title: Anthony Perkins

text: Not all was bad on set, though. Perkins, who had a dressing room far from the stage, often had to race between scenes in order to retrieve something so as not to miss his cue, something his costars utilized in practical jokes. Many times, they turned the backstage area into an obstacle course, seeing if Perkins could get back to the curtain in time. Reportedly, he never missed his entrances. On the day of his final performance, they went through with the prank as planned, watching Perkins leap over objects and dodge barriers. Once he made it through, he was greeted with a sign that said "We love you, Tony!"


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins was teamed up again with Van Fleet in "This Angry Age" (1958), also known as "The Sea Wall", for Columbia, replacing James Dean (Van Fleet had played Dean's mother in "East of Eden", something many people believed influenced casting). The story followed a mother who, unlike her restless children, attempts to cling onto her dissipating rice farm in southeast Asia. He also starred "Desire Under the Elms" (1958) for Paramount with Sophia Loren and was her first American screen kiss. As Loren remembered in her 2014 memoir, "Perkins [was] as neurotic and handsome as we all remember him in [a later film] "Psycho". A gentle, polite, somewhat sullen young man, he didn't know how to hide his restlessness. Between us there was a certain complicity. He helped me with my English, and I tried to make him laugh." Although Loren was proud to have scored the role, the unanimous decision upon its release was that Perkins came off weakly.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Between the filming of "Desire" and his next movie, Perkins received an offer to appear in what would become the 1959 comedy "Some Like it Hot" with Marilyn Monroe. He was given the role of Shell Oil Junior and Frank Sinatra was considered for the role of his companion who both dress up in drag in order to board an all-women train car. Paramount, despite the appeal of a big star like Monroe, balked at the idea of having their already sexually-ambiguous heartthrob wear drag for an entire film and forbade Perkins from accepting the role. It ultimately went to Tony Curtis instead. However, studio executives begged Perkins to return from Broadway to star in "The Matchmaker" (1958) alongside Shirley MacLaine and Shirley Booth, during which he and a male companion dress up in women's clothing in order to escape a restaurant undetected. As if to ensure he would not turn the project down, Perkins was given a salary of $75,000 for ten weeks' work while MacLaine only got $25,000 for the same number of days. Although Perkins protested MacLaine's smaller salary, no changes were made in terms of her payment.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: "The Matchmaker" was a non-musical film adaptation of Thornton Wilder's stage play, where Dolly Gallagher Levi (Booth) attempts to set up rich businessman Horace Vandergelder (Paul Ford) with a younger woman, Irene Malloy (MacLaine). Vandergelder's employees, Cornelius Hackl (Perkins) and Barnaby Tucker (Robert Morse), tired of their poor wages and constant work, escape to New York City and meet Irene, who's led to believe Cornelius is rich. Cornelius slowly falls in love with Irene while deceiving her. Morse had been a part of the original Broadway cast of the show, and he bonded with Perkins over the shared background. (Perkins would later disclose that Morse was bisexual, implying that they became confidants of sorts.) Perkins, however, intensely disliked MacLaine even after defending her from studio bosses and was put on edge by her intense drive and numerous pranks. "I've never been allowed that precious moment of seeing what Tony Perkins really is," MacLaine later reported. "I don't know what's an act and what isn't an act."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Paramount decided to take Perkins's status as a teen idol one step further and cast him as Audrey Hepburn's love interest in "Green Mansions" (1959), one of Hepburn's few flops. It was based on an explorer who stumbles upon both a girl who lives in the woods and the Native Americans nearby who want to kill her. The film was originally intended to be a vehicle for Elizabeth Taylor when the project was initially announced in 1953, though those plans were soon after abandoned. In 1958, Mel Ferrer picked the film up for MGM, and Hepburn (his wife) was cast as the mystical Rima to secure funding. Perkins, who was still stinging after being forced to lose the role in "Some Like it Hot", was cast soon after. It would be the only film in which Ferrer would direct his wife.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perhaps still remembering the "Some Like it Hot" incident, Paramount used the film to promote Perkins's dwindling masculinity, showing him shirtless and exerting his "ability" to kill men visually stronger than him. He did receive a reprieve to sing "Green Mansions," the title song of the film which briefly entered the charts before almost immediately falling off. Speaking about the movie later in life, Perkins said, "[Hepburn] was wonderful to work with, like a real person, almost a sister... [The film] was good but unusual."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins's next film, "On the Beach" (1959), however, did little to promote his teen idol status, and was his last serious film before his legendary "Psycho" performance later that year. He played a doomed father living in Australia after a nuclear war wipes humanity off all other continents. He supported legendary actors such as Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred Astaire in his first dramatic role. All filming took place in Melbourne on-location over the course of three months, and a soundstage was made out of a warehouse for the crew's use. Unlike other films, Perkins got on well with his fellow cast members and even helped Astaire prepare for his serious scenes. Years later, in an infamous interview with "People", Perkins would list Gardner as the first of many female stars who tried to put the make on him, although due to his sexuality, he very cautiously declined.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins's next several roles were less serious. His next film, "Tall Story" (1960), was best remembered for being Jane Fonda's film debut, and he had to play a college basketball champion. As a man who had never been talented in sports, he had to be trained to play basketball for his performance, but, unlike his teachings on the set of "Fear Strikes Out", the lessons were able to stick. Perkins recounted to reporters, "I've been working out at the Warner Brothers gym, discovering what basketball is all about. I spend about an hour and a half a day dribbling, passing, shooting baskets, and going after rebounds... It's a good game. Like chess in a way." Also unlike "Fear Strikes Out", the set of "Tall Story" was hospitable to him from what he could see. Since Perkins had already worked with her father, he and Fonda had a connection, though not many could foresee the chemistry they would have both on- and off-screen. As Fonda later recounted to Patricia Bosworth, "Tony [Perkins] told me, 'Forget about the lights, just forget about the lights.' And I did. And he taught me fascinating things, like the audience's eyes always move to the right side of the screen so you should always try to get on the right side of the set." Fonda also credits solely Perkins for helping her learn how to play before the camera when acting.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: In a repeat of "On the Beach", Fonda also developed a crush on Perkins. Perkins would later recall a moment when she sat in his dressing room, completely naked, powdering her body. Fonda, unlike others, was actually understanding of his homosexuality and became good friends with whomever he was seeing at the time. Behind the scenes, however, there was more turmoil: Fonda would recall, "Both Joshua Logan [the film's director] and I were in love with Tony Perkins, and so that caused a problem."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After being signed in 1955, Perkins became Paramount's last matinee idol, and he was promoted relentlessly as that image through a string of leading man-roles on screen. Once he had finished three films for the studio, they had already invested $15 million in him before any of the motion pictures were even released. This would begin the infamous tension between Perkins and Paramount.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Another reason for tension came from Perkins's side: he believed Paramount was ruining his career. Although he was given the option to do Broadway performances, his fame primarily stemmed from his performances on-screen, where Paramount was pushing him into leading-man roles. Perkins, however, wanted only to be a serious actor, not a teen idol. Their preoccupation with keeping Perkins's masculinity intact also led to him losing quite a few coveted roles, such as Shell Oil Junior in "Some Like it Hot" and Tony in "West Side Story".


