"The Mask Is Off": Norman Bates Was “Dangerously Close” To The Real-Life Anthony Perkins, And The Psycho Star’s Son Thinks It Cursed His Career
Osgood Perkins reveals how Psycho's Norman Bates was scarily close to the real-life Anthony Perkins. Born in 1932, Anthony Perkins is best known for his work playing the main character Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock filmPsycho. Before his 1960 appearance in Psycho, Perkins was also in the William Wyler movie Friendly Persuasion, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Perkins had two children, one of whom is filmmaker Osgood Perkins, who recently made a splash with his 2024 horror movie Longlegs.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Osgood Perkins described his father's connection with his Norman Bates role. The Longlegs filmmaker explained that "the Psycho thing was considered far more of a curse than not" in his family. He felt that the horror movie was the most "naturalistic" of Anthony Perkins' performances, where he was not "wearing a mask" in the way he had with his other roles. This made Norman Bates "dangerously close" to who Perkins actually was, and Osgood thought his dad never got back the "mask" he had in previous roles. Check out the full quote from Osgood Perkins below:
In the mythology of my family, the Psycho thing was considered far more of a curse than not. I don't think we ever had the family meeting where we all decided this was the story. But here's a young actor, an extremely beautiful young man who can play anything. He's really good. And he's doing this sort of matinee idol thing. He's playing cowboys and basketball players and baseball players, and he's real. Girls love him. Then this important part comes his way, which is so kind of dangerously close to who he actually was.
When he was acting, he was really intent on wearing the mask—the mask of playing the straight, white basketball star. In a lot of ways with Norman, the mask is off. One of the reasons I think it’s such an indelible thing is because it's so naturalistic. Once that happened, for whatever reason, whether it's the industry or my dad's own self-consciousness or a combination of things, he never got back to the mask in a way that felt good to him. It's funny because I look at a lot of my dad's later performances and I find them very stilted and kind of strangely done, whereas the early stuff is really so impeccable. But I feel like the rock comes up, the bugs scatter, and that was Psycho.
What This Meant For Anthony Perkins
Perkins Had To Wear A "Mask" For Society
In referencing the "straight, white basketball star," Osgood Perkins is referencing the movie Tall Story. In this basketball-based screwball comedy, Anthony Perkins plays an insecure college athlete who wants to marry his girlfriend. He is tempted by a bribe to fix a game that would make this marriage easier. From his son's description, it sounds like these more societally conventional roles were not as comfortable for Anthony Perkins. The idiosyncratic, odd, and unnerving character of Norman Bates in Psychowas far more freeing.
Another reason why Anthony Perkins may not have felt as comfortable in these roles is because he struggled with his own sexuality. It is now understood that Perkins realized he was attracted to men at a young age, but struggled to come to terms with his gay identity in a time when homosexuality was widely unaccepted. He attempted conversion therapy in the 1970s and even married a woman named Berry Berenson, with whom he had two children. As such, Perkins' struggle to appear "straight" to society was likely related to the challenge of performing in these types of roles.
Our Take On Anthony Perkins' Relationship With Psycho
His "Cursed" Career Makes Sense
Looking at his career, it seems true that Perkins never did deliver a performance on par with that of his Psycho role. The actor's connection with Norman Bates ultimately resulted in a performance that was a fascinating portrait of a psychologically tortured soul. Given Perkins' background, it makes sense why his career was "cursed" by getting a glimpse of what a different type of role than the straight jock could be like.
Source: VF
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