Editing Anthony Perkins (section)

====Teen idol status====
[[File:AnthonyPerkinsPublicityShot.png|thumb|Perkins in a 1957 publicity still for ''Modern Screen'']]

Perkins released three pop music albums and several singles in 1957 and 1958 on [[Epic Records|Epic]] and [[RCA Victor]] under the name Tony Perkins.<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tony-perkins-mn0000015860|title=Tony Perkins|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=January 9, 2008}}</ref> His single "Moon-Light Swim" was a moderate hit in the United States, peaking at number 24 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] in 1957. 1958's "The Prettiest Girl in School" was also popular in Australia but a flop in the United States.<ref name="AllMusic"/> Many people believed he was inspired to pursue musical endeavors after the abrupt success of then-partner [[Tab Hunter]], who had scored a number one hit on his debut record, "[[Young Love (1956 song)|Young Love]]." To Hunter, Perkins was often heard joking "that his tremulous voice could make any happy love song sound sad."{{sfn|Hunter|2006|p=198}} However, Perkins was not very committed to the music career, although he steadily produced full-length albums and a few EP's until as late as the mid-1960s.

Despite being a life member of the [[Actors Studio]]<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Garfield |title=A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio |url=https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf |url-access=registration |year=1980 |publisher=Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. |location=New York |isbn=0-02-542650-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf/page/279 279] |chapter=Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980}}</ref> and therefore open to many different acting business ventures, Perkins did not choose to act in a musical when he exerted the freedom of his studio contract in 1957, and returned to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in ''[[Look Homeward, Angel (play)|Look Homeward, Angel]]''. The play was an autobiographical, coming-of-age story about its writer, [[Thomas Wolfe]], and he took on the role of Eugene Gant, with his mother being played by [[Jo Van Fleet]]. The play enjoyed a successful run, and in 1958, he was nominated for a [[Tony Award]] for [[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play|Best Actor in a Play]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/look-homeward-angel-2660|title=Look Homeward, Angel – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB|website=www.ibdb.com|access-date=February 7, 2019}}</ref> although the rehearsals were tumultuous. Van Fleet developed a reputation for her standoffish behavior and temper tantrums, leading to contention on the set.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=1952}} This was not made better by the fact that Tab Hunter, among others, came to see the show during tryouts.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=1954}}{{sfn|Hunter|2006|p=197}} This manifested in a restrained performance from Perkins, something Hunter picked up on:
<blockquote>Backstage, Tony asked what I thought of his performance, and I told him straight: "You're afraid to give vent to what you're truly feeling," I said. "You're only showing the side of yourself you want other people to see."{{nbsp}}... When I saw ''Look Homeward, Angel'' the second time, in late January, Tony had stripped away all preconceived ideas and was mesmerizing.{{sfn|Hunter|2006|pp=198–199}}</blockquote>

[[file:Jo Van Fleet Anthony Perkins Look Homeward Angel 1958.jpg|thumb|Perkins with [[Jo Van Fleet]] in ''[[Look Homeward, Angel (play)|Look Homeward, Angel]]'', 1957]]

Not all was bad on set, though. Perkins, who had a dressing room far from the stage, often had to race between scenes to retrieve something so as not to miss his cue, something his costars used in practical jokes. Many times, they turned the backstage area into an obstacle course, seeing if Perkins could get back to the curtain in time. Reportedly, he never missed his entrances.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=158}} On the day of his final performance, they went through with the prank as planned, watching Perkins leap over objects and dodge barriers. Once he made it through, he was greeted with a sign that said "We love you, Tony!"{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=159}}

Perkins was teamed up again with Van Fleet in ''[[This Angry Age]]'' (1958), also known as ''The Sea Wall'', for Columbia, replacing [[James Dean]]. (Van Fleet had played Dean's mother in ''[[East of Eden (film)|East of Eden]]'', something many people believed influenced casting.) The story followed a mother who, unlike her restless children, attempts to cling to her dissipating rice farm in southeast Asia. He also starred in ''[[Desire Under the Elms (film)|Desire Under the Elms]]'' (1958) for Paramount with [[Sophia Loren]] and was her first American screen kiss. As Loren remembered in her 2014 memoir, "Perkins [was] as neurotic and handsome as we all remember him in [a later film] ''Psycho''. A gentle, polite, somewhat sullen young man, he didn't know how to hide his restlessness. Between us there was a certain complicity. He helped me with my English, and I tried to make him laugh."<ref name="Loren 2014">{{cite book|last=Loren|first=Sophia|title=Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: my Life|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2014|isbn=978-1-4767-9742-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.orgs/yesterdaytodayto0000lore}}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Although Loren was proud to have scored the role, the unanimous decision upon its release was that Perkins's performance was not strong.{{sfn|Hunter|2006|p=209}}

Between the filming of ''Desire'' and his next movie, Perkins received an offer to appear in what became the 1959 comedy ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'' with [[Marilyn Monroe]]. He was given the role of Shell Oil Junior and [[Frank Sinatra]] was considered for the role of his companion who both dress up in drag to board an all-women train car. Paramount, despite the appeal of a big star like Monroe, balked at the idea of having their already sexually-ambiguous heartthrob wear drag for an entire film and forbade Perkins from accepting the role. It ultimately went to [[Tony Curtis]] instead.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=163}} However, studio executives begged Perkins to return from Broadway to star in ''[[The Matchmaker (1958 film)|The Matchmaker]]'' (1958) alongside [[Shirley MacLaine]] and [[Shirley Booth]], during which he and a male companion dress up in women's clothing to escape a restaurant undetected. As if to ensure he would not turn the project down, Perkins was given a salary of $75,000 for 10 weeks' work while MacLaine only got $25,000 for the same number of days. Although Perkins protested MacLaine's smaller salary, no changes were made in her payment.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=149}}