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Paramount president Barney Balaban strongly disliked Perkins due to his homosexuality. They constantly had arguments, mostly revolving around his sexuality and ongoing relationship with fellow actor Tab Hunter, which Balaban believed Perkins flaunted too much. He constantly pressured Perkins into breaking up with Hunter and going into conversion therapy for the five years Perkins was under contract with the studio. A later collaborator of Perkins's remembered to Charles Winecoff in 1996, "Tony said one thing that always endeared him to me... that when he was a rising young star at Paramount, he was seeing a great deal of [Tab Hunter], they went around town together, and finally the big studio head called him in and said, 'You cannot do this anymore. We're going to make you a star, and you can't be seen around town with this guy. You've got to get a girl, you've got to stop seeing him.' Tony replied, 'But I love him!"—which left the studio head speechless—and walked out". Hunter remembered a similar scenario: "Warner Brothers never said a word about my sexuality, and that's just the way I wanted it. However, Paramount did have something to say about my relationship with Tony, and they told him they didn't want him to see me anymore... Despite the opposition we did continue seeing each other."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: According to all accounts, Perkins, until 1959, withstood Balaban's threats of expulsion and even protected his homosexuality from his studio boss. It was not until between filming "Tall Story" and "Psycho" that the studio executives succeeded in separating Perkins and Hunter, which many believe was a major factor into Perkins buying himself out of his Paramount contract early, just like Hunter had done at Warner Brothers.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins in youth had a boyish, earnest quality, reminiscent of the young James Stewart, which Alfred Hitchcock exploited and subverted when the actor starred as Norman Bates in the film "Psycho" (1960). Hitchcock would later say that he'd had Perkins cast ever since seeing him in "Friendly Persuasion". The motion picture was about Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a young woman who steals forty thousand dollars from her work and flees to the Bates Motel, run by Norman Bates (Perkins), where she is murdered in her room's shower. The film culminates with the revelation that Bates's mother has been dead for ten years and that Bates has been dressing up and even assuming her personality. This leads him to murder all young girls he's attracted to, including Marion, under the "Mother" personality.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: During filming, Perkins was involved in the 1960 Broadway musical "Greenwillow", written by Frank Loesser. The plot followed the magical town of Greenwillow, where the men are meant to wander and women (if they can keep their husbands) are supposed to settle down and have children. Despite his call to isolation, Gideon Briggs (Perkins) wants to marry his sweetheart, Dorie (Ellen McCown). Loesser caught onto Perkins' homosexuality fast and, disliking him for it, decided to upstage him, writing his main solo, "Never Will I Marry", as something reminiscent of an opera ballad. However, close friend Stephen Sondheim praised his performance of "Never Will I Marry": "[Perkins was] wonderful. One of the things that makes 'Never Will I Marry' so brilliant [on the recording] is the crack of his voice when he reaches the tenth." The show's director, George Roy Hill, also called Perkins "remarkably good. It didn't have the timbre of a real Broadway voice, but it didn't have the hard edge. 'Never Will I Marry' was a wonderful example of that." Additionally, the song was later popularized due to its renditions by Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and Linda Ronstadt. Perkins was also nominated for another Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: "Psycho" was made on a slim budget, with Perkins and Leigh accepting low salaries for their roles and the crew being reused from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". The film was nonetheless a critical and commercial success, and gained Perkins international fame as he won the Best Actor Award from the International Board of Motion Picture Reviewers. The role and its multiple sequels affected the remainder of his career.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After buying himself out of his Paramount contract, Perkins moved to France and began making European films, the first of which was "Goodbye Again" (1961) with Ingrid Bergman, which was shot in Paris. It centered around a May-December romance. Paula Tessier (Bergman) tries to resist the charms of Philip Van der Besh (Perkins), who is the son of one of her clients, while stuck in an unfulfilling affair with a cheating businessman (Yves Montand). It was originally entitled "Time on Her Hands", although Perkins suggested the English title "Goodbye Again" after one of his father's plays. Once again, Perkins found himself subjected to the romantic attention of his female costar, although he customarily declined. Despite any off-screen tension this might have caused, Perkins's role in the film was greatly praised and earned him the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins returned briefly to America to appear in a short-lived Broadway play, "Harold" (1962), though returned to Europe shortly thereafter. He was then cast in "Phaedra" (1962), shot in Greece with Melina Mercouri and directed by Jules Dassin, which was undoubtedly inspired by Mercouri's recent success in "Never on Sunday". It was a modern retelling of a Greek tragedy where Alexis (Perkins) falls in love with Phaedra (Mercouri), who is also his stepmother. When asked about Perkins, Mercouri fondly said, "Ah, Tony. He is attractive to women. He is dangerous to women. When you touch him, he goes away a little. He is an [eel]. Raf Vallone [who played Perkins' father and Mercouri's husband in the film] is a good-looking man, but Perkins... Ah, I'd pick Perkins any time." Perkins' role in the film was also met with praise.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: His next film was "Five Miles to Midnight" (1962), which was his second motion picture with Sophia Loren. It follows Lisa (Loren), who believes her husband Robert (Perkins) died in a plane crash. When he reveals he is still alive, he urges her to instead collect the life-insurance money from his death. The film was a major shift away from the romantic leads he'd played in "Goodbye Again" and "Phaedra" and leant more toward his "Psycho" persona. Filming began under the title "All the Gold in the World", and Perkins reportedly only signed onto the picture after hearing Loren had replaced the previously cast Jeanne Moreau as his coerced wife. The production process was captured on video for the documentary "The World of Sophia Loren", where she and Perkins can be seen laughing between takes, practicing scenes, solving puzzles, and singing the popular "After I'm Gone" (ironically, Tab Hunter had covered the song in 1958). The film was a moderate success.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins continued with his mentally disturbed performances in Orson Welles' version of "The Trial" (1962), based on the Kafka novel about Joseph K, a man who's arrested and attempts to figure out what his crime is and how to defend himself. Perkins did not mind the typecasting as long as he was able to work with Welles, who personally wanted him to play the lead. To discuss the possibility of Perkins taking on the role, the two met on the stairs of Welles's hotel. Perkins remembered, "[Welles] paid me the great compliment of saying he would like to know whether I would make the picture because if I wasn't going to make it, he wasn't going to make it either." It is likely Welles was trying to make his runaway hit like "Psycho", but even if that was the purpose, Perkins did not seem to mind. "He's the best there is," Perkins said of Welles. "He's wonderfully sure of himself and his ability without being dictatorial and autocratic about it... [H]e isn't inflexible." The film quickly went over-budget, although this did little to alter Perkins's vision of his director. In fact, during the process of filming, his admiration for Welles only seemed to stiffen: during filming, he even considered writing a book about Welles and his career, even going as far as to carry a tape recorder in his coat pocket for weeks, though he abandoned it in fear of offending his boss. Welles later said to Perkins, "Oh, why didn't you [do it]? Why didn't you? I would have loved it!"


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Besides Perkins' abandoned plan to write a book about Welles, there was genuine affection between the two. Later in life, Welles remembered Perkins fondly: "A strange thing happened with ["The Trial"]: it got wonderful press, all over the world, even in America. Even in "Time" and "Newsweek" and everything, wonderful press. And Perkins got very bad press, all over the world, and the entire blame for that is mine, because he is a superlative actor and he played the character that I saw as K, and paid the price because nobody else sees it my way... I recognize that I did Tony–who is one of the best actors we have–a great disservice, because he deserved to have made a tremendous success and if he didn't with the critics the blame is one hundred percent with me." Despite any regrets Welles might have had with his portrayal of Perkins and his character, the film was a massive success and later became a cult classic. Welles stated immediately after completing the film: ""The Trial" is the best film I have ever made". It was the first of four collaborations between Perkins and Welles.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: His final disturbed role before another romantic motion picture was in "Le glaive et la balance" (1963), shot in France. It had a very insignificant impact. His next film, however, would be in "Une ravissante idiote" (1964) with Brigitte Bardot, which was a comedy. It followed a Russian spy (Perkins) who employs a gorgeous but dim-witted woman (Bardot) as his accomplice in procuring secret documents. Perkins made history as the first American actor to play B.B.'s love interest, although Perkins would later openly admit Bardot was his least favorite costar, calling her "Bardot-do-do." Bardot was another woman on Perkins's roster of suitors, although Perkins always denied Bardot's invitations to her penthouse. Perkins was incredibly uncomfortable around Bardot, which was drastically different from his behavior around his previous (older) costars.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After "Une ravissante idiote" failed at the box office, Perkins shot"The Fool Killer" (1965) in Mexico. An art film, the motion picture followed a 12-year-old boy (Edward Albert) who wanders the Civil War-ravaged South with a philosophical axe murderer (Perkins), and was Perkins's second film to about the American civil war. The film was well received but not overly popular at the box office, and Perkins returned to France for a cameo in "Is Paris Burning?" (1966), a war film about the liberation of Paris in 1944 at the hands of the French Resistance. This was his second Welles collaboration and reunited him with director René Clément, who had had the same occupation over Perkins in 1957's "This Angry Age". In addition, Perkins' friend, Gore Vidal, wrote the script.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Despite the fact that he was still living in France at the time, in 1966, Sondheim began writing a horror musical "Evening Primrose", which was set to be aired on "ABC Stage 67", for Perkins. Perkins returned to America to star in the musical alongside Charmian Carr, who was fresh off her success in "The Sound of Music". The plot followed Charles Snell, a struggling poet who decides to live in a department store by night and pretend to be a mannequin by day. He encounters a secret society, the Dark Men, that already had the idea, and falls in love with Ella Hawkins (Carr), who is the maid of the society's leader and is forbidden from speaking to Snell. If they attempt to leave the department store, the Dark Men will kill them and turn them into mannequins. Sondheim referred to it as one of his favorite musicals he ever wrote, and announced Perkins as the lead of "Company " shortly thereafter. Perkins, however, withdrew from the role, though he would remain something like a muse for Sondheim for quite a few years.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After his return to American television, Perkins appeared on Broadway in the Neil Simon play "The Star-Spangled Girl" (1966–67). For a brief moment, he was able to once again shed his typecast role as a mentally disturbed man, instead playing a radical roommate vying for the attention of a young woman. Among his costars was Connie Stevens, and although they were both offered compliments for the performances they salvaged from the source material, the play was not on the whole well received. Neil Simon later commented that "The Star-Spangled Girl" "was written 'from an emotional identity rather than personal identity... I knew this one didn't have the body of the others. I knew it never had a chance to be a powerful comedy... I didn't make it'". Shortly thereafter, Perkins returned to his beloved Europe and he starred in another French film, "The Champagne Murders" (1967), for Claude Chabrol. The film was well-received, with the "New York Times" saying, "Mr. Chabrol... has made a film that has the shape and structure of a murder mystery, but which is, essentially, a funny, sardonic social drama." Despite this, it was insignificant in the box office.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins made his first Hollywood movie since "Psycho", "Pretty Poison" (1968) with Tuesday Weld, where he was typecast in the role of a psychotic young man for a fifth time. The plot revolved around Dennis Pitt (Perkins), a man who is on break from a psychotic hospital on parole who meets Sue Ann Stepenek (Weld). He tells her he is a secret agent and they go on "missions" together, culminating in their attack on a factory. This was the first of two films with Weld, whom he had dated in the early 60s, and they were reportedly chilly but respectable to each other on set. It wasn't a box office success and Weld labeled it as her worst film, but has become a notable cult favorite.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: In the 1970s, Perkins moved into supporting roles in Hollywood-feature films. The first of such motion pictures was 1970's "Catch-22", playing Chaplain Tappman. This was followed by a brief appearance in "WUSA" (1970), starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Off-Broadway, he appeared in and directed "Steambath" (1970).


