Amazon.com
Though Anthony Perkins played roles as diverse as a lawman of the old West in The Tin Star and Eugene Grant in the play Look Homeward Angel, he is best remembered for his performance as the maniacal son of a monstrous mother in Psycho. In Split Image, Charles Winecoff explains how Psycho pigeon-holed Perkins into similar roles and stagnated his professional life. His private life was equally vexatious--his father died when he was 5 and his mother controlled his finances until she died. He was married for 19 years but remained an active homosexual, engaging in a lifestyle that ultimately led to his death from AIDS in 1992.
Book Description
He was being groomed to replace the late James Dean. Then, in 1960, his portrayal of the murderous Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho destroyed Anthony Perkins' burgeoning career as a romantic leading man. His performance became a landmark in motion picture history—creating an image that eerily paralleled an offscreen life equally as secretive, conflicted, and fractured.
The son of a legendary stage actor, Perkins showed great promise as a Broadway star. But his constant struggle with his homosexuality resulted in a desperate search for acceptance that led from New York to Hollywood to Europe. His later attempts to create a new image for himself as a conventional family man were tragically cut short by his death from AIDS in 1992. Including interviews with more than 300 of Perkins' friends, co-stars, relatives, and lovers, filled with revealing anecdotes about Orson Welles, Audrey Hepburn, Rock Hudson, and many others, this intimate biography separates fact from fiction as it explores the complex life of this enigmatic, tortured man. Meticulously researched, written with rare candor and compassion, Split Image is both a harrowing look at life in the Hollywood closet and a poignant human drama that will change your vision of Anthony Perkins forever.
Customer Reviews:
This is NOT the latest edition of this book!.......2006-05-31
I don't know why Amazon has not corrected this - when you type in "ANTHONY PERKINS" you get "SPLIT IMAGE" - not "ANTHONY PERKINS." I don't get it.
Plus this edition is out of print - and out-of-date.
There is a NEW 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION, revised and updated, that just came out in May 2006 - titled "ANTHONY PERKINS: SPLIT IMAGE."
That is the best edition of this book.
Do not buy this old edition.
Sincerely,
Charles Winecoff, the author
Great book!.......2005-11-26
I truely enjoyed this book. It was well written and very informative! This author did Anthony Perkins justice!
Here we go again.......2005-05-29
Beginning to wonder if any 50s male icons happened to be hetero. The subject matter was so temptingly juicy that the author could not resist, no doubt in the pursuit of honesty, to shine his light on the sordid side of this life. But an objectively equal amount of time was devoted to explanations and Perkins' attempts to balance his frustrating existence. In short, the book probably is no different in outcome than the life it chronicles and as such is effective biography.
Too Much Special Pleading, Too Much Graphic Detail.......2004-11-17
This is a very readable biography, and focuses upon a very interesting (if sad) story of a great (but partially wasted) talent. With that said, however--
The author harps too much on how terrible and pernicious it was to live in the closet, and how awful and repressive America was in the 50s.
At times the author lets his distaste for the bad career and personal choices Perkins made seep through. (No biography is totally objective, of course, but still . . .)
The author goes into too much graphic detail about Perkins's somewhat kinky sexual life. Perhaps one or two details about this subject would have "spiced up" the biography, but honestly, we don't need to "get into bed" with Perkins even once, let alone multiple times.
And one gap that really isn't the author's fault--Perkins's widow and children didn't cooperate with him. As a result, there is a huge gap in the latter part of the book.
Not terrible, but no classic--perhaps even an object lesson in what not to do in a biography.
Tough love.......2004-05-18
Yes, this biography of a sometimes talented actor - limited by his own hand - is often hard to read, even harsh. But in the end, this reader anyway was left feeling strangely wistful, as if the time had come to say goodbye to an old, difficult, contentious friend. In that respect, I feel the book is quite honest and ultimately empathetic. Perkins' life was certainly controversial, and he clearly dropped friends along the way as it suited his changing needs. But the author conveys the goodness and strength of Perkins' final years with his family, despite his illness and his myriad secrets. I knew several people who knew Perkins, and this book comes about as close as their accounts while illuminating more. A very complex puzzle.
