath and Charles Allan Brath.

Perkins moved into supporting roles in Hollywood, playing Chaplain Tappman in Catch-22. He starred in Chabrol’s Ten Days’ Wonder, Ten Days Behind the Door, and The Wonder Behind The Door: A French Play for the 21st Century. He also directed Steambath and Steambaths: An American Love Story, directed by Robert Altman and starring Tuesday Weld. Perkins made his film debut in The Actress, which was a commercial disappointment. He played troubled former Boston Red Sox baseball player Jimmy Piersall in the 1957 biopic Fear Strikes Out, and in the two Westerns The Lonely Man and The Tin Star. In 1958, he was Nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Look Homeward, Angel on Broadway. In film, he appeared in This Angry Age for Columbia and Desire Under the Elms for Paramount, with Sophia Loren.