James Ridley Osgood Perkins (May 16, 1892 – September 21, 1937) was an American actor.
Life and career
Perkins was born in
West Newton, Massachusetts
West Newton is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.
Among the oldest of the thirteen Newton villages, the West Newton Village Center is a National Register Historic District. ...
, son of Henry Phelps Perkins Jr., and his wife, Helen Virginia (née Anthony).
His maternal grandfather was wood engraver
Andrew Varick Stout Anthony
Andrew Varick Stout Anthony (1835, in New York City – 1906) was a United States wood engraver.
Biography
Anthony was the son of Eliza (Stout) and John Anthony. He studied drawing and engraving under the best teachers in New York, and was one of ...
. He was a graduate of Harvard College.
Perkins made his
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
debut in 1924 in the
George S. Kaufman –
Marc Connelly
Marcus Cook Connelly (December 13, 1890 – December 21, 1980) was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930.
Biogra ...
play ''
Beggar on Horseback
''Beggar on Horseback'' is a 1924 play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly.
The play is a parody of the expressionistic parables that were popular at the time; its title derives from the proverb "Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride at a g ...
''. In the next 12 years, he would appear in 24 Broadway productions, including ''
The Front Page
''The Front Page'' is a Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema several times.
Plot
The ...
'' and ''
Uncle Vanya
''Uncle Vanya'' ( rus, Дя́дя Ва́ня, r=Dyádya Ványa, p=ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1898, and was first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre under the dir ...
''.
Despite his success as a
leading man
A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typica ...
in the theatre,
Hollywood viewed him as a
character actor
A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...
. He appeared in 12
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
s, including ''
Puritan Passions
''Puritan Passions'' is a 1923 silent film directed by Frank Tuttle, based on Percy MacKaye's 1908 Play (theatre), play ''The Scarecrow (play), The Scarecrow'', which was itself based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Feathertop". The film s ...
'', before moving to
talkies
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
such as ''
Scarface'' and ''
Gold Diggers of 1937
''Gold Diggers of 1937'' is a Warner Bros. movie musical directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley. The film stars Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, who were married at the time, with Glenda Farrell and Vi ...
''.
"The best actor I ever worked with was Osgood Perkins,"
Louise Brooks
Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the Jazz Age and flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helpe ...
told
Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...
. "You know what makes an actor great to work with? Timing. You don't have to feel anything. It's like dancing with a perfect dancing partner. Osgood Perkins would give you a line so that you would react perfectly. It was timing -- because emotion means nothing." Brooks and Perkins appeared together in ''Love 'Em and Leave 'Em'' (1926).
On September 21, 1937, Perkins died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
in his bathtub shortly after playing in a performance of ''
Susan and God''.
Perkins was inducted, posthumously, into the
American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.
"26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame."
''The New York Times'', March 3, 1981.
Personal life
Perkins married Janet Esselstyn Rane in 1922. They had one child, actor Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influential ...
.
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
Osgood Perkins
portrait gallery NY Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Osgood
1892 births
1937 deaths
American male film actors
American male stage actors
Male actors from Boston
American people of English descent
20th-century American male actors
Harvard College alumni