Curiosidades

Entered Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida in September 1950. Also on campus during his first year were Fred Rogers (of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968)) who graduated in 1951 and John Reardon, class of 1952. In 1953 he was offered a leading role in the movie Papai Não Quer (1953). Almost immediately after returning to his studies he left to replace John Kerr in "Tea and Sympathy" on Broadway. He never completed his degree but was given an honorary degree by the college some 20 years later.

Had agreed to voice the dentist on Os Simpsons (1989) episode "Last Exit to Springfield" but died before work began. The role then went to Hank Azaria.

Was a huge admirer of Orson Welles, and was even planning on writing a book about him, but aborted the project in fear of upsetting his idol. Welles later said that he would have loved the idea.

During 1990, he got a blood sample taken due to a palsy on the side of his face. The National Enquirer illegally had Tony's blood sample tested for the AIDS virus, and found out that it was positive. Later that year, the National Enquirer wrote a story about his battle with AIDS, but the ironic thing was that he only found out that he was HIV positive from this article. He suspected that he probably was, but he never checked for it before the article was written.

In 1984, he was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport for possession of eight grams of marijuana and three spots of LSD. In 1989, he was arrested again at the Angel Hotel in Cardiff for illegally importing 1.3 grams of marijuana.

Didn't have sex with a woman until he was 39 years old. He lost his virginity - as People magazine worded it - to Victoria Principal in 1971.

On September 11, 2001, his widow and mother of his two sons, Berry Berenson was one of the 58 victims on AA-11 out of Boston that terrorists crashed.

Before playing his best remembered role as Norman Bates in Psicose (1960), Perkins had been an innocuous, rather generic younger leading man, co-starring with the likes of Sophia Loren and Jane Fonda. After the release of Psycho, Perkins found romantic leading roles hard to come by, and eventually came to resent the impact his most famous film had on his career.

His performance as Norman Bates in Psicose (1960) is ranked #4 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Was cremated and the superscription on his urn reads "Don't Fence Me In".

Had a Top 30 Billboard hit in 1957 with the single "Moonlight Swim".

Was nominated twice for Broadway's Tony Award: in 1958, as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Look Homeward, Angel", and in 1960, as Best Actor (Musical) for "Greenwillow".

Charles Winecoff's book "Anthony Perkins: Split Image" (Alyson Books, first published in 1996; 2006 10th Anniversary Revised Edition) illuminated Perkins' early life, his homosexuality, his later drug use and life with his family. Some contributors to the biography were Janet Leigh, Hilton A. Green, Jeff Fahey, John Gavin and Joseph Stefano, plus an impressive number of Perkins' friends and relatives. However, his wife, Berry Berenson, did not participate. According to the book, Perkins contracted the AIDS virus around the time of Psicose 3 (1986) and kept the illness secret for six years until his death so he could keep working and not worry his friends and his two sons. The only person who knew he was sick was his wife Berry. Anthony officially found out that he was HIV positive when the tabloid National Enquirer wrote a story about it in 1990. Author Winecoff amended his book with a chapter about the death of Berry Perkins nine years after the death of her husband, as a passenger on board the ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001.

Second son, Elvis Perkins, was named after singer Elvis Presley, of whom Anthony was a fan.

He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Television at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

According to Tab Hunter's autobiography, Perkins and Hunter were in a relationship in the mid to late 1950s. He was also linked with Grover Dale, Alan Helms, Patrick Loiseau and Christopher Makos (per each of them), as well as many unconfirmed paramours reportedly including Erik Bruhn, Timmy Everett, Rudolf Nureyev, Teno Pollick and Stephen Sondheim. Perkins and Dale shared an apartment for six years.

Auditioned for the role of the Phantom in the original Los Angeles production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera". He lost the role to Robert Guillaume.

Both he and Dallas Buyers Club founder Ron Woodroof died of AIDS on September 12, 1992.

Despite popular belief, Anthony Perkins never boycotted the film Bates Motel (1987). At a 1988 horror convention, Perkins stated that he had no involvement in the film and that he watched it when it originally aired. He called the film: "just terrible".

Became an ordained minister and performed the marriage of director Ken Russell to his second wife, Vivian Jolly, in 1983.

Was portrayed by James D'Arcy in Hitchcock (2012).

Was into psychoanalysis and was treated by Dr. Mildren Newman in New York starting in the early 1950s and continuing into the late 1970s.

Anthony Perkins campaigned at a rally for Governor Michael Dukakis in UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, the night before the U.S. presidential election of 1988 (November 7, 1988).

Attended prestigious Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other alumni include Família Soprano (1999) actress Ari Graynor, jazz musician Nate Peterson and Broadway star Lizzie Rose.

Along with Vera Miles and Virginia Gregg, he is one of only three actors to appear in both Psicose (1960) and Psicose 2 (1983).

Brother-in-law of Marisa Berenson.

He had deep roots in Colonial America, particularly Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. His ancestry included English, with smaller amounts of Irish, German, and Dutch.

Played an implied gay character in three films: Ardil 22 (1970), O Destino que Deus Me Deu (1972) and Mahogany, a morena explosiva (1975).

Grandfather of actors James Perkins and Beatrix Perkins.

Shares his birthday with director Andrei Tarkovsky.

Although he played Edward Binns' son in Lovin' Molly (1974), he was only sixteen years his junior in real life.

He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Psicose (1960).