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After that, Perkins shifted his focus away from movies briefly to star on the made-for-television film "How Awful About Allan" (1970), where he once again played a psychotic character, this time opposite gifted and acclaimed leading ladies Julie Harris and Joan Hackett. Although the film was hardly a significant work at the time of its release, it eventually gained a minor cult following over the years, thanks in large part to the film's eventual ubiquity as a result of the film entering into the public domain, making it more and more available and accessible for future audiences to see. He returned to motion pictures soon after, assisting Charles Bronson in the French crime drama, "Someone Behind the Door" (1971), playing yet another mentally disturbed man. This was also an insignificant endeavor.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: It seemed that Perkins could not escape his murderous image on screen, especially after he starred in Chabrol's murder mystery "Ten Days' Wonder" (1971), his third film with Orson Welles. It was also the third film where he fell in love with his step-mother (after 1958's "Desire Under the Elms" and 1962's "Phaedra") in an odd twist of fate. Perkins was reunited with another one of his older costars when he supported Tuesday Weld in "Play It as It Lays" (1972), based on the Joan Didion novel. It follows Maria (Weld), a washed up model who pursues a meaning in life beyond her dull marriage. She is friends with B.Z. (Perkins), a closeted producer who is being paid by his mother to also remain in a loveless marriage. For both stars, their roles were almost autobiographical, resulting in stunning performances. The "Chicago-Sun Times" praised, "What makes the movie work so well on this difficult ground is, happily, easy to say: It has been well-written and directed, and Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins are perfectly cast as Maria and her friend B.Z. The material is so thin (and has to be) that the actors have to bring the human texture along with them. They do, and they make us care about characters who have given up caring for themselves." Weld received a Golden Globe for her role, and both actors were expected to be nominated for Academy Awards. Neither were. However, Perkins would publicly label the film as being his best performance.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins changed genres for his next film, "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" (1972). In the movie, he plays a wandering minister who assists the title character (Newman), following him as he causes mayhem in the town. This was his second film with Paul Newman and his only film with ex-partner Tab Hunter, whom Hunter later recalled he bumped into at the Tucson location:


title: Anthony Perkins

text: "We hadn't seen each other in nearly ten years... What I didn't know at the time of our brief union was that Tony's long-running battle with his personal demons had reached a breaking point. He was ending a long relationship with dancer Grover Dale and had started therapy with Mildred Newman... Newman convinced Tony that his personal problems stemmed in large measure from him being gay, and she prescribed a course of action–including electroshock therapy–to turn him straight."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: According to Perkins himself, he had his first heterosexual experience on the set of the film with costar Victoria Principal.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: In 1973, Perkins reunited with close friend Stephen Sondheim to co-write"The Last of Sheila," a 1973 American neo noir mystery film directed by Herbert Ross. It was based on the games Perkins and Sondheim made up together and revolved around a movie producer who tries to discover who murdered his unfaithful wife by taking his rich friends on a maze through exotic locations, each with a piece of gossip applying to one of the other people aboard a yacht. The characters were influenced by people Perkins and Sondheim knew in real life: The film was a commercial success, and led to Perkins and Sondheim sharing the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, which led them to try to collaborate again two more times. The next project was announced in 1975, entitled "The Chorus Girl Murder Case". "It's a sort of stew based on all those Bob Hope wartime comedies, plus a little "Lady of Burlesque" and a little Orson Welles magic show, all cooked into a "Last of Sheila"-type plot", said Perkins. He later said other inspirations were "They Got Me Covered", "The Ipcress File" and "Cloak and Dagger". They had sold the synopsis in October 1974. At one point, Michael Bennett was to direct, with Tommy Tune to star. In November 1979, Sondheim said they had finished it. However, the film was never made. In the 1980s, Perkins and Sondheim collaborated on another project, the seven-part "Crime and Variations" for Motown Productions. In October 1984 they had submitted a treatment to Motown. It was a 75-page treatment set in the New York socialite world about a crime puzzle. Another writer was to write the script. It, too, was never made.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins was one of the many stars featured in "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), adapted from a popular Agatha Christie novel. He played the suspicious McQueen, and was reunited with previous costars Ingrid Bergman (1961's "Goodbye Again") and Martin Balsam (1960's "Psycho"), as well as being teamed up with legendary actors like Lauren Bacall. The picture was a massive box office smash, the 10th-highest-grossing film of that year, a hit with critics, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including a third (and final) career win for co-star Bergman. Also in 1974, Perkins co-starred with Beau Bridges and Blythe Danner in "Lovin' Molly", a drama film where Perkins was once again directed by close friend Sidney Lumet. It had a budget of over $1.2 million and was relatively well received.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: He enjoyed success on Broadway in Peter Shaffer's 1974 play "Equus" (where he was a replacement in the leading role originally played by Anthony Hopkins). In the show, he played a psychiatrist who attempts to rid his patient of their unnatural obsession with horses, shedding his stereotypical performance as a mentally disturbed man. His role was received to rave reviews, perhaps some of the best of his Broadway career. He continued with his stage work and directed the Off-Broadway production "The Wager" (1974), which had an insignificant impact.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins returned to film supporting Diana Ross in "Mahogany" (1975), where he played a photographer bent on making a young model (Ross) into a star. Perkins and Ross were good friends on set, to the point where Perkins's wife joked about them running off together, though this did not expel any strain from production. Perkins's photographer character, Sean, was rewritten shortly before filming began to capitalize on his "Psycho" persona. This was made worse by the fact that the once explicitly gay character was now simply queer-coded, as well as being written in a homophobic way. It was because of this and other factors that Perkins thought the film was mediocre, though it performed well at the box office, setting attendance records shortly after its release.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Continuing in the vein of comedy appearances, Perkins hosted television's "Saturday Night Live" in its first season in 1976. During his hour-long special, he poked fun at his serious image, crying out for his "good-luck panties." He briefly addressed the audience during his opening monologue, thanking them for seeing "the real Tony Perkins," before launching into a skit about Norman Bates's School for Motel Management, reprising his infamous role from "Psycho". He also played a singing psychiatrist (perhaps influenced by "Equus", something also mentioned in his opening monologue) and a victim in numerous pretend horror films. Towards the end of the program, Perkins posed and chatted with The Muppets.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Two years after his "SNL" appearance, Perkins co-starred with Geraldine Chaplin in "Remember My Name" (1978). Perkins plays the husband of his real-life wife, Berry Berenson. Perkins's character is besieged by his ex-spouse (Chaplin) who has just been released from prison and is bent on getting him back. Director-writer Alan Rudolph described it as "an update of the classic woman's melodramas of the Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford era." The motion picture was surprisingly popular and well-received, with the "San Francisco Chronicle" giving the film 4 out of 5 stars. They also praised both Perkins's and Chaplin's performances as "extraordinary."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After "Remember My Name", Perkins had more roles on television, playing Mary Tyler Moore's husband in "First, You Cry" (1978), a biographical drama film based on the 1976 autobiography of NBC News correspondent Betty Rollin recounting her battle with breast cancer. The film was nominated for numerous awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Made for Television and numerous Primetime Emmys. In 1979, it was parodied on an episode of "SNL" with a sketch entitled "First He Cries." It follows a husband (Bill Murray) who's distraught over his wife's (Gilda Radner) mastectomy. The sketch was poorly received, resulting in over 200 calls and 300 letters of complaint.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After the modest success of "First, You Cry", Perkins continued on his television streak when he played Javert in "Les Misérables" (1978) based on the famous 1,000-page novel about the June Rebellion, opposite Richard Jordan as Jean Valjean. He projected a more kid-friendly light when he was featured in Walt Disney's mammoth science fiction epic "The Black Hole" in 1979, where he reunited with crew members from "Fear Strikes Out", whom he hadn't seen in twenty-two years. The film would also develop a large cult status with sci-fi fans, and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, as well as a nod for its complex and groundbreaking visual effects.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Shortly thereafter, Perkins returned to the boards in another Broadway success with Bernard Slade's 1979 play "Romantic Comedy", who was the famed author of "Same Time, Next Year". He played playwright Jason Carmichael who meets Phoebe Craddock (Mia Farrow) and falls in love with her, and they decide to work together on a production. The show was a wild success and ran for 396 performances. The "New York Post" wrote: "A darling of a play... zesty entertainment of cool wit and warm sentiment."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins was a slick, unrelentingly-psychotic villain in the 1980 action film "North Sea Hijack" (also known as "Assault Force" and, for many, it is better known as "ffolkes") co-starring opposite Roger Moore, and one of


title: Anthony Perkins

text: the many names appearing in the all-star cast of "Winter Kills" (1980), a dark comedy about geo-politics and presidential assassinations. The film starred the likes of Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Richard Boone, Eli Wallach, Dorothy Malone, Toshiro Mifune, Belinda Bauer, Elizabeth Taylor, and, in a bit part as a morgue attendant, Perkins' real-life wife Berry Berenson. The film was a box office bomb, losing more than $4 million. Like so many other Perkins films, this picture has, too, also earned itself a cult following.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After "Winter Kills" he also starred in the 1980 Canadian film "Deadly Companion" (also known as "Double Negative") opposite Michael Sarrazin, Susan Clark, Kate Reid, and in a very small role, a soon-to-be famous comic actor named John Candy, with whom Perkins got on well on-set. It was largely disregarded by the public and even more so by critics. The attention it did receive was bleak, save for some kind remarks for Perkins. "Spies and Sleuths" called the movie "a muddle film that cannot untie its tangled skein of a plot, although a Perkins performance is always worth watching." Another nice review for Perkins came from "Starburst": "This convoluted thriller is not without its merits (not least some clever dialogue and well observed performances by, among others, Anthony Perkins.)"


