Anthony "Tony" Perkins

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: American actor, director, and singer
• Cause of Death: AIDS and Pneumonia

Notes:

Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Perkins was born in Manhattan, New York City, son of stage and film actor Osgood Perkins and his wife, Janet Esselstyn (née Rane). His paternal great-grandfather was wood engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony. He was five when his father died.

Perkins was a descendant of a Mayflower passenger, John Howland. He attended Brooks School and Browne & Nichols School, having moved to Boston in 1942, and then Columbia University and Rollins College.

Perkins was diagnosed with HIV during the filming of Psycho IV: The Beginning, and died at his Los Angeles home on September 12, 1992, from AIDS-related pneumonia at age 60. His urn, inscribed "Don't Fence Me In", is in an altar on the terrace of his former home in the Hollywood Hills.

Full Bio

Anthony married Berinthia Berry Berenson on 9 Aug 1973 in Falmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts. Berinthia was born on 14 Apr 1948 in Murray Hill, Manhattan, New York City, New York; died on 11 Sep 2001 in New York City, New York, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: American Actor
• Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Notes:

Perkins was born in West Newton, Massachusetts, son of Henry Phelps Perkins Jr., and his wife, Helen Virginia (née Anthony). His maternal grandfather was wood engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony. He was a graduate of Harvard College.

Perkins made his Broadway debut in 1924 in the George S. Kaufman – Marc Connelly play Beggar on Horseback. In the next 12 years, he would appear in 24 Broadway productions, including The Front Page and Uncle Vanya.

Despite his success as a leading man in the theatre, Hollywood viewed him as a character actor. He appeared in 12 silent films, including Puritan Passions, before moving to talkies such as Scarface and Gold Diggers of 1937.

"The best actor I ever worked with was Osgood Perkins," Louise Brooks told Kevin Brownlow. "You know what makes an actor great to work with? Timing. You don't have to feel anything. It's like dancing with a perfect dancing partner. Osgood Perkins would give you a line so that you would react perfectly. It was timing -- because emotion means nothing." Brooks and Perkins appeared together in Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926).

On September 21, 1937, Osgood died of a heart attack in his bathtub shortly after playing "Susan and God".

Osgood Perkins was inducted, posthumously, into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.

Buried:
Ashes scattered in Long Island Sound, New York

James married Janet Esselstyn Rane on 17 Jun 1922 in Manhattan, New York, New York. Janet (daughter of Francis William Rane and Elizabeth Mimi Bailey) was born on 12 Sep 1894 in Morgantown, Monongalia, West Virginia; died on 24 Aug 1979 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Cause of Death: Parkinson's Disease

Francis married Elizabeth Mimi Bailey on 6 Sep 1893 in Windsor, Essex County, Ontario, Canada. Elizabeth (daughter of John Newton Bailey and Sarah Justa Esselstyn) was born on 8 Jan 1870 in Auburn, Cayuga, New York; died on 8 Apr 1958 in Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Florida. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Sarah Justa Esselstyn on 3 Oct 1865 in Clayton, Jefferson, New York. Sarah (daughter of John Nash Esselstyn and Harriet Burton Ainsworth) was born in Dec 1845 in Clayton, Jefferson, New York; died on 30 Jun 1909 in Duluth, St Louis, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]