Millie Perkins

Millie Perkins is an American retired actress and former model, best known for her debut film performance as Anne Frank in the 1959 adaptation The Diary of Anne Frank. She is also recognized for her supporting roles in two 1966 Western films directed by Monte Hellman, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind.

Born on May 12, 1936, in Passaic, New Jersey, Perkins was raised in Fair Lawn and attended Fair Lawn High School. Her father was an Austrian-descent merchant marine captain. While working as a receptionist at an advertising agency in New York City, she was spotted by a visiting photographer, which launched her modeling career. By 1958, she had achieved international recognition as a cover girl.

Without prior acting experience or formal study, Perkins was pursued and selected by director George Stevens to portray Dutch-Jewish diarist Anne Frank after he saw her photograph. Following a screen test in Hollywood, she secured the role. Her screen debut was documented in a seven-page photo essay in the April 6, 1959, issue of LIFE magazine. Perkins received strong critical reviews and a Photoplay Award for Most Promising Female Star, though the film was less of a box-office success than anticipated.

Following her debut, Perkins was placed under contract with 20th Century Fox. She was suspended after refusing the lead in the 1960 film Tess of the Storm Country, which she viewed as a B-picture. She subsequently played the girlfriend of Elvis Presley's character in Wild in the Country (1961). Director Joshua Logan cast her as the female lead in Ensign Pulver (1964). In 1965, she starred in Jack Nicholson's first two productions, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind, and later co-starred in the 1968 film Wild in the Streets, written by her then-husband Robert Thom.

In 1976, Perkins moved to Jacksonville, Oregon, with her two daughters, Lillie and Hedy. There, she ran a drama-therapy workshop out of her home, spoke to local high school drama groups, and was reported in 1982 to be teaching drama at Southern Oregon University.

Perkins returned to feature films in 1983 in Table for Five, playing Jon Voight's ex-wife. Over the next two decades, she regularly played mother roles in films, including At Close Range, Wall Street, The Chamber, and The Lost City. Her television career began with a 1961 guest role on Wagon Train and included appearances on Knots Landing, Any Day Now, Murder, She Wrote, a portrayal of Gladys Presley in the 1990 miniseries Elvis, and a six-episode arc on The Young and the Restless in 2006.

Perkins was married to actor Dean Stockwell from April 1960 until their divorce in July 1962. In December 1964, she married writer and director Robert Thom, with whom she had two daughters; the couple was separated when Thom died in 1979. Perkins officially retired from acting after 2006.