Quotes
 I have a lot of affection for Norman Bates and a lot of sympathy. So does the audience, I think. He`s not just a monster. He`s tortured. The real secret of the "Psycho" movies is that they`re tragedies first and horror movies second. I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding from the people I have met in this great adventure in the world of AIDS than I ever did in the cutthroat, competitive world in which I spent my life.
The violence in the "Psycho" movies is born out of plot, passion and character ... Don`t just dispatch people by six to the reel and say its entertainment.
[on playing "Norman Bates" in Psycho (1960)] Not many people know this, but I was in New York rehearsing for a play [Frank Loesser`s "Greenwillow"] when the shower scene was filmed in Hollywood. It is rather strange to go through life being identified with this sequence knowing that it was my double. Actually, the first time I saw Psycho (1960) and that shower scene was at the studio. I found it really scary. I was just as frightened as anybody else. Working on the picture, though, was one of the happiest filming experiences of my life. We had fun making it - never realizing the impact it would have.
[part of his last letter, given to his sons after his death] Boys, don`t try to find a woman as wonderful as your mother to marry because if you do, you`ll stay single your whole lives.
[statement made shortly before his death, on why he was private about his battle with AIDS] I chose not to go public about this because, to misquote Casablanca (1942), I`m not much at being noble, but it doesn`t take much to see that the problems of one old actor don`t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
[When his interviewer suggested that a boy`s best friend is his mother] She`s not only his best friend, she`s his most ardent lover.
Trivia
Became an ordained minister and performed the marriage of actor Dennis Hopper to his fourth wife, Katherine LaNasta, in 1989.
(imdb.com)
Attended prestigious Buckingham Browne & Nichols high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other alumni include "The Sopranos" (1999) actress Ari Graynor, jazz musician Nate Peterson and Broadway star Lizzie Rose.
(imdb.com)
Boycotted the 1987 television movie Bates Motel (1987) (TV).
(imdb.com)
Claimed that he was only attracted to men until he fell in love with Victoria Principal in the 1960s.
(imdb.com)
During 1990, he got a blood sample taken due to a palsy on the side of his face. The "National Enquirer" illegally had Tony`s blood sample tested for the AIDS virus, and found out that it was positive. Later that year, the "National Enquirer" wrote a story about his battle with AIDS, but the ironic thing was that he only found out that he was HIV positive from this article. He suspected that he probably was, but he never checked for it before the article was written.
(imdb.com)
His performance as Norman Bates in Psycho (1960) is ranked #4 on Premiere Magazine`s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
(imdb.com)
On September 11, 2001 his widow and mother of his two sons, Berry Berenson was one of the 58 victims on AA-11 out of Boston that terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center.
(imdb.com)
Was a huge admirer of Orson Welles , and was even planning on writing a book about him, but aborted the project in fear of upsetting his idol. Welles later said that he would have loved the idea.
(imdb.com)
Was an only child, and his mother and father gave him no middle name.
(imdb.com)
Was cremated, and the superscription on his urn reads "Don`t Fence Me In".
(imdb.com)
Was into psychoanalysis, and was treated by Dr. Mildren Newman in New York, starting in the early 1950s and continuing into the late 1970s.
(imdb.com)
|
Super Star Sites
Silver Sites
Profile
Married
Relationship
"Encounter"
Comments
Continue the Conversation