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01
Perkins had agreed to voice the dentist on the 1989 Simpsons episode Last Exit to Springfield but died before recording began; the role went to Hank Azaria.
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02
A huge admirer of Orson Welles, Perkins planned to write a book about him but abandoned the project for fear of upsetting his idol; Welles later said he would have loved the idea.
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03
Perkins entered Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida in September 1950. On campus during his first year were Fred Rogers and John Reardon. In 1953 he left to replace John Kerr in Tea and Sympathy on Broadway and never completed his degree, but later received an honorary degree.
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04
During 1990, a palsy on his face led to a blood test illegally obtained by the National Enquirer, which reported he had AIDS. Perkins learned from that article that he was HIV positive, though he had suspected it.
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05
On September 11, 2001, his widow Berry Berenson was one of 58 victims on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston.
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06
Before playing Norman Bates in Psycho 1960, Perkins was a generic younger leading man starring with Sophia Loren and Jane Fonda. After Psycho, romantic leading roles became hard to come by, and he eventually resented the film’s impact on his career.
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07
In 1984, he was arrested at Heathrow Airport for possessing eight grams of marijuana and three spots of LSD. In 1989, he was arrested again at the Angel Hotel in Cardiff for illegally importing 1.3 grams of marijuana.
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08
Perkins was cremated and the superscription on his urn reads Don’t Fence Me In.
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09
He didn’t have sex with a woman until he was 39, losing his virginity to Victoria Principal in 1971.
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10
The biography Anthony Perkins: Split Image by Charles Winecoff detailed his early life, homosexuality, drug use, and family. His wife Berry did not participate. Perkins contracted AIDS around the time of Psycho III 1986 and kept it secret for six years.
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11
His performance as Norman Bates in Psycho 1960 is ranked number four on Premiere magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
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12
Perkins was nominated twice for Broadway Tony Awards: in 1958 as Best Actor for Look Homeward, Angel, and in 1960 as Best Actor for Greenwillow.
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13
In 1950, Rollins College expelled most homosexual students, but Perkins was not expelled because he was a favorite of the theater professor.
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14
He had a Top 30 Billboard hit in 1957 with the single Moonlight Swim.
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15
He was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for Motion Pictures at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard and for Television at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.
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16
His second son, Elvis Perkins, was named after Elvis Presley, of whom Anthony was a fan.
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17
According to Tab Hunter’s autobiography, Perkins and Hunter were in a relationship in the mid to late 1950s. He was also linked with Grover Dale, Alan Helms, Patrick Loiseau, and Christopher Makos. Perkins and Dale shared an apartment for six years.
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18
Perkins bought himself out of his Paramount contract in 1961 and settled in France, working primarily in European films with Ingrid Bergman, Melina Mercouri, and Sophia Loren.
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19
He auditioned for the role of the Phantom in the original Los Angeles production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera but lost to Robert Guillaume.
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20
Perkins offered acting tips to Jane Fonda during Tall Story 1960, her film debut. She said he was the only teacher who taught her how to play before the camera.
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21
Perkins helped Fred Astaire prepare for his first dramatic role in On the Beach 1959, serving as his acting coach.
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22
Both Perkins and Dallas Buyers Club founder Ron Woodroof died of AIDS on September 12, 1992.
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23
Perkins and Audrey Hepburn portrayed a loving couple in Green Mansions 1959. The film flopped, but Perkins genuinely enjoyed working with Hepburn.
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24
Perkins was offered a role in Some Like It Hot 1959 requiring him to wear drag, but Paramount forbade it. Tony Curtis was cast instead.
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25
In 1976, Perkins hosted Saturday Night Live and performed a sketch featuring Norman Bates as a teacher of his School for Motel Management.
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26
Perkins protested on Shirley MacLaine’s behalf when he was paid $75,000 for The Matchmaker 1958 and she was paid $25,000; the studio ignored his protests.
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27
He became an ordained minister and performed the marriage of director Ken Russell to his second wife, Vivian Jolly, in 1983.
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28
Perkins was into psychoanalysis and was treated by Dr. Mildren Newman from the early 1950s into the late 1970s.
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29
Despite popular belief, Perkins never boycotted Bates Motel 1987; he watched it and called it just terrible.
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30
Perkins released three pop music albums and several singles in 1957 and 1958 under the name Tony Perkins. Moonlight Swim peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1957.
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31
His parents hired a French nanny named Jeanne, who trained him to speak fluent French, a skill useful in his acting career.
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32
Ava Gardner flirted with him on the set of On the Beach 1959 and offered to sleep with him, but Perkins declined due to lack of experience with women.
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33
In a 1958 cover story, Newsweek hailed Perkins as possibly the most gifted dramatic actor in this country under 30.
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34
During The Tin Star 1957, Perkins and Henry Fonda drove together to the set daily, sharing stories of their private lives and becoming closely acquainted.
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35
Perkins was portrayed by James D’Arcy in the 2012 film Hitchcock.
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36
He appeared in Psycho 1960, which was selected for the National Film Registry as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
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37
Perkins campaigned for Governor Michael Dukakis at a rally in UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on November 7, 1988.
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38
Along with Vera Miles and Virginia Gregg, he is one of only three actors to appear in both Psycho 1960 and Psycho II 1983.
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39
As a child, Perkins disliked sports but his mother forced him into baseball; he quit due to recurring problems with scarlet fever.
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40
Perkins played an implied gay character in three films: Catch-22 1970, Play It As It Lays 1972, and Mahogany 1975.
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41
He had deep roots in Colonial America, particularly Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, with English, Irish, German, and Dutch ancestry.
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42
Perkins claimed to have suffered from an Oedipus complex, resenting his father and wanting his mother to himself.
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43
His early film roles cast Gary Cooper and Jack Palance as his fathers; he bonded with Cooper but disliked working with Palance.
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44
His mother, Janet Esselstyn Rane, was a reputed lesbian and the reputed lover of playwright Michaela O’Harra.
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45
Perkins took basketball lessons for Tall Story 1960 and enjoyed the game, comparing it to chess.
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46
He was brother-in-law of Marisa Berenson.
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47
He was grandfather of actors James Perkins and Bea Perkins.
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48
In 1984, Perkins and Rod Steiger co-starred in The Glory Boys; they intensely disliked each other.
