Born in New York City; son of stage and film actor Osgood Perkins (Johnny Lovo in SCARFACE, 1932); attended Buckingham Browne & Nichols high school (Cambridge, MA) and Rollins College. Began his career as a juvenile lead in the early 1950s and distinguished himself in films including THE TIN STAR (1957) and, as baseball star Jim Piersall, FEAR STRIKES OUT (1957). Perkins's gripping recreation of Piersall's mental problems made him a suitable choice for what would become his signature role, the mother-fixated Norman Bates in Hitchcock's classic thriller, PSYCHO (1960). He went on to appear in a number of interesting works, including Orson Welles's adaptation of Kafka's THE TRIAL (1963), but could never quite shake the PSYCHO mantle. In the mid-1980s Perkins returned to the scene of his early triumph, reprising the Bates role in two progressively campy sequels, the latter of which also marked his directorial debut. Other notable screen credits include THE ACTRESS (1953), FRIENDLY PERSUASION (1956), DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS and THE MATCHMAKER (both 1958), ON THE BEACH (1959), PHAEDRA (1962), IS PARIS BURNING? (1966), PRETTY POISON (1968), CATCH-22 and WUSA (both 1970), PLAY IT AS IT LAYS and THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN (both 1972), LOVIN' MOLLY and MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (both 1974), MAHOGANY (1975), THE BLACK HOLE (1979), NORTH SEA HIJACK and DOUBLE NEGATIVE (both 1980), CRIMES OF PASSION (1984), DESTROYER (1988), EDGE OF SANITY (1989 as Dr. Henry Jekyll/Jack "The Ripper" Hyde), and his last feature film, LOS GUSANOS NO LLEVAN BUFANDA (1991, "The Naked Target"). Beginning in the early 1960s, Perkins appeared in several European productions, and he was featured several made-for-television movies. He collaborated with Stephen Sondheim on the screenplay of THE LAST OF SHIELA (1973). In 1973, he married Berry Berenson, the sister of actress Marisa Berenson and granddaughter of the famed Elsa Schiaparelli. Berenson appeared opposite him in two films, REMEMBER MY NAME (1978) and WINTER KILLS (1979). Perkins and Berenson remained married until his death from pneumonia, brought on by AIDS, in 1992. Berenson died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001. She was a passenger in one of the airplanes used in the attack. Personal quotes: "I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding from the people I have met in this great adventure in the world of AIDS than I ever did in the cutthroat, competitive world in which I spent my life... 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." -- Statement he made shortly before his death, on why he was private about his battle with AIDS "Boys, don't try to find a woman as wonderful as your mother to marry because if you do, you'll stay single your whole lives." -- Part of his last letter, given to his sons, Oz and Elvis Perkins, after his death.  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1956: FRIENDLY PERSUASION 1 nomination