Anthony Perkins, popular for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), always captured tremendous attraction; however, his real life behind the glamorous realm was marred in pain.
The release of Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story, based on the killer who inspired Psycho, has drawn attention to Anthony Perkins’ legacy.”
The 60-year-old actor was born to Osgood Perkins in 1932, he rose to fame in his teen years as a teen idol and earned an Academy Award nomination for Friendly Persuasion in 1956.
His signature role in Psycho positioned him as a horror icon, though it typecast him for decades.
Despite professional accomplishments, Anthony experienced personal struggles. In an era when homosexuality was taboo, he kept his relationships hidden with men, including Grover Dale and Tab Hunter.
In 1973, he tied the knot with a photographer and actress, Berry Berenson, with whom he shares two sons, Oz and Elvis. Their marriage endured until Anthony’s tragic and sudden death from AIDS-related pneumonia on September 12, 1992, at age 60.
Her name is etched on the 9/11 Memorial in New York. Anthony’s story wrapped in tragedy, success, and multiple ups and downs—revived by Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story—remains one of talent shadowed by pain and loss.
