Poor Anthony Perkins!

Anthony Perkins did not start his career as a horror icon.  A talented young actor, Perkins started his career on Broadway and eventually, he started to appear in films.  From the start, he was usually cast as nervous young men, the type who awkwardly smiled and struggled to talk to people.  Perkins was promoted as a romantic lead, with the Studios and his agents making sure that Perkins was regularly photographed dating Hollywood starlets like Natalie Wood.  As witty off-screen as he was nervous on-screen, Perkins was a popular figure in Hollywood.  He received his only Oscar nomination for his performance as a young Quaker in 1956’s Friendly Persuasion.

Perkins’s entire career changed when Alfred Hitchcock cast him as the seemingly timid motel owner in 1960’s Psycho.  Perkins was reportedly Hitchcock’s first choice for the role, with Hitchcock saying that he felt only Perkins or Dean Stockwell was capable of bringing Norman to life.  Perkins was not nominated for Best Actor but the role pretty much defined him in the eyes of many.  Perkins spent the rest of his career trying to first escape the shadow of Psycho and then eventually embracing his status as an icon of horror.

Perkins’s performance has been imitated so many times that there’s a tendency to forget just how good he is in the role.  In this episode, Perkins-as-Norman discusses his mother with Janet Leigh.