Anthony “Tony” Perkins was an American actor, singer and director, perhaps best known for playing the insane and deranged Norman Bates in the 1960 film Psycho, considered to be the greatest horror film of all time.

Perkins was born on April 4, 1931, to actor Osgood Perkins and his wife, Janet Esselstyn. His father died when he was five. Perkins would take up acting, making his debut in 1953’s The Actress. He would soon after replace John Kerr in his Broadway performance as the lead in Tea and Sympathy, going on to be nominated for an Oscar following his role as Gary Cooper’s son in 1956’s Friendly Persuasion. The title song of the movie, “Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love),” was performed by Perkins; it would go on to win an Oscar for best song.

In 1957, Perkins would begin a modest music career, from which he garnered the most fame for his cover of “Moonlight Swim,” peaking at number 24 on the Billboard charts. His musical talents would be further exerted in 1958’s The Matchmaker and Broadway’s Look Homeward, Angel, the latter of which garnered him a Tony nomination.

1960 witnessed the peak of his career, starring in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho as insane murderer Norman Bates. He also starred in Greenwillow, which placed him up for another Tony nomination.

Perkins soon became the victim of typecasting following his spellbinding performance in Psycho, stuck in roles as a deranged villain. He would reprise the role in Psycho’s sequels, giving in to the public’s restraints. Plagued by lifelong internalized homophobia, he married Berinthia “Berry” Berenson in 1973, going on to have two children with her. He would test positive for HIV in 1990, dying of AIDS-related pneumonia on September 12, 1992, at 60 years old.

Released in 2012, the biopic Hitchcock portrayed the making of Psycho and Hitchcock’s relationship with his wife; Perkins would be played by James D'Arcy. In July of 2018, Zachary Quinto and J.J. Abrams announced that a film entitled Tab & Tony that follows Perkins’s relationship with “The Sigh Guy,” Tab Hunter, was in the works.