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Rewind: The sensitive 'Psycho' killer
[Photo: Paramount Pictures]
Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck become adversaries after an auto accident in Changing Lanes. |
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 12, 2002
Anthony Perkins had a career built on compassionate portrayals, from a Quaker farmer to Alfred Hitchcok's mother-son duo.
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Like any actor, Anthony Perkins realized a classy exit is the best anyone can hope for. Ten years ago on this date, Perkins died of pneumonia brought on by complications from AIDS.
After witnessing the media circus surrounding his friend Rock Hudson's similar fate seven years earlier, Perkins tried to keep his condition private until the physical toll was so obvious that disclosure was necessary. But disclosure would be on his terms, not the tabloids'.
Days before his death, Perkins revealed his condition, saying: "I chose not to go public about this because, to misquote Casablanca, I'm not much at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of one old actor don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."
Perkins built his career on sensitivity, even when playing disturbed characters, such as his most famous role, Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The gentleness of his speech and mannerisms heightened the tension of Norman's insanity, just as it deepened the moral conflict of a Quaker son in Friendly Persuasion and charmed Jane Fonda in Tall Story, two of this week's Rewind suggestions to honor Perkins' memory.
Three of his most interesting projects, the political assassination satire Winter Kills, WUSA with Paul Newman and Play It As It Lays with Tuesday Weld, aren't available on home video. These are:
Friendly Persuasion (1956) -- Three years after his screen debut in The Actress (not available on video), Perkins got a second role and an Oscar nomination. He played the son of a Quaker pacifist (Gary Cooper) struggling with patriotic duty when the Civil War invades their Indiana farm. Fear Strikes Out (1957) -- Perkins expanded his capacity for playing brittle psyches in the true story of Jimmy Piersall, a promising major league baseball player whose domineering father (Karl Malden) drove him over the edge. On the Beach (1959) -- One of the all-time best submarine movies. Perkins played an Australian Navy officer trapped with Americans (Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire) underwater when nuclear war breaks out. Do they die submerged or get one last, suicidal look at the surface world they left behind? Psycho (1960) -- Norman Bates wouldn't hurt a fly, would he? Maybe not, but his mother is a killer. Perkins was in New York rehearsing a stage play when Hitchcock filmed the famous shower scene. Tall Story (1960) -- The same year Perkins chilled audiences as Bates, Fonda warmed to him in her first romantic role, a perky co-ed. Perkins had game as a college basketball star being pressured by gamblers to fix a final score. Pretty Poison (1968) -- Perkins spent several years making movies in Europe to escape post-Psycho typecasting. He returned for this overlooked gem about an arsonist (Perkins) and a schizophrenic woman (Weld) falling in love. Catch-22 (1970) -- Mike Nichols' adaptation of Joseph Heller's World War II novel cast Perkins as chaplin Capt. Tappman, the only person who'll listen to an Army pilot (Alan Arkin) who doesn't want to fly another mission. Then the clergyman is too timid to do anything about it. The Last of Sheila (1973) -- Perkins co-wrote the screenplay (with Stephen Sondheim) but didn't appear in this tidy mystery. A yacht cruise assembled by James Coburn is really a ploy to discover who killed his friend in a hit-and-run car accident. Murder on the Orient Express (1974) -- Perkins joined a classy cast of murder suspects sorted out by Agatha Christie's famous detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney). Ingrid Bergman won a best supporting actress Oscar for her performance. Psycho II (1983) -- A string of flops starring Perkins ended with a decent sequel to Hitchcock's classic. Bates returns home after incarceration and rejoins his mom. Perkins came back three years later to direct a third chapter that should be avoided.
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