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Millie Perkins

 
Actor: Millie Perkins
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: May 12, 1938 in Passaic, New Jersey
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '60s, '80s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Drama
  • Career Highlights: Cockfighter, The Shooting, The Diary of Anne Frank
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

Biography

Teenaged model Millie Perkins was brought to Hollywood in a torrent of publicity when she was selected over hundreds of other applicants to play the starring role in George Stevens' 1959 filmization of Diary of Anne Frank. A 20th Century Fox contract resulted from this auspicious debut, but Diary remained her career high point. Periodically retiring from films in the 1960s, Perkins was briefly brought back before the cameras for 1968's Wild in the Streets, which was scripted by her second husband, Robert Thom, (her first was Dean Stockwell). Millie Perkins continued to make sporadic film appearances into the 1990s, notably as Charlie Sheen's mother in Wall Street (1987); she also played the mother of Elvis Presley (with whom she co-starred in 1961's Wild in the Country) on the 1990 TV series Elvis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Millie Perkins
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Millie Perkins
Born May 12, 1938 (1938-05-12) (age 71)
Passaic, New Jersey
Occupation Actress
Years active 1959 - present
Spouse(s) Robert Thom
Dean Stockwell (1960–1962)

Millie Perkins (born May 12 1938) is an American film and television actress.

Contents

Life and career

Born in Passaic, New Jersey,[1] Perkins grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and began her career as a model in New York City and by 1958 was an international cover girl.[2] However, in 1958 she was vigorously pursued and then selected to appear in her first film, in the title role of The Diary of Anne Frank. Perkins had never studied nor sought to be an actress, but George Stevens saw her on the cover of several magazines and tried to convince her to read for the part. Finally, she flew to Hollywood for a screen test and with much fanfare, landed the role of Anne Frank in George Stevens 1959 film, "The Diary of Anne Frank." Millie Perkins received almost universally excellent reviews for her portrayal of Anne Frank. After her work with George Stevens, Perkins was under contract to Universal Studios and was given little choice in what movies or roles in which she could appear. She was cast in the 1961 Elvis Presley film, Wild in the Country, in which she played the girlfriend of Presley's character. She was one of the bright young stars of Hollywood, but broke her contract with Universal because the studio system did not allow for any experimentation in roles. Subsequently, she worked with Jack Nicholson in several movies that he directed, taking a hiatus from film-making in the latter part of the 1960s to raise her children and teach acting in Jacksonville, Oregon. She returned to acting only years later when she was in her 40s. The studio contract system, which was coming to an end just as the young Millie Perkins was signed into it, did not fit well with this young star, who had come of age with the Beat Generation in 1950s New York City. As George Stevens said, Millie did not fit in. She was 10 years too early.

On April 15, 1960, she married actor Dean Stockwell. They divorced on July 30, 1962. She later married writer and director Robert Thom, who wrote the script for the popular 1968 movie Wild in the Streets, in which she appeared. Thom died in 1979.

In 1983, Perkins returned to features to play Jon Voight's ex-wife in "Table for Five," subsequently, she was firmly type-cast in the mother role, playing Sean Penn's mother in the fact-based film At Close Range which starred Christopher Walken. She played the mother of Charlie Sheen's character in the 1987 movie Wall Street, and in John Grisham's The Chamber, she played the bereft Jewish mother. She was also cast as Andy Garcia's mother in The Lost City (2005).

She has worked on a variety of television shows, including seven episodes of Knots Landing (over the period 1983-1990) and four episodes of Any Day Now (from 1998-2002).

Perkins continues to perform both in film and on television.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Scheuer, Philip K. "Anne Frank's Role Settled: Millie Perkins, 18, Winner; Brynner's Schedule Busiest", Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1958. Accessed June 2, 2008. "Diary has its Anne Frank. She is Millie Perkins, magazine cover-girl who was born in Passaic, N.J., 18 years ago and educated in Fairlawn, N.J.
  2. ^ "New Picture", Time (magazine), March 30, 1959. Accessed March 30, 2008. "His choice was an 18-year-old model from Fair Lawn, N.J. named Millie Perkins."

External links


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