The tragic real-life story behind one of the characters from Monster: The Ed Gein Story has been revealed, and it's even more devastating than the series portrays.
The latest instalment of Ryan Murphy's Monster franchise centers around Wisconsin-based killer Ed Gein, whose heinous crimes rocked America in the 1950s, portrayed by Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam.
Known as the Butcher of Plainfield, Gein was found guilty of exhuming corpses and using their bones and skin to make gruesome artifacts for his home, as well as killing two people.
While Gein's story was fascinating enough, and inspired several movies including Psycho and Silence of the Lambs, viewers have realized that another character in the series had an even more tragic life.
Alfred Hitchcock's thriller, Psycho, was heavily inspired by Gein's obsession with his mother, which was the basis of the character Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins.
Fictionalized versions of Hitchcock and Perkins appear in Monster: The Ed Gein Story, which also touches on the way that playing Norman Bates affected Perkins' career and psyche.
The portrayal has left viewers wondering how much of it was true and what was down to artistic licensing.
Was Anthony Perkins queer in real life?
While Perkins never officially came out as gay amid the conservative attitudes of the time, he was known to have male lovers, including fellow actor Tab Hunter, who is depicted in the show’s second episode.
Perkins and Hunter were believed to have been in a relationship for four years before Psycho was filmed.
In Monster, the pair are seen having an argument over whether Perkins should take the role, ultimately causing the demise of their relationship, but it is not known if this actually happened in real life.
In his memoir, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, Hunter detailed his struggles with his sexuality at the time, and called Perkins a “special part of [his] journey”.
In Monster, Perkins is also seen with another male lover at the time of Psycho's release in theaters before Perkins breaks up with him after the movie is over, announcing that he is going to marry a woman.
Though there is no record of Perkins dating anyone during or immediately after filming, it is believed that he dated dancer and choreographer Grover Dale through the 1960s.
Perkins did end up married to a woman - Berinthia 'Berry' Berenson - in 1973, and the couple went on to have two children together, Longlegs director Oz Perkins and musician Elvis Perkins.
Oz Perkins later addressed his father's sexuality, telling The Irish Times in 2024 that it was not something that was discussed in their home: "The surprise about it was that it was no surprise. Right? The surprise was that we hadn’t been talked to about it.
"I don’t know who would have that talk. Maybe, even today, I’m not sure how that conversation goes for people whose public lives don’t allow it. I don’t know how that conversation happens with children."
Did Perkins have conversion therapy?
In Monster, Perkins is seen seeking the help of psychotherapist Mildred Newman following the filming of a harrowing scene in Psycho, and tells her that “the act of sodomy felt monstrous,” admitting he is sick every time he sleeps with his boyfriend.
Newman, a well-known proponent of conversion therapy, proposed that Perkins consider electroshock therapy or even a lobotomy to counteract his desires.
In real life, it was previously reported that Perkins had agreed to undergo conversion therapy shortly before he married Berenson.
Monster's executive producer Max Winkler told Variety that the Psycho shower scene in the Netflix series was also more violent than the film version by design, explaining: "We tried to put our own spin on it. The shower scene is significantly more brutal because our perspective of it is via Hitchcock, the monster for bringing this into movies that were not like that before.
"[Perkins] himself felt like a monster because he had these feelings of being a homosexual and didn’t know who to talk to about it, and his own therapist told him that he should get a lobotomy."
Perkins remained married to Berenson until his death from AIDS-related pneumonia at the age of 60 in 1992. Berenson died in 2001 as a victim of the 9/11 terror attacks, where she had been a passenger on one of the hijacked planes which crashed into the World Trade Center.