‘Psycho’ Star Anthony Perkins Hosted ‘Saturday Night Live’ With Downright Creepy Results
Psycho actor Anthony Perkins went from playing Norman Bates to a host on Saturday Night Live. It’s quite a different gig, but he certainly understood exactly what audiences wanted from him. Perkins delivered exactly that on Saturday Night Live, as he brought his eerie charm in full force through the monologue and the sketches.
Anthony Perkins played creepy all too well in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’
Perkins often played unconfident characters that differed from many of the movie stars that came before him. Nevertheless, he landed quite the impact over the course of his career. Perkins even scored an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category thanks to his performance in 1956’s Friendly Persuasion. He starred alongside the likes of Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire. However, the biggest moment of his career was yet to come.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho hit theaters in 1960, which changed the game for the horror genre and filmmaking at large. Before landing his Saturday Night Live gig in 1976, Perkins landed the biggest role of his career as Norman. The fictional character made the actor a horror legend playing a man with dissociative identity, taking on the persona of his dead mother.
‘Saturday Night Live’ host Anthony Perkins gave a downright eerie performance
The Saturday Night Live archive posted season 1 episode 16 with Perkins taking on hosting duties. However, he doesn’t initially show up as a character. Rather, he plays his true self, but progressively amps up the creep factor the longer that the monologue goes on.
A fly buzzes around his head, as he tries to speak. He ultimately manages to catch the fake fly and eat it in front of the crowd. Perkins slowly pulls a bandaid off his hand, talking about the sensation of feeling every hair pull out as he slowly tugs it. Perkins talks about the superstition of keeping a “lucky” pair of panties, continuing to ask where they are until they’re tossed to him and he gives them a kiss.
Perkins stars in a collection of Saturday Night Live sketches, including “The Norman Bates School of Motel Management.” It features some haunting close-ups of mounted animals, delivering on a Psycho parody. Even so, the actor still brings the eerie Norman aesthetic.
He didn’t deliver all of the sketches in a creepy way, but he certainly added a certain atmosphere that only he could provide.
He finally conceded to his typecasting
Perkins brought aspects of his Norman from Psycho to his Saturday Night Live hosting duties because he knew that it would be a hit. He guessed correctly, as the audiences absolutely ate it up. He didn’t abandon his creepy delivery after Hitchcock’s 1960 horror classic and the late-night sketch show.
After starring in other successful films, such as Catch-22, Murder on the Orient Express, and Mahogany, Perkins accepted the typecasting. He returned to play Norman in 1983’s Psycho II, 1986’s Psycho III, and 1990’s Psycho IV: The Beginning. The third installment in the franchise earned him an acting nomination at the Saturn Awards.
