Anthony Perkins

Born: 4 April 1932
Where: New York
Died: 12 September 1992

Perkins began his career as a juvenile lead in the early 1950s and distinguished himself in films including Tin Star and Fear Strikes Out.

In 1956 he received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Friendly Persuasion, and two years later co-starred opposite Sophia Loren in Desire Under the Elms.

Despite numerous film and stage credits, Perkins will forever be remembered as creepy Norman Bates, the bloodcurdling killer in Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller, Psycho.

He went on to appear in a number of interesting works, including Orson Welles' adaptation of Kafka's The Trial, but could never quite shake the "Psycho" mantle.

With his Norman Bates still in audiences' minds, he played other psychotics in such films as Mahogany, Crimes of Passion, and the Jekyll-and-Hyde inspired Edge of Sanity.

1973 marked his first film as co-writer, with Stephen Sondheim, for The Last of Sheila, and a year later he was part of the all-star cast of Murder on the Orient Express.

In the mid-1980s, Perkins returned to the scene of his early triumph, reprising the Bates role in three sequels, the second of which also marked his directorial debut.

He was the husband of Berry Berenson, who appeared opposite him in two films, Remember My Name and Winter Kills.

Perkins died of AIDS in 1992, leaving behind his son Osgood, also an actor, to follow in his footsteps.