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins reprised the role of Norman Bates in "Psycho"s three sequels. The first, "Psycho II" (1983), was a large box office success 23 years after the original film, competing with films of the likes of "Trading Places" and "WarGames", as well as a string of other screen sequels, including "Return of the Jedi", "Superman III" and "Jaws 3-D", among others. "Psycho II" followed Norman Bates's life after being released from a mental institution he resided in for more than two decades.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Later that same year, former partner Tab Hunter met Perkins at his Mulholland Drive home, accompanied by the latter's wife and children, asking him to star in "Lust in the Dust". "Lust" was a Western and spoof of "Duel in the Sun", and Hunter's love interest would be played by drag performer Divine, whom he had already caused a stir with in John Waters's "Polyester". Hunter's partner and future husband, Allan Glaser, who was a producer on the film, requested that Perkins should play the villain Hardcase Williams, something Hunter believed was influenced by the sudden success of "Psycho II". Glaser knew nothing of Hunter's past with Perkins. "I tried to convince him to [do the film]," Hunter remembered, "...but he denied I choose not to think about the reasons for his turning down what would have been a wonderful role. When Tony and I said good-bye that afternoon, I was sincerely happy for him... It would be the last time we ever saw each other."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After turning down "Lust", Perkins went to Australia to appear in TV mini-series "For the Term of His Natural Life" in 1983. The show was produced in three-parts, with an overall runtime of 6 hours, following an educated, adventurous British aristocrat Richard Devine. The show was well received by critics, becoming the eleventh highest rated Australian mini series on Sydney television between 1978 and 2000, with a rating of 37, and the third highest on Melbourne television with a rating of 45. After that was "The Glory Boys" (1984) for British television, a thriller miniseries with Rod Steiger. There was an intense dislike between Perkins and Steiger after the latter received a larger trailer, and Steiger labeled Perkins as "so jittery and jinxed by the chemicals he was taking."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Following his feud with Rod Steiger on the set of "Glory", Perkins found a more hospitable movie set when he made "Crimes of Passion" (1984) for Ken Russell. The film centered around a minister who attempts to rid a sultry woman of her sexual ways, but the movie was proved so explicit that it retained an X-rating for its first cut. The motion picture was majorly edited and received an R-rating instead. Although Perkins believed the editing ruined the film, it has become a cult favorite. He then starred in and directed "Psycho III" (1986), in which Norman Bates falls in love with a tragic wayward nun who comes to the Bates Motel. Perkins' performance in this entry of the "Psycho" series earned him a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor. The film, however, ultimately proved to be less successful (both critically and commercially) than its predecessors. This led to bouts of diminished self-confidence, though it did not mark the end of his directorial career.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: After the disappointment of "Psycho III", Perkins returned to television and had a supporting role in "" (1987), based on Napoleon Bonaparte's romance with Joséphine de Beauharnais, where Perkins played diplomat Talleyrand. The show was poorly received, but was nominated for two Emmys.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins drastically changed genres for his next project, the slasher film "Destroyer" (1988), where he once again had a supporting role. Perkins was praised for his role, but the overall film was deemed a disappointment. Perkins disappeared briefly from the screen, directing but not appearing in the comedy "Lucky Stiff" (1988), which was a humorous take on cannibalism and incest. While a box office failure, the film developed a cult following due to its quotable dialogue and exposure in "Fangoria", who did a feature on the film.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Following his directorial pursuit, Perkins starred in additional horror films, including "Edge of Sanity" (1989), "Daughter of Darkness" (1990), and "I'm Dangerous Tonight" (1990). He found a reprieve while filming the pilot for the light-hearted show "The Ghost Writer" about a horror novelist named Anthony Strack (Perkins) who is haunted by his deceased wife after he remarries. The pilot ended with Perkins finishing the manuscript of his next novel, which was based on a supernatural encounter he had with the ghost of his wife. The pilot never sold. He gave in to typecasting and played Norman Bates again in the made-for-cable film "" (1990). His first son, Oz Perkins, made his film debut in the prequel as a young Norman Bates. It was on the set of this film that Perkins learned he was HIV-positive.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins appeared in six television productions between 1990 and 1992 while privately battling with AIDS, including "Daughter of Darkness" (1990) and hosting a 12-episode horror anthology series titled "Chillers" (1990). He made his final appearance in "In the Deep Woods" (1992) with Rosanna Arquette, which was released posthumously. All of these appearances tied back into horror, further solidifying the typecast role he had fallen into.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins, having grown up in New York as the son of a theater performer, was heavily influenced by stage actors in the early stages of his interest in acting. Slowly, however, his influences shifted, especially with the new wave of Method actors on the big screen. In 1958, Perkins admitted to "Holiday" magazine that the single performance that he believed had impacted his acting the most wasn't off the boards: "The single performance which influenced my own acting the most was [Marlon] Brando's in "On the Waterfront"... That's the direction I want to go as an actor. To convey the maximum with the simplest, barest means." He also mentioned James Dean later on: "Well, I was certainly impressed with the originality of [Dean's] talent. Of course, it was popular at the time of his emergence."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins himself was a lifelong member of the Actors Studio, an institution both Brando and Dean attended as well, which could have contributed to his interest in the Method. Perkins's posthumous biographer, Charles Winecoff, though, dismisses any ideas that Perkins was a Method actor himself: "Young Perkins fell somewhere in between the mannered style of his father's era and the new, seemingly organic style exemplified by Brando and Dean."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: To cite one person as Perkins's influencer would be incorrect. Especially in his early years, Perkins took advice from a host of his costars, a majority of whom were experienced and revered actors in their own right. The most influential of his fellow stars were Gary Cooper and Henry Fonda.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Despite his many celebrated performances, Perkins never discussed the method with which he acted. Many said he was somewhere between his father's style of acting (building a character from the outside in) and the Method technique (building a character from the inside out). Recalling how he prepared for his mental breakdown scene in "Fear Strikes Out", Norma Moore said he was especially "serious, very intent, very nervous before shooting...–pacing, not talking to anybody, shaking his hands." The film's director, Robert Mulligan, said that Perkins was "riding on instinct, very giving and very trusting and very brave." A year later, when Perkins played Eugene Gant for Broadway in "Look Homeward, Angel", not much had changed. "His approach was a purely pragmatic one," friend George Roy Hill remembered. "He'd find a way to play it, and he had no theories to get in his way. I don't know what devices he used internally, but he was always very concerned with acting as acting."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: There is evidence to suggest that Perkins used previous (sometimes traumatic) experiences to drive his performance. During his debut run on Broadway in "Tea and Sympathy", Perkins was allegedly drafted into the army, which he dodged by admitting he was a homosexual. This backfired, leading to harsh mistreatment at the hands of the Selective Service that reportedly scarred him so much he wouldn't speak about it. His boyfriend was there when he returned home, listening to him crying and whimpering. He later said that Perkins incorporated the same whimpering into his performance as Tom Lee in "Sympathy". Perkins, though, never hinted at this in a rare mention of his technique when speaking about the scene in "Friendly Persuasion" when Josh Birdwell decides to enlist:


title: Anthony Perkins

text: "That scene started [filming at] about 9:30 in the morning and by 1 o'clock the unions at that time declared that we had to go to lunch, right in the middle of the scene–just before my close-up. And [William Wyler, the director] came to me and said, 'I'm really sorry about this. You're doing a fabulous job and I want you to hold onto this if you possibly can. Why don't you go back to your room and sort of concentrate and reread the script? I'm very very sorry; we'll start again in an hour.' Well, I went to the commissary and had two cheeseburgers and a malted and came back and sat down and started over again. I didn't have the self-consciousness as an actor to find that that would be a difficult thing to do, so since I didn't think it was gonna be difficult, it wasn't... Well, youth can do anything."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Either way, it worked. Many of Perkins's films distinguished him as a powerful actor of the day, garnering numerous awards and nominations. As "Turner Classic Movies" summarized: "A masterful character actor, Perkins' ability to convey mental instability in a fashion that was simultaneously disturbing, affecting, and darkly humorous made him a unique and valuable talent."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Throughout his career, Perkins often played shy, sensitive young men. Whether this was the morally-split Josh Birdwell or the unconfidently homicidal Norman Bates, they all distinguished him as one of the rare male actors unafraid to be vulnerable with the audience. "He was supposed to be gawky, you know," costar Jean Simmons recalled, "with the sleeves too short and all that stuff." Former partner Tab Hunter spoke similarly about Perkins: "Beneath the boyishness, however, there was a lot of tension–not news to anyone who's seen Tony on-screen. The familiar body language wasn't an act. He slouched around with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, and he jiggled his foot unconsciously–a nervous twitch."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Despite his well-documented habits, the authenticity of them has been challenged by some of Perkins's friends and colleagues. Alan Sues, who worked with Perkins on "Tea and Sympathy", noted, "You know, if you play that kind of sensitive, I-don't-know-if-I-can-get-through-this sort of thing, people come to you. His approach was that he was suffering, that stuff was going on inside of him, and I don't think it was. His strong suit was knowing how to project an image." Although Hunter expressed similar doubts ("I began to wonder how much of his sheepish appeal was genuine," he wrote in 2005, "and how much was manufactured, used to mask very calculated, methodical intentions"), he did believe overall that Perkins was dealing with a lot of backlash from Paramount over his sexuality, which therefore led him to become as brooding as he was.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: However real or fake the mannerisms were, they caught on in the press, which had a field day when Perkins, who didn't know how to drive, was photographed hitchhiking to the set of "Friendly Persuasion". He was often described as "boyish" by fan magazines, and his odd habits, from the way he dressed to the meals he ate, were written about in detail. "Photoplay" called Perkins a "barefoot boy with cheek" in a 1957 issue, while later portraying him as an embarrassed singer when they photographed him during recording sessions. Perkins seemingly played into this quirky yet insecure persona, venting to "McCall's":


