Editing Anthony Perkins (section)

==== Return to the United States ====
[[File:Evening Primrose Anthony Perkins Charmian Carr 1966 redone.jpg|thumb|Perkins with [[Charmian Carr]] in ''[[Evening Primrose (musical)|Evening Primrose]]'', 1966]]

Although he was still living in France at the time, in 1966, Sondheim began writing a horror musical ''[[Evening Primrose (musical)|Evening Primrose]]'', which was set to be aired on ''[[ABC Stage 67]]'', for Perkins.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=259}} Perkins returned to America to star in the musical alongside [[Charmian Carr]], who was fresh off her success in ''[[The Sound of Music]]''. The plot followed Charles Snell, a struggling poet who decides to live in a department store by night and pretend to be a mannequin by day. He encounters a secret society, the Dark Men, that already had the idea, and falls in love with Ella Hawkins (Carr), who is the maid of the society's leader and is forbidden from speaking to Snell. If they attempt to leave the department store, the Dark Men will kill them and turn them into mannequins.<ref name="Evening Primrose">{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/cultoddities/home/television/evening-primrose |title=Evening Primrose|website=Cult Oddities|access-date=January 10, 2022}}</ref> Sondheim referred to it as one of his favorite musicals he ever wrote, and announced Perkins as the lead of ''[[Company (musical)|Company]] '' shortly thereafter. Perkins, however, withdrew from the role, but he remained something like a muse for Sondheim for quite a few years.<ref name="Evening Primrose"/>{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=288}}

After his return to American television, Perkins appeared on Broadway in the [[Neil Simon]] play ''[[The Star-Spangled Girl]]'' (1966–67). For a brief moment, he was able to once again shed his typecast role as a mentally disturbed man, instead playing a radical roommate vying for the attention of a young woman. Among his costars was [[Connie Stevens]], and although they were both offered compliments for the performances they salvaged from the source material, the play was not on the whole well received.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/91294/star-spangled-girl#notes |title= ''The Star-Spangled Girl'' Notes| website= Turner Classic Movies| access-date= October 18, 2017}}</ref> Neil Simon later commented that ''The Star-Spangled Girl'' "was written 'from an emotional identity rather than personal identity{{nbsp}}... I knew this one didn't have the body of the others. I knew it never had a chance to be a powerful comedy{{nbsp}}... I didn't make it'".<ref>{{cite news| last= Funke| first= Lewis| title= News of the Rialto Simon Says, 'I've Learned'| work= The New York Times| date= January 1, 1967| page= 57}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, Perkins returned to his beloved Europe and he starred in another French film, ''[[The Champagne Murders]]'' (1967), for [[Claude Chabrol]].{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=232}} The film was well-received, with the ''New York Times'' writing "Mr. Chabrol{{nbsp}}... has made a film that has the shape and structure of a murder mystery, but which is, essentially, a funny, sardonic social drama."<ref>{{cite news|author=Canby, Vincent|author-link=Vincent Canby|date=April 24, 1968|title=Screen: Lucille Ball and Fonda Star in a Comedy|page=53|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Despite this, it was insignificant at the box office.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=233}}

In 1968 Perkins made his first Hollywood movie since ''Psycho'', ''[[Pretty Poison (film)|Pretty Poison]]'' with [[Tuesday Weld]], in which he was typecast - for a fifth time - in the role of a psychotic young man. The plot revolves around Dennis Pitt (Perkins), on parole from a psychiatric hospital who meets Sue Ann Stepenek (Weld). He tells her he is a secret agent, after which they go on "missions" together, culminating in an attack on a factory. This was the first of two films with Weld, whom he had dated in the early 60s; they were reportedly chilly but respectful to each other on set.{{sfn|Winecoff|1996|p=297}} Although the film wasn't a box office success, with Weld labeling it as her worst,<ref name="tues">{{cite news|title=Tuesday's got her dukes up: Watch out, Tuesday's got her dukes up|author=Reed, Rex|work=Chicago Tribune|date=October 31, 1971|page=r7}}</ref> it has since become a notable cult favorite.<ref name="perkins">{{cite news|title=A PERSONAL REVOLUTION: Anthony Perkins Trying to Mature Boyish Image |author=Thomas, Kevin|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 20, 1967|page=c1}}</ref>