Book Description
Paramount groomed him to replace the late James Dean and become Hollywood's hottest heartthrob. But his landmark performance as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho killed that-and spawned an image of Anthony Perkins that eerily paralleled his conflicted, fractured off-screen life.
Anthony Perkins: Split Image insightfully and comprehensively documents the life of this great actor, who was forced to act the part of ladies' man while privately struggling with his own homosexuality, and chronicles his complicated search for acceptance.
Newly revised and updated for this tenth anniversary edition, Anthony Perkins: Split Image is both a harrowing look at life in the Hollywood closet and a poignant human drama that will change your vision of Anthony Perkins forever.
"Riveting...With his laser-beam of an eye, Winecoff lights up the hidden corners of Hollywood's golden age, as well as a dark age of homosexuality that needs to be understood by anyone who didn't live through it.…It's a page-turner." -James Gavin, author of Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker
"Charles Winecoff is a clever biographer. With his inside, creepy examination of Anthony Perkins, I was mesmerized by a dude I never thought I'd be able to stomach for more than a paragraph. Well done." -E!'s Ted Casablanca
"Anthony Perkins: Split Image is one of the deepest, darkest Hollywood stories ever told." -Robert Hofler, author of The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson
"Told with empathy and a sagacious eye for detail, Winecoff's lively chronicle of one of the screen's more formidable, if underrated, leading men perhaps should have been called Brokeback Hollywood Hills."-Stephen M. Silverman, author of David Lean and Dancing on the Ceiling: Stanley Donen and His Movies
"An important chronicle of a time when gay was still the ultimate taboo, one that Hollywood had especially little use for as it aggressively sold illusion and lies."-Michael Musto, from his Foreword
Customer Reviews:
The Essential Anthony Perkins.......2007-04-20
As an actor, Anthony Perkins has always fascinated me. In every role that I ever saw him play, he had this quality about him that made you feel that if you didn't listen to every word he said and watch every movement that he made, you were going to miss something of major importance. It's called stage presence and he had it by the bucketfuls. He was of course most noted for his portrayal of Norman Bates in PSYCHO and he captured that character so well that it was both the blessing and the curse of his career. Already, before Hitchcock's masterpiece, the powers that be behind Perkins' acting career saw him as a replacement for James Dean or as the new Gary Cooper or someone like him. They wrongly saw him as a macho romantic lead but after PSYCHO, they and the movie public only wanted him to play variations of the Norman Bates character. Charles Winecoff, in his revised tenth anniversary edition of his Perkins biography, ANTHONY PERKINS: SPLIT IMAGE captures valiantly both the personal and professional life of a Hollywood icon.
Perkins' acting career didn't begin on the movie screen; it began on the stage. His father was the famed actor, Osgood Perkins, who died during a perfomance at the age of thirty-seven when Anthony was only five. His mother was connected to theater people and saw that he learned his craft as a teenager in summer stock productions. Before his appearance in the movie PSYCHO, he had played the lead in at least two Broadway shows, one of which was as Eugene Gant in Ketti Frings' play LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL based on the Thomas Wolfe novel of the same name. Eugene Gant's sensitive character was one that would have suited Perkins' personality well and if the movie mobuls could have seen that these kinds of roles rather than the romantic lead roles were who Anthony should play, his film career might have taken a happier, more successful turn.
Anthony hadn't been in Hollywood long when he met Tab Hunter and the tongues began to wag concerning both men's sexual preference. Homosexuality in the 1950's and 1960's was not something to be tolerated in an actor's personal life and Anthony was quickly persuaded to not be seen with Tab in public too frequently. (Tab's autobiography indicated as well that he too was told to avoid too much contact with Anthony.) At the time, to make your homosexuality too public would have been a sure-fire way to kill a career before it even got started. Before, and after Tab Hunter, Perkins was linked with other (secretly) gay men, but psycho-analysis was revered at the time, and Anthony yearned to be as straight as so many people wished him to be. Why wouldn't he in the poisonous atmosphere of the time. At around forty, he met and married Berry Berenson and fathered two sons and I think for the rest of his life was convinced that his newly found heterosexuality and his role as husband and father was his salvation; at least that is what he told people.