title: Anthony Perkins

text: "I'm not really suited to be a movie star. I have no confidence in myself. I'm not interested in money. I'm not good-looking. I have a hunch in my spine. I can't see worth a damn. I have a very small head. I haven't many opinions. I dislike nightclubs–the kind of things that give you easy publicity. I have no string of French girls. I'm not tough. I can't put on a show in public. I'm much too sensitive for Hollywood. I'm an easy target."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: He also did so on game shows. As a mystery guest on the popular television program "What's My Line?", in an affected Australian accent, Perkins responded to a question asking if he was a movie star by saying, "That's a term I don't like." After his identity was revealed to the panel of previously blind-folded guessers, Perkins was asked again why he didn't prefer the term. "The term movie star," he said, "implies a certain glamor which I believe I lack."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Even if some people found Perkins's constant complaining about his self-esteem to be annoying, it did earn him fans in the more prominent gossip columnists. Both Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper were fans of him, feeling an almost maternal instinct for him. "[Hopper] was the biggest Tony Perkins fan in town," Tab Hunter recalled. "She practically declared him her adopted son in print and was eager to publish anything that would bury those rumors about Tony's 'secret friend' [a euphemism for Hunter and their secret relationship often employed by the press]." This also endeared him to Academy Award-winning costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, whom he worked with on "Friendly Persuasion" and "Green Mansions". "He had a gift for inciting maternal instinct, particularly in mature women."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins was relentlessly promoted by Paramount Pictures as a sex symbol and teen idol throughout his career, something Perkins saw as a sacrifice to his serious acting prospects. They forced him through a succession of romantic lead roles, whether they were beside relative unknowns like Norma Moore and Elaine Aiken or powerhouses like Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn. Although he was depicted in drag in "The Matchmaker" with Shirley MacLaine, Perkins's image in these films was largely heterosexualized, no matter how feminine Perkins appeared. Despite his 140-pound stature, Perkins delivered a shirtless performance in both "Desire Under the Elms" and "Green Mansions" where his ribs are visible through his skin, if only to accentuate his "masculinity." This compulsive and brash heterosexualization ended up being detrimental to Perkins's career, costing him the leads in both "Some Like it Hot" and "West Side Story".


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Even if the masculinity of Perkins's image was forced, his beauty was not. As friend Gwen Davis remembered, "He was intellectually dazzling, physically beautiful. At twenty-four, he was already Dorian Gray." Costar Joan Fickett spoke similarly of Perkins: "Tony had a quality that was fantastic... He was also a beautiful-looking young man." Even his post-Hollywood friends like Melina Mercouri agreed: "He was the most intelligent and the most beautiful actor that I played with. He was extremely generous [and gorgeous], a gentleman."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins's popularity as a teen idol was increased by the plentiful stories circulating about his active dating life. Although they ultimately ended up stumped as to how an attractive star such as Perkins could remain a bachelor, Perkins was constantly "losing his heart" to somebody, whether it was Natascia Mangano or Elaine Aiken. Perkins was often claimed to be "infatuated" with many of his leading women, whether they were married or not. Soon, Perkins's dating life became as prominent as his career, something Perkins was deeply irritated and annoyed by.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Another source of teenage frenzy around the young actor was his singing career. Although his highest-ranked single in the United States, "Moonlight Swim," peaked in the 20s on the "Billboard" charts, his albums were still popular with teenage fans. Many of his songs centered around forbidden romances, something an adoring fan could relate to since they might have seen a potential romance with Perkins, a "movie star," as forbidden. Many of the songs often described the love interest as young, with two ("The Prettiest Girl in School" and "When School Starts Again Next Year") explicitly stating that his "girlfriend" was young enough to still be in school. These singles came out shortly before the release of 1960's "Tall Story", where Perkins played a college student, amplifying the teenage frenzy tenfold.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: There are many conflicting answers as to how Perkins met his future wife, photographer Berinthia "Berry" Berenson, the younger sister of actress and model Marisa Berenson. There were stories that it was at a party in Manhattan in 1972, while some insist it was on the set of "Play It as It Lays". The one sure answer was that it was in 1972.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Although not romantically, Perkins and Berenson saw each other often even though she was engaged to Richard Bernstein at the time. Slowly, the attachment became romantic and then sexual, leading Berenson to become pregnant out of wedlock. After telling her fiancé this, Bernstein reportedly reacted by telling Berenson that Perkins was gay and didn't reciprocate her feelings. Berenson was said to have replied, "No, he's going to Mildred Newman and he wants to be straight! He wants to be straight!" Berenson left Bernstein the same day.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins and Berenson married when he was 41 and she was 25, on August 9, 1973, with Berenson three months pregnant. Their first son, actor and director Oz Perkins, was born in 1974, and musician Elvis Perkins followed two years later in 1976. Many friends were surprised by this marriage and believed it would not last long. Venetia Stevenson admitted to Charles Winecoff, "[I]t was a big shock when I heard [Tony] got married. [I went,] not Tony. He was very gay, totally gay." Even Berenson admitted some reserves:


title: Anthony Perkins

text: "A lot of people looked at the two of us and said, 'Who are they kidding? This is never going to work.' I was so naïve I couldn't figure out what they were talking about. He told me [that he was gay], and it just didn't register. I had been very sheltered."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: On September 11 2001, as Berenson was returning to her California home from a vacation in Cape Cod on American Airlines Flight 11, her plane was hijacked and crashed into North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone aboard. She died at the age of 53, one day before the ninth anniversary of Perkins's death.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Rumors about Perkins's sexuality had persisted since the beginning of his career, when he made his Broadway debut in "Tea and Sympathy" playing a gay character. Posthumous biographer Charles Winecoff linked him with a mass expulsion of gay men at Rollins College in Florida which he was attending, claiming a large group of his friends had been arrested on charges of homosexuality but that Perkins's links to the theatre professor saved him from dismissal. However, there is no evidence of this besides the interviews Winecoff conducted with Rollins alumni.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins reportedly had his first experience with a woman at age 39 with actress Victoria Principal on location filming "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" in 1971. He was in therapy with psychologist Mildred Newman, whom Stephen Sondheim later described to author Mark Harris as "completely unethical and a danger to humanity." In his 2021 biography of Mike Nichols, Harris wrote that "Perkins and his longtime boyfriend, Grover Dale, had both become convinced that their homosexuality was obstructing their happiness and wanted to restart their lives with women," adding that Newman and her husband–partner Bernard Berkowitz "clung to the belief that male homosexuality was a form of arrested development, and made a small fortune convincing willing clients that it was an impediment to getting what they wanted." When interviewed for a 1999 documentary on Perkins, friend and collaborator Sidney Lumet said, "I [asked him why he went into therapy and] said, 'Well, how about you?' [He said,] 'I'm a homosexual...' From then on, he spoke about it completely openly, and I remember when... he said that period of his life was over with, and I said, 'Well, how come, Tony? How did it happen?' And he said, 'I just didn't want it anymore.'"


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Many friends, partners, and colleagues have consistently said Perkins was homosexual rather than bisexual. This is due to the fact that, up until this point, Perkins had only homosexual relationships and expressed little interest in women. However, Perkins noted in 1983 that his mother and her sexual abuse might have had something to do with it: "She was constantly touching me and caressing me. Not realizing what effect she was having, she would touch me all over, even stroking the inside of my thighs right up to my crotch." This behavior continued on into his adulthood. This reportedly led to Perkins "being unable to see a beautiful woman," but many costars and collaborators remembered situations where he would gawk and drool over a woman walking down the street. Tab Hunter has since called moments like these a ruse: "You always saw what Tony wanted you to see, which was kind of sad in many ways... An actor plays a role, and pretty soon he takes on that persona. And we're all guilty of having done that. I think perhaps Tony's persona was the persona that he wanted people to see. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's that fine line of knowing how to divorce yourself from yourself."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: In 1971, Perkins ended a seven-year relationship with dancer Grover Dale for unknown reasons, after which he turned to friends Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin for help. Both encouraged him to see up-and-coming psychoanalyst Mildred Newman, whose recent self-help book "How to be Your Own Best Friend" was rising up the "New York Times"s bestseller list. Their meetings became thrice weekly, and sometimes Perkins would engage in group appointments. He later became one of Newman's most vocal celebrity supporters. Perkins's posthumous biographer, Charles Winecoff, wrote: "Newman's therapeutic shtick that it was okay to love yourself without guilt and get the happiness and (mostly) the success that you naturally deserve seemed to be rubbing off on Tony."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: That same year, Newman had written in "How to be Your Own Best Friend" that "analysts once thought they had little chance of changing homosexuals' preferences and had little success in that direction. But some refused to accept that and kept working with them, and we've found that a homosexual who really wants to change has a very good chance of doing so."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Later in life, Perkins referred to Newman as an almost peaceful person, "a crusader for a wider road, for choice and limitlessness." This, though, is not reflected much in Newman's actions or the sparse recollections Perkins related about their meetings. Sometimes their discussions would end in weeping spells, especially after Newman asked Perkins to imagine himself having sex with a woman. "'Why are you crying?' [Newman] asked. 'I don't know,' Tony answered. 'It's so sad, so sad.'" Other times, they were simple arguments: "She was constantly provoking me about women, asking why I was repressed in that area. We had heated disagreements, knockdown arguments. I would say, 'I don't want to talk about this again today,' and she said, 'I "do" want to talk about it.' We kicked it to pieces." After Perkins's death, Stephen Sondheim publicly labeled Newman and her practices as "completely unethical and a danger to humanity."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: It's been widely reported that Perkins began visiting Mildred Newman with the wish of turning heterosexual. However, that is not the case. In a 2022 interview, Perkins's previous partner, Grover Dale, said:


