Editing Anthony Perkins (section)

==== Troubles with Paramount ====
[[File:APerkinsPublicity.jpg|thumb|Publicity photos such as these (taken in 1959) served only to heighten Perkins's teen idol status]]

After being signed in 1955, Perkins became Paramount's last matinee idol, and he was promoted relentlessly as that image through a string of leading roles on screen. Once he had finished three films for the studio, they had already invested $15&nbsp;million in him before any of the motion pictures were even released. This began the tension between Perkins and Paramount.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=123}}

Another reason for tension came from Perkins's side; he believed Paramount was ruining his career. Although he was given the option to do Broadway performances, his fame primarily stemmed from his performances on screen, where Paramount was pushing him into leading-man roles. Perkins, however, wanted only to be a serious actor, not a teen idol. Their preoccupation with keeping Perkins's masculinity intact also led to his losing quite a few coveted roles, such as Shell Oil Junior in ''Some Like it Hot''{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=163}} and Tony in ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]''.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=209}}

Paramount president [[Barney Balaban]] strongly disliked Perkins due to his homosexuality. They constantly had arguments, mostly revolving around his sexuality and his ongoing relationship with fellow actor [[Tab Hunter]], which Balaban believed Perkins flaunted too much. He constantly pressured Perkins into breaking up with Hunter and going into conversion therapy for the five years that Perkins was under contract with the studio. A later collaborator of Perkins's remembered to Charles Winecoff in 1996, "Tony said one thing that always endeared him to me{{nbsp}}... that when he was a rising young star at Paramount, he was seeing a great deal of [Tab Hunter], they went around town together, and finally the big studio head called him in and said, 'You cannot do this anymore. We're going to make you a star, and you can't be seen around town with this guy. You've got to get a girl, you've got to stop seeing him.' Tony replied, 'But I love him!'—which left the studio head speechless—and walked out".{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=124}} Hunter remembered a similar scenario: "Warner Brothers never said a word about my sexuality, and that's just the way I wanted it. However, Paramount did have something to say about my relationship with Tony, and they told him they didn't want him to see me anymore{{nbsp}}... Despite the opposition we did continue seeing each other."<ref name="attitude.co.uk">{{cite news|last1=Hunter|first1=Tab|date=July 9, 2018|title=Exclusive: Tab Hunter Recounts His Relationship With "Psycho" Star Anthony Perkins|newspaper=Attitude|department=Exclusive|url=https://attitude.co.uk/article/exclusive-tab-hunter-recounts-his-secret-relationship-with-psycho-star-anthony-perkins/18188/|access-date=December 18, 2021|archive-date=December 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218200358/https://attitude.co.uk/article/exclusive-tab-hunter-recounts-his-secret-relationship-with-psycho-star-anthony-perkins/18188/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to all accounts, Perkins, until 1959, withstood Balaban's threats of expulsion and even protected his homosexuality from his studio boss.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=124}} It was not until between filming ''Tall Story'' and ''Psycho'' that the studio executives succeeded in separating Perkins and Hunter, which many believe was a major factor in Perkins buying himself out of his Paramount contract early, just as Hunter had done at Warner Brothers.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=219}}