Oscar Profile #61: Anthony Perkins

Born in New York, New York on April 4, 1932, Anthony Perkins was the son of stage and screen actor Osgood Perkins who died when the younger Perkins was just five years old. Raised by his widowed mother, he made his screen debut in 1953 as young Ruth Gordon’s (Jean Simmons) first boyfriend in The Actress for which he won a Golden Globe as Best New Male Star. A replacement for John Kerr in Broadway’s Tea and Sympathy furthered his name recognition and his next film, William Wyler’s Friendly Persuasion made him a permanent member of the Hollywood establishment in the role of the sensitive Quaker son of Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire for which he received his first and only Oscar nomination.

His equally sensitive portrayal of Boston Red Sox Center fielder Jimmy Piersall in Robert Mulligan’s Fear Strikes Out was the first of three major 1957 films, The others were the westerns The Lonely Man and The Tin Star, the latter directed by Anthony Mann.

In 1958 he scored in both Desire Under the Elms opposite Sophia Loren and The Matchmaker, now better known by its musical remake Hello, Dolly! , opposite Shirley Booth and Shirley MacLaine. Then it was off to Broadway and a Tony nomination for Look Homeward Angel

Back on screen in 1959’s Green Mansions opposite Audrey Hepburn, that same year he scored as part of an A-list ensemble in Stanley Kramer’s apocalyptic On the Beach. Opposite Jane Fnda in the comedy Tall Story early in 1960, he had his signature role later that year in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

His subsequent career was spent largely trying to live up to the greatness of his Psycho character Norman Bates, a role he reprised in three sequels in 1983, 1986 and 1990.

His best post-Psycho films include two opposite Tuesday Weld, 1968’s Pretty Poison and 1972’s Play It As It Lays; 1974’s all-star Murder on the Orient Express and the 1978 TV version of Les Miserables in which he played the relentless Javert.

Perkins reportedly had affairs with Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Rudolph Nureyev, Stephen Sondheim and Grover Dale before marrying photographer Berry Berenson. Interestingly, both he and actor/director Dale married in 1973, Dale to actress Anita Morris who passed away in 1994. Perkins, who had been tested for AIDS but never viewed the results learned he had the disease from an article published in the National Enquirer in 1990. He died in 1992 at 60, leaving his two teenage sons a letter, which read in part, “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.”

Their mother, Perkins’ widow, was one of the victims of 9/11, having been on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

FRIENDLY PERSUASION (1956), directed by William Wyler

This film, which was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, was very popular in its day, though is little known in these more cynical times. Author Jessamyn West, a Quaker, whose book like most of her works, was about Indiana Quakers in the previous century, was a second cousin of Richard Nixon. She grew up in the same California town as Nixon, but unlike the future President spent most of life working for socialist causes.

The film’s main conflict is one of conscience between pacifist Quakers, as exemplified by Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire, who must evaluate their position against war at the outbreak of the Civil War. Their eldest son, played by Perkins, joins the Home Guard to prove he is not a coward. Perkins brings sensitivity to his portrayal that was not matched by any other actor of the day except perhaps Montgomery Clift. Interestingly the film’s four stars were honored by major awards organizations, but all by different groups. McGuire won the National Board of Review Award, while Cooper and Marjorie Main in full Ma Kettle mode were nominated for Golden Globes, but only Perkins emerged with an Oscar nomination.

FEAR STRIKES OUT (1957), directed by Robert Mulligan

Made while he was at the peak of his baseball career, the true story of Boston Red Sox Center fielder Jimmy Piersall’s battle with mental illness was just a modest hit when first released. It was so modest, in fact, that it wound up on the second half of a double bill with Funny Face when it played neighborhood theatres in New York. New Yorkers went to see the popular Funny Face and came out loving the B film even more.

The film provided great roles for Pieresall and Karl Malden as his pushy father. Piersall later claimed that much of the movie was untrue, that his father was not as tyrannical. One thing is for certain, Pierrsall’s dramatic breakdown did not occur in Fenway Park as illustrated in the film, but in a hotel room where it was not witnessed by a multitude of fans.

ON THE BEACH (1959), directed by Stanley Kramer

This is another film, that like Friendly Persuasion was quite popular in its day but seems to have fallen off the radar.

Kramer had a reputation for making message films. The message here is obvious. The film starts out in the aftermath of a global nuclear war in which North America has been wiped out and the sole American survivors are members of a submarine team visiting Australia. The film ends with the remaining humans waiting for the inevitable. Got the message? If not, see the film with Gregory Peck as the submarine captain, Ava Gardner as the beautiful Australian widow he falls in love with, Fred Astaire cast against type but actually quite believable as a nuclear scientist, and Perkins as an Australian officer.

PSYCHO (1960) , directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock’s film, made in black-and-white on a modest budget on the sets he used for his popular TV show, is now regarded as the grandfather of the modern horror movie. Bernard Herrmann’s thrilling score, the motel, the house, and above the performances of Perkins and Janet Leigh make it unforgettable whether you’re seeing it for the first time or the one hundredth.

Leigh, playing against type and shocking audiences with her early death scene, was the one who got most of the initial accolades, but over time it’s become obvious that the heart of the film is Perkins’ brilliant portrayal of a psychopath. Just try watching Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake with Vince Vaughan and you’ll quickly see the difference between a travesty and a masterpiece.

A bit of trivia: that is not Perkins wielding the knife in the shower scene, but his stand-in. Perkins was in New York in rehearsals for the Broadway musical, Greenwillow.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974) , directed by Sidney Lumet

Perkins joined the ensemble cast of Lumet’s film of the Agatha Christie novel on the heels of his success as a screenwriter. He and composer Stephen Sondheim had co-written the screenplay for 1973’s The Last of Sheila, a comedy-mystery that has gained in popularity as a cult favorite in the last few years. Perkins and Sondheim won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for their writing.

Lumet’s film is a delight from beginning to end with marvelous performances from most of its all-star cast which includes Albert Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, John Gielgud, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, Jacqueline Bisset and more, but, alas, Perkins is not one of those who distinguishes himself here as Richard Widmark’s secretary. Perkins plays the role so close to his Psycho persona that you immediately distrust him.