Editing Anthony Perkins (section)

==Early life==
===Early life, 1932–1937===
[[File:Anthony Perkins Baby Mother.png|thumb|left|Perkins with his mother Janet at the beach, {{c.|1933}}]]

Anthony Perkins was born April 4, 1932, in [[Manhattan]], the son of actor [[Osgood Perkins]] (1892–1937) and his wife, Janet Esselstyn (née Rane; 1894–1979).{{sfn|Winecoff|1996}} His paternal great-grandfather was the [[wood engraver]] [[Andrew Varick Stout Anthony]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bosarchitecture.com/backbay/beacon/196.html |title=Architecture of 196 Beacon Street, Back Bay, Boston |publisher=BOSarchitecture |access-date=November 3, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508025640/http://www.bosarchitecture.com/backbay/beacon/196.html |archive-date=May 8, 2014}}</ref>

Throughout his early years, Perkins did not see much of his father, who was busy in a variety of roles, the most prominent of which was his [[supporting role]] in the original motion picture adaptation of ''[[Scarface (1932)|Scarface]]'', released the year Perkins was born. Perkins's only fond memories of his father came from a 1937 vacation to [[Fire Island]], though they spent little time together on the trip.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=19}} The Perkins family hired a French [[nanny]], Jeanne, to look after their son, leading to Perkins' fluency in French, which proved useful years later.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=16}}

Between his father's absences, Perkins was surrounded by women, the most influential of which was his mother. "I became abnormally close to my mother," Perkins recalled to ''[[People (magazine)|People]]'' in 1983, "and whenever my father came home I was jealous. It was the [[Oedipal]] thing in a pronounced form, I loved him but I also wanted him to be dead so I could have her all to myself."<ref name=People>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20085251,00.html |title=Return of Psycho |magazine=People |first=Brad |last=Darrach |volume=19 |issue=23 |date=June 13, 1983 |access-date=January 3, 2009}}</ref> On September 21, 1937, Osgood Perkins died of a heart attack, just after the successful [[opening night]] of his newest play, ''Susan and God''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/09/22/archives/osgood-perkins-stage-star-dies-stricken-after-premiere-of-susan-and.html |title=Osgood Perkins, Stage Star, Dies; Stricken After Premiere of 'Susan and God,' in Which He Was Leading Man |work=The New York Times |date=September 22, 1937 |access-date=April 1, 2008 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> His father's death caused Perkins to feel intense guilt. "I was horrified," he said years later. "I assumed that my wanting him to be dead had actually killed him. I prayed and prayed for my father to come back. I remember long nights of crying in bed. For years I nursed the hope that he wasn't really dead. Because I'd see him on film, it was as if he were still alive. He became a mythic being to me, to be dreaded and appeased."<ref name=People/>

===After his father's death, 1937–1947===
[[File:TeenageAnthonyPerkins.png|thumb|Perkins in a school photograph, 1940s]]

After his father's death, Perkins was once again surrounded entirely by women. A consistent female companion in Perkins's life was burgeoning playwright Michaela O'Harra, whom his mother had taken a liking to. Perkins's childhood friend, [[John Kerr (actor)|John Kerr]], recalled the relationship between O'Harra and Perkins's mother: "My mother said–I don't know if she used the word lesbian{{nbsp}}... but that was just [what it felt like] to me: 'Oh, they're having a lesbian relationship.' You know, something like that." Although her [[sexuality]] has been disputed, it is widely agreed that Perkins's mother was not heterosexual.<ref name=Biography>''Anthony Perkins: a Life in the Shadows'' [[The Biography Channel|Biography]]. (January 11, 1999).</ref>{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=15}} It was also during that time that Perkins's mother began to [[Sexual abuse|sexually abuse]] him. "She was constantly touching me and caressing me. Not realizing what effect she was having, she would touch me all over, even stroking the inside of my thighs right up to my crotch." The behavior continued into his adulthood.<ref name=People/>

In 1942, when Perkins was ten, the family moved to [[Boston]]. Due to her connections in the theatre industry, his mother was able to gain a position at the nearby [[American Theatre Wing]]'s Boston Stage Door Canteen. She managed much of the canteen's activities, and the job gave the pair money to live on.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=25}} On days when she was busy, Perkins was sent to stay with his grandmother.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=26}} Due to his mother's neglect, Perkins began to rebel at the overcrowded [[Public school (United States)|public school]] he was attending, and was labelled a "gifted drifter". To quell his rebellious habits, his mother shipped him to [[Brooks School]],{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=27}} forty minutes outside of Boston. The placement was disastrous: Perkins's childhood habit of [[stuttering]] returned, and he shied away from any athletic pursuits. His mother, however, forced him into playing baseball. It was the first time in his life that Perkins was singled out,{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=28}} and the resulting pressure led to long absences from school during his second year after suffering back-to-back cases of [[scarlet fever]]. Subsequently, Perkins sank to the bottom of his class.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=29}} He soon made a deal with his mother that if he got good grades, she would allow him to return to Boston the next year for schooling. That year, Perkins ranked in the top third of his class. His headmaster commented: "Tony Perkins is considerably more mature than the rest of his contemporaries, and is impatient with many of their schoolboy interests." Perkins was allowed to transfer.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=29}}