The many miscastings and the perception of those who handed out the movie roles to Anthony Perkins that America couldn't handle an alternate lifestyle, hurt Perkins' acting career and he tried his hand at directing both plays and films with limited success. One of the reasons pointed out in the book for that limited success was Anthony's lack of confidence in himself. I tend to agree because when you are told constantly that the core of who and what you are is insufficient, that would make you lack confidence in yourself. But, in spite of that, there are enough gems in the theater and film work of Anthony Perkins that has to apoligize to no one and I for one salute him as one of my Hollywood heros.
Sensitive, layered portrait of a complicated man.......2006-05-31
This is one of the best Hollywood bios around. While numerous authors rehash the tired stories of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and others (for the 10th or 11th time - and who cares) this book opens new, original territory by looking at the life and times of Tony Perkins. The author first published the book ten years ago and this is a great update - no one else has come along to do a better job either. Tony Perkins lived on the cusp of the social revolution, balancing between the uptight propriety of the 50s with the psycho/sexual upheaval of the 60s and 70s. Winecoff meticulously lays out this world, and Perkins difficult and often troubled, sometimes comical, walk through it. Tons of interviews and vivid descriptions of people and places makes Tony pop off the page in this "true Hollywood story" that is hard to out down. Winecoff's timing is impeccable - the book is a fast, fun read as well as an informative one. The reissue is more tightly woven (I read the first version when it came out ten years ago). The author has grown more sophisticated and observant with passing years, as all good writers should. The final scene, September 11th and all, is a fitting tribute to changing times and the end of an era.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on November 1, 2001. The length of the article is 654 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Redefining Southern Culture: Mind and Identity in the Modern South. (Book Reviews).(Review)
Author: Pete Daniel
Publication:
Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2001
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 67
Issue: 4
Page: 905(3)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Mississippi Quarterly, published by Mississippi State University on December 22, 1999. The length of the article is 1051 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Redefining Southern Culture: Mind and Identity in the Modern South.(Review) (book review)
Author: Richard H. King
Publication:
The Mississippi Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 1999
Publisher: Mississippi State University
Volume: 53
Issue: 1
Page: 183
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Customer Reviews:
Great primer that explains materials,methods & stitches........1999-01-19
I found the book to be excellent in the amount of information given and the format. The black and white pictures sometimes failed to show those who are just learning the art a detailed view of the stitch. This would make a great bible of needlepoint for those who want to expand their craft beyond the basketweave and continental stitches. It is a tremendous reference tool for beginners as well as experienced stitchers in that it gives indepth descriptions of the materials used, including advatages and disadvantages of each kind. Materials covered include: canvases, fibers, colors etc. The only such book I have found so far!
The absolute best book on needlepoint stitches.......1997-07-16
In print for almost twenty yesrs, The Needlepoint Book is by far the best and most useful book on needlepoint. Stitches are divided into chapters according to type (cross stitches, straight stitches). Each stitch has a diagram and a clear black and white picture. But my favorite tool in the book is the stitch tables which begin each chapter. Using these tables you can find great new stitches for backgrounds, heavily textured stitches, easy stitches, and so on. This kind of information is tremendously useful, but I've never seen another book which had it. If you never buy another needlepoint book -- buy this one
Book Description
Since its original publication in 1976, The Needlepoint Book has become known as "The Black Bible" -- the one resource every aficionado of needlepoint needs to own. Completely revised and expanded, this updated edition includes your favorite features, plus:
* A 16-PACE COLOR INSERT WITH ALL-NEW PROJECTS * A CRASH COURSE ON THE NEW FIBERS UPDATED INFORMATION ON MATERIALS, AS WELL AS HOW TO WORK WITH AND CARE FOR THEM * DOZENS OF NEW STITCHES AND A CHAPTER ON THE POPULAR OPENWORK STITCHES * MORE THAN 1,300 ILLUSTRATIONS * 369 STITCHES! DIAGRAMS FOR ALL PROJECTS SHOWN
The Needlepoint Book covers all the information you need to learn needlepoint and improve your technique -- in a single comprehensive volume. You'll find section on:
* CHOOSING THE RIGHT PROJECT * TRANSFERRING DESIGNS * ELEMENTS OF GOOD DESIGN: COLOR, PROPORTION, AND BALANCE * LEFT-HANDED NEEDLEPOINT * FINISHING TECHNIQUES * CLEANING NEEDLEPOINT * AND MUCH MORE!
