My Take
Anthony Perkins is one of those rare actors who got so completely swallowed by a single role that the line between the man and the character practically dissolved — and yet that's a tribute to just how perfect he was as Norman Bates in Psycho, not a limitation. What I find endlessly fascinating about him is the contrast: this lanky, boyishly handsome Columbia University guy who could sing, write screenplays, and direct, and who won the Best Actor prize at Cannes in 1961 for Goodbye Again, reduced by popular memory to a shower curtain and a butcher knife. In real life he was genuinely multi-talented and clearly restless, never content just to perform. The shadow Hitchcock cast over his career was enormous and probably unfair, but he lived inside it with grace. Gone in 1992 at sixty, he left a body of work that rewards anyone willing to look past the motel.
Overview
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.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Anthony Perkins
- Name (Japanese)
- アンソニー・パーキンス
- Reading
- あんそにー・ぱーきんす
- Born
- April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Monkey
- Origin
- New York City, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 187 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / film director / film actor / singer / screenwriter
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Columbia University
Awards & achievements
- 1991 Donostia Award
- 1974 Edgar Awards
- 1955 Theatre World Award
- 1961 Palme d'Or
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
- 1961 Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor
- 1957 Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor
- 1957 Golden Globe Awards
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.