===Summer stock, 1947–1950===
As he matured, Perkins's lack of a father began to weigh on him. "As Tony grew older and saw other boys with their fathers," his mother remembered, "he badly missed his own father. And the only identification he could have with his father was through theater{{nbsp}}... I began to realize that he was acquiring an unusual interest in [performing]{{nbsp}}... A friend was running a summer stock company, and I approached him to ask whether Tony might play some small parts",{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|pp=29–30}} launching Perkins's adolescent summer stock career. At Perkins's first summer stock company, Brattleboro Summer Theater in [[Vermont]], he played some minor parts in ''Junior Miss'', ''Kiss and Tell'', and ''George Washington Slept Here'', and ran the box office, where he earned $25 a week and an [[Actors' Equity Association|Equity card]].{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=30}}

Keeping her word, the following year, his mother sent him to [[Buckingham Browne & Nichols School]], an [[all-boys school]] located in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]].{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|pp=30–31}} Smaller class sizes caused Perkins to stand out, earning him a reputation as the class [[Magic (illusion)|magician]] and pianist.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=31}} He was renowned for his [[lisp]]ing [[Roddy McDowall]] [[Impressionist (entertainment)|impression]], which he often performed in the halls between classes.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=32}}

In 1948, Perkins returned to summer stock with a different company. His mother had found a job as a manager for the Robin Hood Theatre in [[Arden, Delaware|Arden]], Delaware, where Perkins once again ran the box office and earned stage experience.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=33}} His most memorable performance was in ''Sarah Simple'', in which he played a [[near-sighted]] twin. It was here that Perkins met Charles Williamson, the first boy he ever developed a [[Infatuation|crush]] on.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=34}} The following year, Perkins joined the [[Varsity team|varsity]] tennis team and the [[glee club]] at his school, and was made co-literary editor of the [[school newspaper]], ''The Spectator'', to which he contributed occasional articles.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=35}} Around this time, once again singled out as "the other", Perkins began to question his sexuality.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=36}}

===College, 1950–1953===
[[File:Anthony Perkins Summer Stock.png|thumb|Perkins (top row, center) in a summer stock company, c. 1950]]

Around the time Perkins's sexuality began to burgeon, many of his fellow students were thinking about college. Many Browne & Nicholas alumni were looking forward to a future at [[Harvard University]], and Perkins, whose grades were too low to qualify, was the only student persuaded to attend [[Rollins College]] in Florida, after a representative toured the school.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=36}} However, that did not keep him from returning to Delaware that summer, where he once again worked at the Robin Hood which had become one of the most prosperous and important summer stock programs in the country. It was there that he grew reacquainted with old friend Charles Williamson, going out to lunch and swimming with him during breaks.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=37}} It was at that time that Perkins developed a crush on Williamson, who recalled: "He never expressed his homosexuality during the summer of 1950. He did not act on it at all. At the time, I was very much in the closet and repressed. We both shared that."{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=40}} It was also around that time that Perkins played Fred Whitmarsh in ''Years Ago'', a role that he performed again just a few years later in the screen adaptation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800037259/bio |title=Anthony Perkins Biography  |website=Yahoo! Movies |access-date=June 18, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214112345/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800037259/bio |archive-date=February 14, 2007}}</ref>

Perkins did not experience similar camaraderie at Rollins College that fall. Rollins College was nestled in the heart of Florida, and Perkins had arrived just after Congress had named homosexuals and Communists as being enemies of equal danger.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|pp=43–44}} There were a few exceptions: [[Fred Rogers]], who graduated from the college the following year, let Perkins use his piano, something he greatly appreciated.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=45}} Perkins appeared in numerous stage productions at the school and moved around fraternities constantly, something that got on the nerves of his mother. It was at Rollins that Perkins reportedly first started experimenting with his sexuality with other men.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|pp=45–47}}

Shortly after Perkins's arrival, a large group of homosexual students, many of whom were Perkins's friends, were expelled from Rollins and even arrested, after a fellow student had beaten one of them.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=49}} However, due to Perkins's connections with the theater professor, he was spared. That only led to high levels of tension between him and the rest of the student body, who knew of Perkins's sexuality.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=50}} As a result, Perkins transferred to the elite [[Columbia University]].<ref>Notable Kin: An Anthology of Columns First Published in the NEHGS Nexus, 1986-1995, Volume 2 - New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, by Carl Boyer, 3rd, 1998 pg. 118</ref>