Poignant Anthony Perkins public hosting of Psycho in Brussels -- in 1992, the year of his death

In my internet surfing to find Psycho-related topics, I found a "new" clip on YouTube(versus all of the other Anthony Perkins material there), of Perkins introducing a screening of "Psycho" to a rather small audience in...Brussells.

This appearance was in March of 1992...and Perkins would die of AIDS in September of 1992. So whether he knew it or not at this public appearance, Perkins had only about seven months to live when he made it.

It makes one ponder. In this last year of his life, Perkins had the strength to fly thousands of miles to make this appearance in Brussels, and has the visible strength to walk for quite some time getting onto the stage and to stand for quite awhile as he makes the introduction. Its a reminder that every last moment of one's life span can be maximized.

Unlike strapping Rock Hudson, whose AIDS-induced thinness was alarming at the end, Perkins had always been thin, so the effects weren't as apparent. However his hair in this clip is cut almost to "baldness," so something was up.

You can't quite hear Perkins' comments to the crowd clearly, but you can hear them enough. And though everything I'm about to post is "paraphrased," its the gist:

He says things like:

"Thank you for coming. We're about to watch an old movie. But whereas most old movies die back in the time they were made, Psycho continues to be as fresh and relevant as when it was made."

"It takes place mostly inside. Hitch liked to stay inside for his movies. Someone can correct me, but I believe that there are only three outdoor shots in the movie. (Well, Tony , all the exterior shots of the house and motel are outdoors ,plus some location scenes for Janet Leigh -- maybe he meant those shots(scenes.)

--"There are no special effects. Even the falling down of Martin Balsam is just rear projection, which really isn't a special effect, its been around since the 30's." (Nice to hear Anthony Perkins say Balsam's name out loud, for some reason; but hey, I think both Balsam's fall and most of the matte shots of the house are "special effects" as is the blood down Balsam's face ----and a man named Clarence Champagne gets "Special Effects by" billing. But Perkins was likely talking to the Lucas/Spielberg era and the recent debut of CGI in Terminator 2 and earlier films.)

-- "The cast is small. Hitch didn't have to meet new people every day."(As he did, I suppose, most days of shooting North by Northwest. Though Psycho really has two SETS of actors, one in Marion's part, one in Norman's part.)

Most pointedly, Perkins here goes out of his way to pretty much dismiss the Psycho sequels. They were long past needing to be promoted and maybe Perkins felt mortality beckoning so he says "the first sequel was just a pedestrian movie, the second sequel was directed by a guy who didn't know what he was doing(Perkins himself -- the audience laughs) and the third "was really just a TV movie."

I wonder if Perkins stayed to watch the entire movie, or just left. Perhaps (again) sensing mortality, he watched the whole thing with an audience to enjoy his greatest achievement one more time. I'd like to hope so.

Anyway, I think it is a poignant clip, because Perkins is alert, opinionated and...with not much time to live.