title: Anthony Perkins

text: "Tony and I were meeting with Mildred Newman, a psychologist. [...] Within weeks, Tony, Anita [Morris, Dale's wife], and Berry Berenson [Perkins's wife], who was a photographer at the time, were all living together in the same house, okay? And Anita and I lived down in the garden apartment, Tony and Berry lived in the upper duplex, and we were these four people, and all of our friends thought we were crazy, that we were being brainwashed into these relationships. I married Anita first; within three weeks, Tony and Berry were married... It's not wanting to [hide our relationship]. It's political issues."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: According to the posthumous biography "Split Image" by Charles Winecoff, Perkins had exclusively same-sex relationships until his late 30s, including with actor Tab Hunter, artist Christopher Makos, and dancer-choreographer Grover Dale. Perkins has also been described as one of the two great men in the life of French songwriter Patrick Loiseau.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Tab Hunter publicly admitted to his relationship with Perkins in his 2005 autobiography "Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star", having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of "Friendly Persuasion" in 1956:


title: Anthony Perkins

text: "I went for a swim and when I came out my friend Venetia Stevenson said, 'Oh I want you to meet Tony – do you know him?' We hadn't met, but I already knew that he was a very fine actor. He was at Paramount and I was with Warner Brothers. We just chatted and got on and soon we were starting to see each other."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Their relationship went on for four years and had its ups and downs. A few months after their relationship began, Perkins announced to Hunter that Paramount had cast him as Jimmy Piersall in "Fear Strikes Out", a role Hunter had originated on television and was trying to convince Warner Brothers to introduce on the screen. Hunter, however, stated that even after the incident, "we continued to see each other, privately, as much as our schedules allowed." This included a multi-week stay together in a private villa in Rome in March 1957 and an appearance on "Jukebox Jury" that May.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: During their relationship, Paramount Pictures constantly targeted Perkins for their romance. Many people reported arguments between the studio heads and Perkins, many revolving around Hunter and their relationship. Hunter, however, notes that for many years this had no effect on how they treated each other within their relationship, calling it "a wonderful time in my life." Despite this, Paramount succeeded in separating the couple in 1959, just before "Psycho" went into filming. After their separation, Perkins and Hunter did not see each other more than twice in the thirty-three years until Perkins's death. The first time was on the set of "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" in 1971, the only film Perkins and Hunter starred in together. The second was at Perkins's home in 1982 when Hunter tried convince Perkins to play the villain in Hunter's upcoming film "Lust in the Dust", costarring Divine. They nearly spoke a third time in 1992, as Hunter remembered: "I had a hunch to call [Perkins after hearing he was very sick with AIDS] and touch base, and when I picked up the phone, I heard on the radio that he'd passed away." Hunter later told "The Advocate" that watching himself speak about Perkins's death was one of the most impactful moments of his 2015 documentary.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: In addition, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. If he was shooting a film, I'd pick up a car and drive out to see him and we'd spend time together... He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins and Dale met during rehearsals for the Frank Loesser musical "Greenwillow", in which Perkins played the lead. Dale was an ensemble member, dancer, and Perkins's understudy. Their relationship began on the set of the musical. Stanley Simmons, who worked on the production's costumes and lived next-door to Perkins in New York, confirmed, "Tony never said anything, but he was having an affair with Grover." Tony Walton, another actor in the show, agreed the two were involved, "but they were discreet. It wasn't a big deal. Folks were aware of it, and [Tony and Grover] didn't shove it." Allegedly, rumors of the relationship were rampant backstage. Posthumous biographer Charles Winecoff claimed they did not live together at the time, while Dale himself said only a few months passed between them beginning their relationship and him moving into Perkins's apartment. The apartment Perkins and Dale shared was, at the time, his only residence in the United States.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: By late 1964, posthumous biographer Charles Winecoff asserts that Dale had become "Perkins's main man" and that he was often spotted walking down the New York City streets with Perkins, walking his dog Punky. By Dale's own admission, they were still together in 1966; the same year, Winecoff describes Perkins's relationship with Dale as "soaring back home." Perkins and Dale were a visible couple, hosting parties for people such as Jerome Robbins and Elaine Stritch, which often ended in an intense match of Scrabble. There were other instances where Winecoff described Perkins and Dale as being "married" to each other, and friend Ben Bagley asserts that Perkins "whispered [the song 'I Cling to You' from Bagley's album] as if he was speaking it to Grover, which he informed his lover of afterward." Christopher Makos, a friend of Perkins's, said of the relationship: "I can't speak for Grover, but these were two adult men who probably loved each other very much." By 1969, just as the Stonewall riots kicked off the movement for gay rights, Perkins and Dale were considered "role models" for other gay professionals looking to have open relationships. Dale was considered one of the major loves of Perkins's life.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Throughout his time in Hollywood, Perkins worked with a host of famous personalities, many of whom remembered him fondly. Among his costars and leading ladies, there was usually mutual endearment. Sophia Loren remembered Perkins's dressing room for 1958's "Desire Under the Elms" as looking like a monk's cage, and she was often photographed smiling and laughing with him when they reunited in Europe a few years afterward. In the press, Perkins discussed how his main objective while making 1959's "Green Mansions" was only to make Audrey Hepburn laugh every day, and Elaine Aiken recalled that Perkins would often divert her attention away from her plate on "dates" so he could steal some of her food. "I don't think we ever discussed [him being gay, which Aiken knew about], it didn't matter," she recalled. "It didn't bother me. I just wanted a friend." A similar bond was forged between Perkins and Venetia Stevenson, to whom he would "unburden" himself. "[Perkins] would sleep over and tell me sad stories," Stevenson told Tab Hunter. "He was totally crazy about you." She also mentioned to biographer Charles Winecoff, "We were real friends, and he would sleep over at my house [which was a block away from Perkins and Hunter's apartments] in the same bed. But there was never, ever any... well, you know. If you have a friend of the opposite sex who's gay, it's just in the air. You know what I mean?"


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Although he got on famously with women, he also had many friendships with men. Despite Alfred Hitchcock's infamous saying that "actors are cattle," he got along well with Perkins on the set of "Psycho". Hitchcock accepted many of Perkins's ideas for the character of Norman Bates, including the suggestion that he should nibble on candy corn. Even after Perkins moved to France, he was a common addition to Hitchcock's dinner table. Perkins was also a favorite of Orson Welles, whom he collaborated with four times.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perhaps the most famous of his male friendships was with Stephen Sondheim, whom he briefly lived with for a time. Since penning "Evening Primrose" for Perkins, which would end up being the only project of Sondheim's Perkins actually starred in, Perkins became a muse to him, inspiring many musicals, where Sondheim cast him in all the leads. Perkins, however, turned all of these down, mostly due to scheduling conflicts. When discussing Perkins and the process of writing "The Last of Sheila" together, Sondheim said, "I knew he had exactly my mind and take and he's much more into murder mysteries than I am, so we started to plot it. We spent a couple of months plotting it, and had such a good time we decided to go ahead and write it. I think the most fun I've ever had writing anything was writing ["The Last of Sheila"s] screenplay." Sondheim was later named the godfather to both of Perkins's children and was present at Perkins's final birthday party.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins was largely remembered by friends and associates as being a shy, neurotic young man, with the ability to be very alluring. Bruce Jay Friedman, a later collaborator of Perkins's in the production "Steambath", remarked, "He was enormously charming, but also very controlled. He always seemed to have four ideas going on in his head at once." Mary Tyler Moore, who worked with Perkins on the hugely popular "First, You Cry" TV movie, remembered Perkins similarly: "He was a charming person, a very keen actor who seemed to love his work... He was just a nice guy, and not what I had expected at all. I had expected him to be arch and very sophisticated and stylish–and I'm sure he was all those things–but that's not what you most remembered about him."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Although former partner Tab Hunter remembered Perkins similarly, he was more open about acknowledging the complexities of Perkins: "You never really knew Tony a hundred percent. He was a bit of a game player with people's minds." However, he also saw Perkins as being a multi-layered, realistic person with flaws:


title: Anthony Perkins

text: I don't think many people really knew Tony well. He had friends. A lot of people liked him, but he had few friends that he really confided in. I don't know for sure what he was really like. You always saw what Tony wanted you to see, which was kind of sad in many ways... He was a wonderful guy, and he had a very funny, very dry sense of humor.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: In our society everyone wants to know everything about everybody 100 percent. And you never really knew everything that was going on with Tony. It was still water that ran pretty deep.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins's shy, introverted personality attributed itself to many of his interests, most of which were one-man activities. Since he was a young boy, he was often preoccupied with books and adored reading. When asked, he playfully admitted he was a lover of science fiction, though he could not stand brooding philosophical books. This went hand-in-hand with his interest in writing, which he indulged in throughout life. While at Browne & Nichols School, he was made co-literary editor of the school paper, "The Spectator", to which he occasionally contributed articles. This interest would even make its way into his professional life, when Perkins cowrote "The Last of Sheila" with Stephen Sondheim years later. It would be the only time he wrote a screenplay, as Perkins reflected years later, "Acting was just memorizing lines, and I was good at that. Writing was harder and required more work."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: However uninterested in interaction Perkins was, his interests were not solely solitary. Perkins was an avid fan of the board game Scrabble, and when entertaining his first alleged boyfriend, he would often engage him in a round. He was also an avid fan of "The Ed Sullivan Show", which he would eventually appear on during his heyday. This keen interest in games and television programs lent itself to the many victories Perkins achieved in game shows like "Password", where he easily got his partner to guess the secret word. Even his regular impersonations of famous actors and costars did him good when he appeared on "What's My Line?" and easily fooled the panelists.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: His wit was not the only thing employed during activities. Tab Hunter remembered Perkins purchasing a deluxe portable ping-pong table for him one Christmas. "We set it up on the terrace and played marathon matches." His shrewdness, though, made frequent appearances during their private meetings and dates: "On occasion, Tony would go with me to the barn or go to a show I was riding in, but he wasn't crazy about horses. Sometimes we'd head up to Watson Webb's place at Lake Arrowhead to water-ski. He wasn't the athletic type, however. His amusement came from using his quirky, brainy charm and extremely dry humor."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins was a Democrat who supported many progressive causes, such as civil rights and feminism. Perkins participated in the 1965 Selma march for the right for African Americans to vote, and there are numerous photos and videos documenting his participation, most notably where he stands to the left of Martin Luther King Jr., who is being waved at by Harry Belafonte. He was one of the many performers at the "Stars for Freedom" rally during the marches who entertained King and the rest of the marchers, singing folk songs and giving brief speeches. He also continued on to Montgomery, the Alabama state capital, the next day.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Despite the fact that he remained mostly closeted for his entire life, Perkins did express his support for LGBTQ+ rights occasionally. In an interview with Boze Hadleigh, he stated that the idea that marriage is primarily between a man and a woman was "archaic," and that, if having children was the sole reason to get married, "gays can adopt." Even before getting diagnosed with the illness, Perkins also regularly volunteered at Project Angel Food, a non-profit organization which delivered meals to HIV and AIDS patients. In September 1986, six years before his death, Perkins also released a PSA urging people to "fights AIDS with the facts."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins promoted feminism as well, famously proclaiming in 1983: "Women's liberation has liberated me too." He openly acknowledged that he believed men should take on "motherly" roles as well when raising their children and that he changed diapers and fed his infants–something he said he didn't need to receive praise for.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Although his mother had been born in a strict religious household, Perkins was not. The only discussions that arose about religion while growing up were begun by Perkins, usually to disgust his mother. It was because of this that Perkins classified himself as an atheist throughout his lifetime, though he celebrated holidays like Christmas in a non-religious context.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins rarely discussed religion outside of his character's faiths (for example, he played a minister in "Crimes of Passion"). Whenever he did talk about it personally, it was almost always tied with how religion was often used as an excuse not to legalize same-sex marriage. Speaking to Boze Hadleigh later on in life, he said, "Common sense isn't really that common, particularly when religion enters the picture."


title: Anthony Perkins

text: During the filming of "", Perkins was undergoing treatment for facial palsy. He was tested for AIDS after an article in "National Enquirer", a tabloid newspaper, said he was HIV positive. Ms. Berenson said her husband had not been tested for AIDS but had been given a series of blood tests in Los Angeles for the palsy on the side of his face. Ms. Berenson said she assumed that someone had tested her husband's blood for the virus and leaked the results to the tabloid.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins hid the fact that he had AIDS from the public for two years, going in and out of hospitals under assumed names. During this time, his wife and children regularly tested; they all always came back negative. It was not until a few weeks before his death that he went public with the disease, although he had been working on movies during the time of his illness. He died at his Los Angeles home on September 12, 1992, from AIDS-related pneumonia aged 60. In a statement prepared before his death, Perkins said, "I chose not to go public about [having AIDS] because, to misquote "Casablanca", 'I'm not much good at being noble,' but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of one old actor don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding from the people I have met in this great adventure in the world of AIDS than I ever did in the cutthroat, competitive world in which I spent my life." Perkins never disclosed how he got the disease.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: His urn, inscribed "Don't Fence Me In", is in an altar on the terrace of his former home in the Hollywood Hills.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins is considered a cultural icon and an influential figure in film because of his long career, most notably his defining role as Norman Bates in "Psycho". Countless references, spoofs, and documentaries have been made about the thriller and his homicidal character, and it has led many to pronounce the motion picture as the greatest horror film of all time. AFI named Norman Bates the second greatest villain of all time, beaten only by Hannibal Lecter from "The Silence of the Lambs".


title: Anthony Perkins

text: The character of Norman Bates himself has also been referenced numerous times in both music and film. As early as 1964, just four years after the release of "Psycho", Bob Dylan referenced the film extensively on his track "Motorpsycho Nightmare," a humorous tale about a traveling salesman. Perkins is even mentioned by name:


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Even after the immediate release of "Psycho", its influence remained prominent. In 1977, Blondie referenced Norman Bates on their track "Kidnapper": "Hey, you've got an unnerving face/And twitchin' eyes like Norman Bates." In 1999, Eminem referenced Bates on "Role Model": "I'm 'bout as normal as Norman Bates with deformative traits/...Mother, are you there? I love you/I never meant to hit you over the head with that shovel (That shovel)." Five years later, Kanye West paid homage to Perkins's homicidal character on "Gossip Files": "Uh, they are the dream (Killer Norman Bates)." Even fifty-five years after the film's release, Lil Wayne mentioned the iconic character on "Amazing Amy": "I'm Norman Bates and this bitch ain't normal, our kids gon' be nuts (Not the babies!)." Perkins was mentioned by name in the iconic 1996 film "Scream", where Billy Loomis, about to kill Sidney Prescott, says, "'We all go a little mad sometimes'–Anthony Perkins, "Psycho"." This seemed to only solidify Perkins's icon status in the horror genre.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: It was not just "Psycho" that was admired. Perkins's first major motion picture, "Friendly Persuasion", received an abrupt resurgence in interest after President Ronald Reagan labeled the film as his favorite. It also served diplomatic purposes: during one of their five summit meetings, Reagan gifted the film to Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev because he viewed the film as symbolic of the need to find an alternative to war as a means of resolving differences between peoples. One Quaker commentator stated: ""Friendly Persuasion" seems to me to come about as close to truth and fairness as I expect to see Hollywood get in a treatment of Quakerism; I recommend it to every Quaker parent, as projecting images their children ought to see and imitate... I believe (critics have) woefully misjudged the film, on several counts: its place in American cinema, the characters and their roles, its historicity, and, not least, its value as an expression of the Peace Testimony. Here, for perhaps the only time, I think Ronald Reagan was closer to the truth when he commended the film to Gorbachev because it 'shows not the tragedy of war, but the problems of pacifism, the nobility of patriotism as well as the love of peace. "Fear Strikes Out" also was subjected to similar treatment after it was nominated for the American Film Institute's 2008 list in the sports film category. Even his European films were praised: eight years after Perkins's death, renowned and respected film critic Roger Ebert called "The Trial" a masterpiece.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Even if they were not distinguished by an award, many of Perkins's films earned cult followings throughout the years. "The Trial" was one of them, with some people considering the film even better than "Citizen Kane". "Pretty Poison" was another instance, and perhaps the most famous. Television appearances like "Evening Primrose" and "Remember My Name" also received this treatment, with "Primrose" finding a big fan in famous singer Michael Jackson. The same occurred with "The Black Hole" and "Crimes of Passion".


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins has also been considered an icon of the New York actors of Hollywood's Golden Age, often being compared to legendary performers Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and even James Dean, whom he was once set to replace. He became a poster child for neurotic and shy men, many of whom felt outcast in average American society. Other times, he was the model for odd boys with murderous tendencies. Either way, Perkins was always praised for his heartfelt and dedicated performances, as Brando, Clift, and Dean had been. Generations of actors were inspired by him, as Sebastian Stan put: "I have a bit of an obsession with the 1950's and all those actors from Montgomery Clift to James Dean and Anthony Perkins. Just that whole era of Tennessee Williams to Elia Kazan. The whole idea of New York and the whole thing becomes kind of romantic in your head." Jane Fonda credited Perkins alone with making her comfortable in front of the camera, and Michael Simkims, who worked with Perkins just months before his death on "A Demon in My View", remembered Perkins well for his professionalism and willingness to help anyone–including himself–who was having trouble with a scene. Even established actors admired his abilities, as Maria Cooper Janis remembered about her father, Gary Cooper: "I know my father adored Tony Perkins. He thought he was one hell of an actor." After his death, Perkins's art still lingered in Hollywood, especially in the Academy Award-nominated thriller film "Knives Out", which was inspired by "The Last of Sheila", according to the film's director-producer Rian Johnson.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: It was not just his professional life that became part of Perkins's legacy. He was outspoken about politically far-left causes, making him appealing to liberals. He was recognized by numerous minorities, including the ones he belonged to, as a tireless advocate for the causes he stood for, such as civil rights, feminism, and (even despite his own closeted nature) LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage. By the late 1960s, just as the Stonewall riots hit their stride and gay rights protests began to appear all over the country, Perkins and his lover, Grover Dale, were seen as role models for gay professionals who wanted to have open relationships.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: His death from AIDS-related causes also greatly affected how he was remembered. Alongside Rock Hudson, Perkins is considered one of the most significant actors to have died from the disease. There were countless tributes to him around the world, pouring in from news stations and average citizens. In New Zealand, Perkins was one of the many famous people honored in their national AIDS remembrance quilt in 1994.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Although rumors had always persisted, Perkins wasn't officially classified as gay until a posthumous biography by Charles Winecoff entitled "Split Image: the Life of Anthony Perkins" was published in 1996. The book delves deep into Perkins's personal life and his battle with his sexuality while being a poster-child for heterosexual men, something the author claimed deeply tormented him. The biography's publication led to Perkins being featured in numerous gay magazines, most notably "The Advocate".


