You have to feel a bit bad for Anthony Perkins, who was an Oscar-nominated star of film and Broadway and something of a teen idol before he was cast as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece, Psycho.  Perkins was so convincing in the role that he pretty much spent the majority of his career either playing variations of the character or appearing in small roles where his macabre screen image would not be too much of a problem.  Perkins gave one of the best film performances of all time and his career never really recovered from it.

Unfortunately, there’s a tendency to overlook just how good Anthony Perkins was in this first Psycho.  People look at his later, less-compelling performances and they make the mistake of thinking those performance were the best that Perkins was capable of giving.  Perkins was a fine actor and never better than when he played Norman.  The scene below highlight how Perkins managed to make Norman Bates both poignant and creepy at the same time.