But he used to have Tab come on the set two or three times a week, and they’d have lunch or something. “I don’t think Tony was, he kept to himself. “Tab was a known homosexual at the time,” camera operator Leonard Smith remembers. The Vista Theater, near the predominately gay neighborhood of Silver Lake, attracted a primarily male audience, and Perkins felt comfortable sitting with Hunter there. They would go on movie dates but buy tickets separately and sit apart. Only in mixed gatherings, such as a party at acting teacher Elaine Aiken’s, would Perkins allow himself to be seen with Hunter. “Of course, he was carrying on with Tab Hunter for a long time, we were told on good authority,” artist Don Bachardy told author Charles Winecoff in Split Image: The Life of Anthony Perkins. 'Who've you got who's different, Scott?' 'Who do you have for me for tomorrow night that will surprise me? Anything really new?'
Bowers writes, 'He always wanted someone different. His longest gay relationship was with actor Tab Hunter, but he saw many men.īowers writes that Perkins always wanted someone different. He was married with two kids but also gay. Perkins was intense, sensitive, and complex, according to Scotty Bowers in Full Service.
Anthony Perkins is best known for playing Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Friendly Persuasion.