''The Matchmaker'' was a non-musical film adaptation (later turned into the hit Broadway musical ''Hello, Dolly!'') of [[Thornton Wilder]]'s [[The Matchmaker|stage play]], in which [[Dolly Gallagher Levi]] (Booth) attempts to set up rich businessman Horace Vandergelder ([[Paul Ford]]) with a younger woman, Irene Malloy (MacLaine). Vandergelder's employees, Cornelius Hackl (Perkins) and Barnaby Tucker ([[Robert Morse]]), tired of their poor wages and constant work, escape to New York City and meet Irene, who's led to believe Cornelius is rich. Cornelius slowly falls in love with Irene while deceiving her. Morse had been a part of the original Broadway cast of the show, and he bonded with Perkins over the shared background. (Perkins later disclosed that Morse was bisexual, implying that they became confidants of sorts.)<ref name="Hadleigh 1996"/> Perkins, however, disliked MacLaine intensely despite defending her from studio bosses, and was put on edge by her intense drive and numerous pranks. "I've never been allowed that precious moment of seeing what Tony Perkins really is," MacLaine later reported. "I don't know what's an act and what isn't an act."{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=150}}

[[File:Hepburn-Perkins-1959.JPG|thumb|left|Perkins and Audrey Hepburn in a publicity still for ''Green Mansions'' (1959)]]

Paramount decided to take Perkins's status as a teen idol one step further and cast him as [[Audrey Hepburn]]'s love interest in ''[[Green Mansions (film)|Green Mansions]]'' (1959), one of Hepburn's few flops. It was based on an explorer who stumbles upon both a girl who lives in the woods and the Native Americans nearby who want to kill her. The film was originally intended to be a vehicle for [[Elizabeth Taylor]] when the project was initially announced in 1953, but these plans were soon abandoned. In 1958, [[Mel Ferrer]] picked the film up for MGM, and Hepburn (his wife) was cast as the mystical Rima to secure funding. Perkins, who was still stinging after losing the role in ''Some Like It Hot'', was cast soon after. It was the only film in which Ferrer directed his wife.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=167}}

Perhaps still remembering the ''Some Like It Hot'' incident, Paramount used the film to promote Perkins's masculinity, showing him shirtless and fighting apparently stronger men. He did receive a reprieve to sing "Green Mansions," the title song of the film, which briefly entered the charts before almost immediately falling off.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=168}} Speaking about the movie later in life, Perkins said, "[Hepburn] was wonderful to work with, like a real person, almost a sister{{nbsp}}... [The film] was good but unusual."<ref name="Hadleigh 1996">{{cite book|last=Hadleigh|first=Boze|title=Hollywood Gays: Conversations with Cary Grant, Liberace, Tony Perkins, Paul Lynde, Cesar Romero, Brad Davis, Randolph Scott, James Coco, William Haines, David Lewis|publisher=Barricade Books|date=1996|isbn=1-56980-083-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodgayscon0000hadl}}</ref>

Perkins's next film, ''[[On the Beach (1959 film)|On the Beach]]'' (1959), however, did little to promote his teen idol status, and was his last serious film before his ''Psycho'' performance later that year. He played a doomed father living in Australia after a nuclear war wipes humanity off all other continents. He supported actors such as [[Gregory Peck]], [[Ava Gardner]], and [[Fred Astaire]] in his first dramatic role. All filming took place on location in Melbourne over the course of three months, and a soundstage was made out of a warehouse for the crew's use.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=178}} Unlike other films, Perkins got on well with his fellow cast members and even helped Astaire prepare for his serious scenes.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=179}} Years later, in an interview with ''People'', Perkins listed Gardner as the first of many female stars who tried to put the make on him, but due to his sexuality, he very cautiously declined.<ref name=People/>

Perkins's next roles were less serious. ''[[Tall Story]]'' (1960) was best remembered for being [[Jane Fonda]]'s film debut, and he had to play a college basketball champion. As a man who had never been talented in sports, he had to be trained to play basketball for his performance, but, unlike his lessons on the set of ''Fear Strikes Out'', these ones stuck. Perkins recounted to reporters: "I've been working out at the [[Warner Brothers]] gym, discovering what basketball is all about. I spend about an hour and a half a day dribbling, passing, shooting baskets, and going after rebounds{{nbsp}}... It's a good game. Like chess in a way."{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=187}} Also unlike ''Fear Strikes Out'', the set of ''Tall Story'' was hospitable to him from what he could see. Because Perkins had worked with her father, he and Fonda had a connection, but not many could foresee the chemistry they would have both on- and off-screen. As Fonda later recounted to [[Patricia Bosworth]]: "Tony [Perkins] told me 'Forget about the lights, just forget about the lights.' And I did. And he taught me fascinating things, like the audience's eyes always move to the right side of the screen so you should always try to get on the right side of the set." Fonda also solely credits Perkins for helping her learn how to play before the camera when acting.<ref name="Bosworth 2011">{{cite book|last=Bosworth|first=Patricia|title=Jane Fonda: the Private Life of a Public Woman|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing|date=2011|isbn=978-0-547-15257-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780547152578}}</ref>

In a repeat of ''On the Beach'', Fonda developed a crush on Perkins, who later recalled an occasion when she sat in his dressing room, completely naked, powdering her body.<ref name=People/> Unlike others, Fonda was actually understanding of his homosexuality and became good friends with whoever he was seeing at the time. Behind the scenes, however, there was more turmoil: Fonda recalled "Both [[Joshua Logan]] [the film's director] and I were in love with Tony Perkins, and so that caused a problem."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions &#124; WIRED |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9tgFMR4wgA?t=63 |via=YouTube|magazine=Wired |access-date=January 9, 2022}}</ref>