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Osgood Perkins
The-Front-Page-1928-2-B.jpg
Perkins as Walter Burns in The Front Page (1928)
Born
James Ridley Osgood Perkins

(1892-05-16)May 16, 1892
Died September 21, 1937(1937-09-21) (aged 45)
Occupation Actor
Years active unknown–1935
Spouse(s)
Janet Esselstyn Rane
(m. 1922)
Children Anthony Perkins
Relatives Oz Perkins (grandson)
Elvis Perkins (grandson)

James Ridley Osgood Perkins (May 16, 1892 – September 21, 1937) was an American actor.

Life and career

Perkins was born in West Newton, Massachusetts, son of Henry Phelps Perkins Jr., and his wife, Helen Virginia (née Anthony). His maternal grandfather was wood engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony. He was a graduate of Harvard College.

Perkins made his Broadway debut in 1924 in the George S. KaufmanMarc Connelly play Beggar on Horseback. In the next 12 years, he appeared in 24 Broadway productions, including The Front Page and Uncle Vanya.

Despite his success as a leading man in the theatre, Hollywood viewed him as a character actor. He appeared in 12 silent films, including Puritan Passions, before moving to talkies such as Scarface and Gold Diggers of 1937.

"The best actor I ever worked with was Osgood Perkins," Louise Brooks told Kevin Brownlow. "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).

Director Elia Kazan, co-founder of the influential method acting school the Group Theatre (New York City), later was impressed with Perkins's acting and sought to combine it with the Group's techniques. "There was no emotion," Mr. Kazan wrote of Perkins. "Only skill. In every aspect of technical facility, he was peerless....I believed I could take the kind of art Osgood Perkins exemplified — externally clear action, controlled every minute at every turn, with gestures spare yet eloquent — and blend that with the kind of acting the Group was built on: intense and truly emotional, rooted in the subconscious, therefore often surprising and shocking in its revelations. I could bring these two opposite and often conflicting traditions together."

On September 21, 1937, Perkins died of a heart attack 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.

Personal life

Perkins married Janet Esselstyn Rane in 1922. They had one child, actor Anthony Perkins.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1922 The Cradle Buster Crack 'Spoony' Lost film
1923 Puritan Passions Dr. Nicholas Lost film
1924 Grit Boris Giovanni Smith Lost film
1925 Wild, Wild Susan M. Crawford Dutton Lost film
1926 Love 'Em and Leave 'Em Lem Woodruff
1927 High Hat The Assistant Director
Knockout Reilly Spider Cross Lost film
1929 Syncopation Hummel
Mother's Boy Jake Sturmberg
1931 Tarnished Lady Ben Sterner
1932 Scarface John "Johnny" Lovo
1934 Madame DuBarry Duc de Richelieu
Kansas City Princess Marcel Duryea - French Private Eye
The President Vanishes Harris Brownell
Secret of the Chateau Martin
1935 I Dream Too Much Paul Darcy
1936 Gold Diggers of 1937 Morty Wethered
1937 A Star Is Born Otto Final Film (Uncredited)
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