Millie Perkins (born May 12, 1938) is an American film and television actress known for her debut film role as

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

in ''

The Diary of Anne Frank ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherl ...

'' (1959), and for her supporting actress roles in two 1966 Westerns, '' The Shooting'' and ''

Ride in the Whirlwind ''Ride in the Whirlwind'' is a 1966 American Western film starring Cameron Mitchell, Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, and Harry Dean Stanton, and directed by Monte Hellman. Nicholson also wrote and co-produced the film. A trio of cowboys are fo ...

'', both directed by

Monte Hellman Monte Hellman (; born Monte Jay Himmelbaum; July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the ho ...

Early life and career

Born on May 12, 1938, in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...

, Perkins grew up in Fair Lawn and attended Fair Lawn High School. Her father was a merchant marine captain of Hungarian and Mongolian descent. Perkins was working as a receptionist at a New York City advertising agency when she caught the eye of a visiting photographer with a resultant career as a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

; by 1958, Perkins was an international cover girl. Soon thereafter, Perkins was vigorously pursued, and then selected, to portray Dutch Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim

in the 1959 film adaptation of ''

''. Perkins had never studied nor sought to be an actress, but director

George Stevens George Cooper Stevens (December 18, 1904 – March 8, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Obituary '' Variety'', March 12, 1975, page 79. Films he produced were nominated for the Academy Award for ...

saw her photo and tried to convince her to read for the part."New Picture"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

,'' A friend and photographer Walter Karl Gluck took a photo of Millie and sent it to producer George Stevens, who was conducting a very public search for the girl to play the title role in ''The Diary of Anne Frank''. "Stevens' choice was an 18-year-old model from Fair Lawn, N.J. named Millie Perkins." Finally, she flew to Hollywood for a screen test, and with much fanfare, landed the role. Perkins received almost universally excellent reviews for her portrayal of Frank, although the film was less of a box-office success than expected. Millie Perkins visit Israel 1959

After her work with George Stevens, Perkins was placed under contract to 20th Century Fox. She was one of the promising young stars of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

, but the studio contract system, which was coming to an end, was a poor fit for Perkins, who had come of age with the Beat Generation in 1950s New York City. George Stevens would later state: "Millie did not fit in. She was 10 years too early." Suspended for refusing the lead in the 1960 film ''Tess of the Storm Country'' – Perkins saw the film as a

B-picture A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

and a step back career-wise – Perkins was cast by 20th Century Fox in the 1961 film '' Wild in the Country,'' playing the supporting role of the girlfriend to star

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

– she would later play Gladys Presley in the 1990 miniseries '' Elvis''; the studio then dropped Perkins.

Joshua Logan Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American director, writer, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical ''South Pacific'' and was involved in writing other musicals. Early years Logan w ...

personally selected Perkins for the female lead in the 1964 film '' Ensign Pulver'', but the film was a failure; Perkins would not appear in another mainstream film release for almost 20 years. She played the female lead in both of

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

's inaugural productions '' The Shooting'' and ''

'' – shot side by side in 1965 – and in 1968 co-starred in '' Wild in the Streets'' which was written by her then-husband Robert Thom.

Later career

In 1976, Perkins moved to

Jacksonville, Oregon Jacksonville is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, approximately west of Medford. It was named for Jackson Creek, which flows through the community and was the site of one of the first placer gold claims in the area. It includes ...

, with her two daughters by Robert Thom, Lillie and Hedy; in 1977, ''People'' magazine reported that Perkins "conducts a drama-therapy workshop every Tuesday night in her living room and often speaks to high-school drama groups in the area." By 1978, Perkins was sufficiently far off the Hollywood radar that the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to me ...

had her on their inactive list and that September, Hollywood column "Ask Dick Kleiner" responded to the query: "What ever happened to Millie Perkins?" with "Millie Perkins died recently"; a letter from Perkins herself resulted in a January 1979 retraction by Kleiner, although the columnist maintained: "almost everyone in Hollywood believes that erkinsdied." In 1982, however, it was reported that Perkins was teaching drama at

Southern Oregon University Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...

. In 1983, Perkins returned to feature films to play

Jon Voight Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, h ...

's ex-wife in ''

Table for Five Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

''. She then played "mother roles" for the next 20 years; including

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

's mother in the fact-based film ''

At Close Range ''At Close Range'' is a 1986 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by James Foley, based on the real life rural Pennsylvania crime family led by Bruce Johnston Sr. which operated during the 1960s and 1970s. It stars Sean Penn and Christop ...

'', the mother of

Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Platoon'' (1986), ''Wall Street'' (1987), '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' The Rookie'' (1990), ''The Thr ...

's character in the 1987 movie ''

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

,'' the bereft Jewish mother in the 1996 film '' The Chamber'', and

Andy García Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...

's mother in the 2005 film '' The Lost City''.

Television work

In 1961, Perkins made her television debut as a guest star on ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...

''. As with her film work, her television appearances were sporadic until the 1980s, from when she had appeared on a variety of television shows, including seven episodes of ''

Knots Landing ''Knots Landing'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on CBS from December 27, 1979, to May 13, 1993. A spin-off of ''Dallas'', it was set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles and initially centered on the lives ...

'' (over the period 1983–1990) and four episodes of '' Any Day Now'' (1998–2002). She portrayed character Glenda Vandervere in ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The seri ...