title: Anthony Perkins

text: In 2005, former-partner Tab Hunter released a memoir, "Tab Hunter Confidential", in which he publicly came out as a gay man.<ref name="nyt2003/09/09"></ref> In the autobiography, he admitted to his relationship with Perkins for the first time after having previously denied it to biographers. He detailed their three- to four-year affair, with its many ups and downs. "We were both drawn to each other because we were both ambitious young actors swimming in the Hollywood fishbowl," Hunter wrote, "where the waters are dark and murky and treacherous, especially if you've got a 'secret. This returned public interest to Perkins once more, this time as both a cinematic and gay icon.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Nearly a decade later, Perkins was portrayed by British actor James D'Arcy in the 2012 biographical drama "Hitchcock", which starred Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren as Alma Reville, about the filming of "Psycho". His character was featured briefly, with most of the screen time going to Scarlett Johansson, who played Janet Leigh. His homosexuality was never explicitly mentioned, though it was heavily implied. Three years afterwards, Tab Hunter released a Jeffrey Schwarz-directed documentary, "Tab Hunter Confidential", where he further elaborated on his life as a closeted movie star and surviving show-business. Perkins was a substantial addition in the film, whom Hunter said he had a "wonderful relationship with. I was comfortable with him. I did trust him." He also spoke for the first time about his reaction to Perkins's wife, children, and conversion therapy. The film was well received by critics, and Perkins's sexuality and relationship with Hunter became a popular story that circulated through newspapers.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: A year following "Tab Hunter Confidential"s release, Perkins's son, Oz, released the Netflix-distributed "I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House", a horror film about a caretaker for an elderly woman. Paula Prentiss, who had starred alongside Perkins in "Catch-22", was cast because of her association with the late star and was the only option his son had in mind. In interviews, Oz discussed how the film was a way to connect with his deceased father and how horror (since Perkins is a horror icon) was the only way to do it. The soundtrack for the film was composed by Elvis Perkins, Perkins's second son, and "You Keep Coming Back (Like a Song)" off of Perkins's 1958 "From My Heart..." album was a central part of the plot. In the film, the characters can also be seen watching "Friendly Persuasion".


title: Anthony Perkins

text: In 2018, Zachary Quinto and J. J. Abrams announced that a new film was in the works. Entitled "Tab and Tony" ("hesitantly," as they later reported), the film would follow the Tab Hunter/Anthony Perkins relationship from Hunter's point of view, and was based on both Hunter's documentary and memoir. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright was attached to create the screenplay, and even after Hunter's death a month after the announcement, Quinto announced that plans to create the film were still in place. In 2019, Allan Glaser, Tab Hunter's husband, who was signed onto the film as a producer, made a positive update about the film's progress and stated that Andrew Garfield was a possible candidate to play Perkins.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: Perkins was a part of Philippe Halsman's famous "Jump" series, in which Halsman requested all famous sitters to leap for him under the impression that while people were trained in many other things, no one was ever taught how to jump. Alongside famous Hollywood contemporaries like Eartha Kitt, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Sammy Davis Jr., Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, and even Tab Hunter, Halsman's photo of a jumping Perkins has been widely reproduced and shared over the years.


title: Anthony Perkins

text: For his work, Perkins received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures (6821 Hollywood Blvd.) and one for television (6801 Hollywood Blvd.).


title: Miles Morales

text: Miles Gonzalo Morales () is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, and is one of the characters known as Spider-Man. The character was created in 2011 by writer Brian Michael Bendis and Italian artist Sara Pichelli, with input by Marvel's then-editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.


title: Miles Morales

text: Miles Morales first appeared in "Ultimate Fallout" #4 (August 2011), following the death of Peter Parker. The 13-year-old biracial teenage son of an African-American father and a Puerto Rican mother, he is the second Spider-Man to appear in Ultimate Marvel, an imprint with a separate continuity from the mainstream Marvel Universe called the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610). He was featured in the "" comic book series, and after Marvel ended the Ultimate imprint in 2015, Miles was made a character in the main Marvel Universe (Earth-616), beginning with stories under the All-New, All-Different Marvel branding that debuted that same year. The character was not the lead character in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" animated television series on Disney XD, but was later added to the main cast, as Kid Arachnid. The character was the main protagonist in the 2018 animated feature film "", which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, as well as its and .


title: Miles Morales

text: Reaction to the character varied, with some, including Spider-Man's co-creator, Stan Lee, approving the creation of a positive role model for children of color. Others expressed displeasure at the replacement of Peter Parker, with "The Guardian", Fox News, and Culture Map Houston reporting that some fans viewed the decision as an attempt by Marvel Comics to exhibit political correctness, and that the introduction of a minority Spider-Man was simply a publicity stunt to attract more readers, a charge Alonso denied. Alexandra Petri of "The Washington Post" called for the character to be judged on the quality of his stories, which garnered positive reviews.


title: Miles Morales

text: The character possesses powers similar to those of the original Spider-Man, which were derived from the bite of a spider genetically engineered by Spider-Man's nemesis Norman Osborn in an attempt to duplicate those abilities.


title: Miles Morales

text: The concept of a black Spider-Man was first discussed a few months before the November 2008 election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Marvel Comics' then-editor-in-chief Axel Alonso describes the catalyst, "When we were planning 'Ultimatum,' we realized that we were standing at the brink of America electing its first African-American President and we acknowledged that maybe it was time to take a good look at one of our icons." This new Spider-Man would replace Parker as Spider-Man only in Ultimate Marvel, an imprint whose storyline is set in a universe separate from the mainstream Marvel universe, in which Marvel's characters were reimagined for a 21st-century audience. The replacement of Ultimate Peter Parker was considered as a possible part of the 2008–09 "Ultimatum" story arc that restructured much of the Ultimate Marvel universe, but those early thoughts were abandoned because the story for that character had not yet been developed. When Marvel's editorial staff decided that the Ultimate universe's Peter Parker would be killed in the 2011 storyline "", the character Miles Morales was created. Although Morales is the first black Spider-Man, he marks the second time a Latino character has taken the Spider-Man identity. Miguel O'Hara, who is of Mexican and Irish descent, was the title character in the 1990s series "Spider-Man 2099".


title: Miles Morales

text: Miles Morales was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli. Bendis's thoughts about the character, and the way he looked in his first appearance, were heavily influenced by African-American actor Donald Glover's appearance in Spider-Man pajamas in "Anthropology 101", the second-season premiere of the television comedy series "Community". This was a reference to an unsuccessful online campaign that attempted to secure Glover an audition for the lead role in the 2012 film "The Amazing Spider-Man". Bendis said of Glover, "He looked fantastic! I saw him in the costume and thought, 'I would like to read that book.' So I was glad I was writing that book."


title: Miles Morales

text: In creating the visual look for Miles, Pichelli followed her usual practice of approaching the design by giving thought to the character's personality, including the background that influenced it, and the distinctive traits that he would exhibit, such as the clothing he wears, his body language and expressions. Pichelli also designed Spider-Man's new costume, a mostly black outfit with red webbing and a red spider logo. Pichelli had worked on four issues of "Ultimate Spider-Man" before she was approached to work on the new title with Miles Morales. Pichelli, who works with a Cintiq 12wx graphic tablet, added more screentones to her illustrations to give what she called "a more 'pop' feeling to the book", which she felt would be fitting to the series.


title: Miles Morales

text: Morales was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, the then-13-year-old son of an African American father and a Puerto Rican mother. Axel Alonso has described Miles as an intelligent nerd with an aptitude for science similar to his predecessor, Peter Parker. The character made his debut in the fourth issue of the "Ultimate Fallout" miniseries, which was released on August 3, 2011. He later starred in the relaunched "Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man" series, written by Bendis and drawn by Pichelli, in September 2011.


title: Miles Morales

text: In contrasting Miles with Peter Parker, Bendis has depicted different conflicts and anxieties for the character. Right after acquiring his superhuman abilities from a spider bite at the home of his uncle, Aaron, whom Miles admires but he does not initially know is a career criminal, Miles' father, Jefferson, explains to Miles that before Miles was born, Jefferson and Aaron were thieves who spent time in prison, and that while Jefferson reformed when he got older, Aaron has not. According to Bendis, this gives Miles cause to wonder if the traits that lead to criminal behavior are hardwired into his DNA, leading him to question whether he is essentially a good person or not, and what his future holds for him. These issues further haunt Miles after he becomes disillusioned with Aaron, and Aaron dies from an accidental explosion triggered during a battle between the two of them, saying, "You are just like me" to Miles before dying.


title: Miles Morales

text: In 2012, Morales appeared in the miniseries "Spider-Men", in which he encounters the Spider-Man of the mainstream Marvel universe. In June 2013, the character appeared in the climax of "Age of Ultron" #10, which was also written by Brian Michael Bendis. Though mostly set in the mainstream Marvel universe, or Earth-616 as it is known in dialogue, the story depicts major changes to the space-time continuum as a result of the time travel on the part of characters, resulting in Miles witnessing the coming of the mainstream Marvel Galactus, an entity that consumes planets, to Earth.


title: Miles Morales

text: Despite its initial press and critical reception, "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" was not a huge hit in the direct market. By August 2013, sales on the title had slipped, and sales for the other two Ultimate titles, "Ultimate Comics X-Men" and "Ultimate Comics The Ultimates", had dropped to numbers at which mainstream Marvel titles are canceled. That November, "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" ended its run with issue #28, and the other two titles ended along with it, to make way for the miniseries "Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man", one of the books in the crossover storyline "Cataclysm", in which the heroes of the Ultimate universe face the threat of the Earth-616 Galactus, and Miles is transported to the mainstream Marvel universe.


title: Miles Morales

text: Following "Cataclysm", Miles starred in a new title called "Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man", again with Bendis as writer, as part of Ultimate Marvel Now, an initiative with which Marvel relaunched the Ultimate Marvel line. Miles Morales was also made a member of the eponymous team in "All-New Ultimates", a series written by Michel Fiffe and drawn by Amilcar Pinna. Both series ran for 12 issues. The twelfth and final issue of "Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man" concluded with a cliffhanger that led directly into the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline.