"Don't Fence Me In", which was inscribed on Tony's urn after his death, was the title of his favourite Cole Porter song which he sang as a lullaby to his sons when they were babies.

When Tony was starring in the screen adaptation of Aimez-Vous Brahms? he suggested the new title of "Goodbye Again" - this was the title of one of his father's theatre successes, in the year Tony was born.

Both Tony and his father Osgood worked with actor Henry Fonda (I Dream Too Much and The Tin Star respectively) and director George Cukor (The Tarnished Lady and The Actress, Tony's film debut).

The first time Oz Perkins saw father Tony on the screen was The Black Hole at the age of 5. Tony does not have a middle name.

He had a phobia of flying insects, especially June Bugs.

His nickname for his mother was "The Mysterious Lady".

Tony's psychoanalyst was Mildred Newman, author of the book "How To Be Your Own Best Friend".

Tony's uncle was the vice president of The Perkins Glue Factory in Philidelphia.

Tony was left-handed.

He rebelled in school by being lazy.

He was known as the "class magician" in Browne & Nichols School, Cambridge.

He signed all of his school assignments and papers with a picture of an Indian teepee (for his initials T.P.)

His favourite author was Charles Dickens.

He started taking an interest in acting at age 15.

His official stage debut was on 30th June 1947 when he acted in Junior Miss.

His mother was 38 when she gave birth to Tony.

It is popularly believed that he was named after stage actress/director Antoinette Perry, although it is more likely that he was named after his father's mother Helen Virginia Anthony Perkins.

When he was a little boy he had a terrier called "Medor" which he taught only to respond to French. Medor lived to 12 years old, and after he died they adopted a short-haired terrier mongrel which he named Skippy.

He used to sleep with painted stars on his bedroom ceiling and "Tony" made from Christmas lights on his wall above his bed.

During the latter part of his career, his agent was Sue Mengers. But from 1956 to 1966, the man responsible for Tony's stardom was Herman Citron of the MCA talent agency. (Mr. Citron was also Afred Hitchcock's agent!)

He met his wife Berry at a party thrown by Ruth Ford for the cast of his film Play It As It Lays.

Berry broke up with her fiance the artist Richard Bernstein to be with Perkins.

His long term friend and German flatmate Helen playfully nicknamed him Tone Bones because he was so thin.

Tony had a very steamy four-day affair with actress Victoria Principle (Dallas) on the set of The Life and Times Of Judge Roy Bean.

Perkins and Frank Sinatra were first choice to star in Some Like It Hot, although he politely declined because after The Matchmaker he did not want to be seen in a film where he would have to wear women's clothing. And then he did Psycho. D'oh! (His role would be replaced by Tony Curtis)

During the filming of Psycho II after over-hearing co-star Meg Tilly say "So why's everyone treating him like the star?" (naive about his great success and having never seen the original film before) he repeatedly tried to get her fired and made the young actress break down in tears a number of times.

Tony developed a stutter in his speech at the age of five, but discovered that it went away when his mother and teachers stopped forcing him to use his right hand to write with!

Tony was offered the lead role in the epic film Laurence of Arabia but turned it down- he was, of course, replaced by Peter O'Toole.

What would have been his last film, but unfortunately he died before filming started, was Even Cowgirls Get The Blues with Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves, and directed by none other than the re-maker of Psycho Gus Van Sant! His role of 'The Countess' would be played by John Hurt instead.

Rearranging the letters of "The US screen actor Anthony Perkins" gives:
Attacker seen in Psycho turns on her (by David A. Green 2002)

Apparently Tony used to entertain and impress his showbiz friends by doing some great Judy Garland impressions.

In 1976 he co-hosted the comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live, and during his opening monologue he swallowed a fly - all as part of his opening monologue skit, of course!

On 10th June 1984 Tony married Crimes of Passion director Ken Russell to his longtime lover, writer Vivian Jolly, on the Queen Mary ocean liner. He explained that "for a few bucks" he ordered the certificate by mail pronouncing him a bona fide minister of the Universal Life Church. This gave him exclusive authority to preside over births, deaths and marriages!

After his death he was cremated, and the superscription on his urn reads "Don't Fence Me In".

During 1990, he got a blood sample taken from a palsy on the side of his face, and 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.

In The Trial (1963), Orson Welles dubbed TEN LINES of Perkins' dialogue - but defied Tony to ever figure out which lines they were!