The Needlepoint Book is a complete guide to the craft, and the only book you'll ever need as a reference to become an expert at creating exquisite works to be treasured forever.
Customer Reviews:
The one book you'll need to get going.......2006-02-16
If you want to learn on your own, this is the book you need. I bought the paper back, took it to the copy place to cut the spine and spiral bind it with clear plastic covers. Now it stays open to the page I'm working from. Her directions are clear for every sitch and they are organized approporiately by type. Charts tell what each stitch is great and poor for. Easy to use without reading; but all beginers and re-starters should thoroughly read the begining to learn the other how-tos of needlepoint. Great for working patterns (painted canvas) or on your own designs. It may be the only book you need.
My copy has gone soft from use!.......2002-03-10
I own both the first and second editions of this book. Of all the beautiful needlepoint books in my collection, this is the one I go back to over and over. There is information for the beginner as well as advanced stitcher. In eighteen years, I've never picked it up that it didn't learn something new or valuable.
A MUST FOR THE "NEEDLEPOINTER"!.......2002-01-25
I have loved needlepoint now for over thirty years. Probably one of the greatest things my mother gave me was a beginners needlepoint class when I was eight years old. I basket-weaved away for many, many years. Then, I discovered this book. It took my love for needlepoint to new levels of creativity. There are so many easy to follow directions for stiches that I had never seen before. This book brought out a new and creative aspect to my stiches. From the brand new beginner to the heartend veteran, this book is a must have! I have several other guides in my needlepoint library, yet I always come back to this one.
Easy to understand.......2001-08-01
This book is great for a beginner to an expert.
It details hundreds of different stiches and has great pictures so you can see what stiches should look like. I goes through all aspects of needlepoint from picking out a canvas to finishing it.
A new and improved Black Book!.......2001-07-16
Like most stitchers, I've used "the Black Book" for years. The new edition is a must-have for anyone who does needlepoint. All the good stuff you've used in the past is still there - lessons on how to begin, the tools of the trade, hundreds of stitches and how to use them, and fnishing instructions. Part of the reason that Christensen has been such a universally used resource is that her step-by-step instructions on how to do different stiches are easy to follow. As wonderful as the old edition was, this new one is even better. Not only are there more stiches - and very useful ones - but the information on tools and materials has been drastically revised. One of the most significant changes that caught my attention is that unlike the previous edition, Christensen is now recommending routine use of frames. Of course, this is consistent with what most of us have been doing for years. Christensen makes some general observations about the new types of threads available and how to use them, but she doesn't discuss them in detail. This is probably a wise choice since the vast variety of threads has been constantly changing and will no doubt continue to do so. My one complaint is that when selecting projects to show in the book, Christensen has very deliberately chosen to drastically limit the number of projects that have holiday themes, particularly Christmas. This seems like a strange choice since you only have to walk in to any needlepoint shop to know that Christmas projects make up the bulk of the business. Other holidays, including those of different religions and traditions are also popular. Personally, I almost never stitch anything but Christmas stockings and ornaments, and most stitchers I know are the same. Other than this personal bias, however, I have found the new edition to be an excellent improvement on an already great book.
Book Description
Are you already up to speed on the fundamentals of Flash? Do you know how create simple animations and write elementary ActionScript? If so, you’re ready to move beyond the basics.
