A mad maniac with a piercing gaze that creeps through to goose bumps … This role is so stuck to the young actor Anthony Perkins that it became a curse for him, which he carried through the years.
Childhood and youth
Anthony Perkins was born on April 4, 1932 in New York.
His father, Osgood Perkins, was rightfully considered the "King of Broadway". He was widely known in the acting circles and found himself universal recognition and fame, passing the turn of the thirty years.
Osgood was naturally talented, so roles in the theater were given to him easily and playfully, without any special efforts on his part. Moreover, he did not have any theatrical education.
The son most likely inherited his father's genes. Since childhood, he was drawn to creativity.
But he could not decide what he wanted to do the most: sing, play or act in films.
Meanwhile, almost from the cradle, Anthony was sent to the theater school, to which he regularly and with pleasure went.
Recalling his first role, he said it was the piercing squeal of a bat in a stage production of Count Dracula.
At the age of five, the boy lost his father, and this event seriously affected his child's psyche, which was not yet strong by that time.
Anthony was deeply worried about this. For him, his father was a subject for imitation, a life guide. For a long time he could not come to his senses and recover.
His mother was a strong and domineering woman. She completely took the upbringing of her son under her strictest control. She practically suppressed him, constantly dominating and giving orders. Therefore, Anthony's relationship with his mother was, to put it mildly, unfriendly.
Meanwhile, she gave her son an excellent education and made sure that in adulthood he could dress and feed himself.
Carier start
Having tried himself as a performer, Perkins was disappointed. He released two albums, which never had a colossal success, which the young man constantly dreamed of. They didn't even sell out in the right amount.
Realizing that the singer's career is not his vocation, he pushed this idea into the back burner, concentrating all his efforts on the stage. Here fortune smiled at the young man wider. At first, he just played in extras, thereby attracting attention from the directors.
Perkins did not try in vain. Bernard Shaw, known at that time for his outstanding projects, invited him to participate in the production of "The Importance of Being Earnest."
Perkins was noticed and called to the shooting of the film "Actress" … in Hollywood. It was a crushing success.
He even had to choose between higher education and career. Due to the constant employment on the set, Anthony did not have enough time and energy to study.
Torn between two fires, he always tried to be in two places at the same time. He did not care if he succeeded. Therefore, in the end, the question arose before the young man squarely - either education or career.
Perkins, despite his mother's persuasions, chose the latter, which he never regretted.
The star of young talent was just making her way to the sky, but she did it very confidently and firmly. Perkins has starred in more than a hundred films during his film career.
The role in the film "Friendly Exhortation" presented him with "The Palm Branch".
This became a good help for the directors to start inviting them to their projects.
Girls en masse fell in love with a talented and handsome actor.
Anthony has grown to fans, his career has skyrocketed.
Critics predicted a dizzying success for the young man, calling him the most promising young actor of our time.
But everything changed overnight.
1960 was a triumphant and fatal year for Perkins. Alfred Hitchcock invited Anthony to his painting "Psycho".
Psycho
It was the actor's triumph … and the beginning of the end.
The film thundered all over the world. Anthony became the first Hollywood maniac, the "great-grandfather" of Hanibal Lector and Freddy Krueger.
He was so convincing in this role that the image firmly "stuck" to him.
Since then, the image of a misunderstood lonely maniac has pursued the actor everywhere.
They stopped offering him interesting roles, they called him exclusively in thrillers and horrors. Perkins was depressed. Career made an unexpected turn and quickly collapsed into the abyss.
He was forced to emigrate to Europe to try to start from scratch there. But the move did not have the desired effect. Over the next 20 years, the actor was actively filming, but for the audience he remained "an actor of one movie."
In 1980, after much deliberation, Anthony decided to return to his creative curse and accepted Hitchcock's offer to play in the sequel Psycho. And then in the third part of the thriller, which turned his life upside down.
Personal life
Anthony, like all young actors, of course, had girls. But one day he began to catch himself thinking that he really liked men. For a long time he tried to fight his nature, visited a psychotherapist, trying to get rid of his strange hobby as soon as possible. But the efforts were in vain.
Perkins had affairs with both sexes. For some time he lived in the eternal struggle between true desires and moral norms.
At the age of 40, Perkins fell in love with photographer and actress Berry Berenson. After a while they got married.
The couple had two boys. Anthony remembered his family years in his life with special warmth and love. He said that he had finally found harmony with himself. In the circle of his loving wife and children, he was calm and comfortable.
last years of life
Anthony Perkins left this world on September 12, 1992. He lived an interesting and difficult life, full of doubts and internal contradictions.
Only at the end of his years did he come to the realization that God sent him trials for a reason. And in order to teach him to truly love, empathize and understand others.
In recent years, he was grateful to God for everything …