'' (season two, episode 12: "Murder by Appointment Only") (01/05/1986). Perkins retired from acting after a 2006 six-episode arc on the television soap opera ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

.'' Recent to her retirement, she was honored in the 2004 action-adventure video game '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', in which one of the storyline girlfriends to protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson, voiced by Orfeh, was named after her.

Marriages

On April 15, 1960, she married actor

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

. They divorced on July 30, 1962. She later married writer and director Robert Thom, who wrote the script for the popular

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

movie ''Wild in the Streets,'' in which she appeared. They had two children: Lillie Thom (b. 1966) and Hedy Thom (b. 1969). Perkins and Thom had been separated for some time when Thom died in 1979.

Filmography

Films

*''

'' (1959) - Anne Frank *'' Wild in the Country'' (1961) - Betty Lee Parsons *''

Dulcinea Dulcinea del Toboso is a fictional character who is unseen in Miguel de Cervantes' novel ''Don Quijote''. Don Quijote believes he must have a lady, under the mistaken view that chivalry requires it. As he does not have one, he invents her, m ...

'' (1962) - Aldonza / Dulcinea del Toboso *'' Ensign Pulver'' (1964) - Scotty *'' The Shooting'' (1966) - Woman *''

'' (1966) - Abigail *'' Wild in the Streets'' (1968) - Mary Fergus *''

Cockfighter ''Cockfighter'' (also known as ''Born to Kill'', ''Gamblin' Man'' and ''Wild Drifter'') is a 1974 drama film by director Monte Hellman, starring Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton and featuring Laurie Bird and Ed Begley Jr. The screenplay is based ...

'' (1974) - Frances Mansfield *'' Lady Cocoa'' (1975) - Marie *''Alias Big Cherry'' (1975) *'' The Witch Who Came from the Sea'' (1976) - Molly *''A Gun in the House'' (1981, TV movie) - Lena Webber *''MacBeth'' (1981, video) - Lady Macduff *''

The Trouble with Grandpa "The Trouble with Grandpa" is a 1982 episode of the syndicated American religious-themed anthology television series ''Insight'' starring Elisha Cook Jr. and Meg Tilly (in her television debut). The episode was produced in 1981 by Paulist Producti ...

'' (1981, TV short) *'' Love in the Present Tense'' (1982, TV movie) *''

'' (1983) - Kathleen *''The Haunting Passions'' (1983, TV movie) *'' License to Kill'' (1984, TV movie) - Mary Fiske *''Anatomy of an Illness'' (1984, TV movie) - Ellen Cousins *''Shattered Vows'' (1984, TV movie) - Mrs. Gilligan *'' The Other Lover'' (1985, TV movie) - Kate *''

'' (1986) - Julie *'' Jake Speed'' (1986) - Mrs. Winston *''

Penalty Phase ''Penalty Phase'' is a 1986 American made-for-television thriller drama film directed by Tony Richardson and starring Peter Strauss. Plot Supreme court judge, Kenneth Hoffman (Peter Strauss) oversees a high-profile murder trial which appear ...

'' (1986, TV movie) - Nancy Faulkner *'' Slam Dance'' (1987) - Bobby Nye *'' Strange Voices'' (1987, TV movie) - Helen *''

'' (1987) - Mrs. Fox *''Broken Angel'' (1988, TV movie) - Penny Bartman *'' Two Moon Junction'' (1988) - Mrs. Delongpre *'' Call Me Anna'' (1990, TV movie) - Frances Duke *'' The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend'' (1991) - Helen Maravich *''

Necronomicon The ', also referred to as the ''Book of the Dead'', or under a purported original Arabic title of ', is a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in stories by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first men ...

'' (1993) - Lena (part 2) *''Murder of Innocence'' (1993, TV movie) - Edna Webber *'' Midnight Run for Your Life'' (1994, TV movie) - Aunt Mimi *''

Bodily Harm Bodily harm is a legal term of art used in the definition of both statutory and common law offences in Australia, Canada, England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions. It is a synonym for injury or bodily injury and similar expression ...

'' (1995) - Dr. Spencer *''

Harvest of Fire ''Harvest of Fire'' is an American mystery drama television film that premiered on CBS on April 21, 1996, as part of the ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' anthology series. The film is directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, from a teleplay by Richard Alfi ...

'' (1996, TV movie) - Ruth *'' The Chamber'' (1996) - Ruth Kramer *'' The Summer of Ben Tyler'' (1996, TV movie) - Doris *''A Woman's a Helluva Thing'' (2001, TV movie) - Annie *'' The Lost City'' (2005) - Doña Cecilia Fellove *''Yesterday's Dream'' (2005) - Mrs. Hollister *''

Though None Go with Me ''Though None Go with Me'' is a 2006 American made-for-television drama film that premiered on Hallmark Channel. It is directed by Armand Mastroianni, and stars Cheryl Ladd. The film is based on the best-selling book by Jerry B. Jenkins. Plot ...

'' (2006, TV movie) - Frances Childs

Television

This, unlike the complete film listing above, includes only series in which Perkins had a recurring role. *''

'' (1983-84; 1990) - Jane Sumner *''

A.D. The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

'' (1985, TV miniseries) - Mary *'' Elvis'' (1990, TV miniseries) - Gladys Presley *'' Any Day Now'' (1998-2002) - Irene O'Brien Otis *''

'' (2006) - Rebecca Kaplan

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Millie 1938 births American film actresses American people of Hungarian descent American people of Mongolian descent American television actresses Living people Fair Lawn High School alumni People from Fair Lawn, New Jersey People from Passaic, New Jersey American female models 20th Century Studios contract players