Macromedia Flash 8 Beyond the Basics is all about stepping to that next level. This book expands your skill set and shows you how to integrate those skills with advanced ActionScript. Through a series of carefully developed, step-by-step exercises and demo movies, you’ll learn how to build a professional, interactive Web site—using source files and designs supplied on the book’s CD-ROM. Along the way, you’ll learn about the new Flash 8 features: the improved text tool, new text rendering engine, new graphic filters, and more.
50+ Step-by-Step Tutorials:
• Format dynamically loaded text using HTML, CSS, and nested images
• Create an ActionScript-driven menu
• Build a preloader with MovieClipLoader class
• Add a progressively downloading, multi-track MP3 player
• Create a video player that allows users to control playback
• Build a slideshow that loads images and text dynamically
• Utilize components to create a feedback form
• Create a Flash plug-in detector
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2007-10-03
Excellent for beginners - easy to follow step by step format.Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Beyond the Basics Hands-On Training
Good tutorial and well structured.......2007-05-24
I believe this book taught me quite a lot. The tutorial guides you through one project from beginning to end, which also highlights the challenges in the planning phase. It may appear difficult at the beginning (and it is) but Shane explains the contents in an excellent way that makes you want to learn more. The book is definitely for an intermediate to advanced FLASH developer, who have a good grasp of actionscript. If you are new to actionscript this book is definitely NOT for you. Having said that, this book was worth it for me.
Easy to Understand.......2007-05-12
This book does a great job of explaining ActionScript techniques. It seemed like every time a question popped into my head, I found the answer right away in the next paragraph. The author explains things in a way that everyone can understand.
The only problem I had with the book was that the explanations got a little too repetitive sometimes. I think they over-explained things, but I suppose they just wanted to make sure everyone understood it.
Basically Intermediate, Slightly Beyond.......2007-04-19
Add this one to your library, folks!
This book totally lives up to it's title. It is a solid resource for getting things done with Flash. From concept to finshed product, this books walks you through the proper way to accomplish intermediate-level tasks in a straight forward manner. The step-by-step instructions are some of the best I've seen. And I've seen a lot.
It really is best to have some basic knowledge of Flash and to understand the terms and concepts used, but the beginner will also gain a lot from this book. (if they have a glossary nearby and are willing to do some work). The novice, once going through the material, will be a proud intermediate. There also a few advanced techniques touched upon.
For working designers using Flash this is a tremendously useful book. The entire book is a walk-through of building a website that has many features that will come up in design and development: The design process, fonts, integrating your tools, organization and architecture of your project, loading data from text files with LoadVars, formatting text with textFormat class, building slideshows, preloaders, forms, video and audio players, and navigation menus.
And the CD of files and videos are very well-done and extremely helpful.
HOT Books are Hot.......2007-01-04
The Flash 8 Hands-On-Training book is written in a way anyone should be able to comprehend, retain and use the lessons learned to do what they wish with Flash. I have purchased several of the HOT books, and have not been disappointed with any. A must buy!
Books:
- Standing Up
- Star Pilot (DK READERS)
- Starlets: Before They Were Famous
- Swept from the Sea: The Shooting Script (The Shooting Script Series)
- Tattoos, Desire And Violence: Marks of Resistance in Literature, Film And Television
- Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films of the Seventies
- The Art of Funding Your Film: Alternative Financing Concepts
- The Bob Hope Tribute Book 1903-2003 Thanks for the Memories
- The Bride of Frankenstein (Universal Filmscripts Series: Classic Horror Films)
- The Classic French Cinema, 1930-1960
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- The Psychic Pathway: A Workbook for Reawakening the Voice of Your Soul
- Momentum Stock Selection: Using The Momentum Method For Maximum Profits
- Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts
- Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction
- The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How to Recognize it and How to Respond
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography
- Media Promotion & Marketing for Broadcasting, Cable & the Internet, Fifth Edition
- Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach
- The Distant Beacon
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Tony Perkins
Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star
The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson
Young Love: The Best of Tab Hunter
The Matchmaker
