Norma Bates (Psycho)
Encyclopedia
| Psycho character | |
|---|---|
| Norma Bates | |
| Aliases | "Mother" Bates |
| Gender | Female Female Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male... |
| Born | 1907 |
| Died | 1949 (42 years old) |
| Race | Caucasian Caucasian race The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia... |
| Relationships | Norman Bates Norman Bates Norman Bates is a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel Psycho, and portrayed by Anthony Perkins as the main antagonist of the 1960 film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock... (son) Emma Spool Emma Spool Mrs. Emma Spool is a fictional character in the Psycho film series, created by Tom Holland for the screenplay of the 1982 sequel to the 1960 film Psycho, Psycho II. More attention is given to her character in Psycho III, although she's a corpse... (sister) John Bates (husband) Dr. Constance "Connie" Forbes-Bates (daughter-in law) |
| Enemies | Men |
| M.O. Modus operandi Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning... |
Taking over her son's mind, causing him to stab his victims to death while wearing Norma's clothing. |
| Weapon of Choice: | Kitchen knife Kitchen knife A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives – notably a large chef's knife, a tough cleaver, and a small paring knife – there are also many specialized knives that are designed for... |
| Portrayed by: | Paul Jasmin, Virginia Gregg Virginia Gregg Virginia Gregg Burket was an American actress best known for her many roles in radio dramas.Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, Virginia Gregg was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta and businessman Edward William Gregg.-Radio:Gregg was a prolific radio actor, heard on such programs as The... , Jeanette Nolan Jeanette Nolan Jeanette Nolan was an American radio, film and television actress. Nolan was nominated for four Emmy Awards.-Early life:... (Psycho) Virginia Gregg Virginia Gregg Virginia Gregg Burket was an American actress best known for her many roles in radio dramas.Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, Virginia Gregg was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta and businessman Edward William Gregg.-Radio:Gregg was a prolific radio actor, heard on such programs as The... (Psycho II - Psycho III) Olivia Hussey Olivia Hussey Olivia Hussey is an Argentinian actress who became famous for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Academy Award-winning 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress as well as the David di Donatello for best actress... , Alice Hirson Alice Hirson Alice Hirson is an American actress best known for her roles on television.She appeared regularly in soap opera with roles as Stephanie Martin on The Edge of Night, as Marcia Davis on Somerset, and as Eileen Riley Siegel on One Life to Live... (Psycho IV: The Beginning) |
Mrs. Norma Bates (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Spool) is a fictional character in the novel Psycho by Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
and the Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
Psycho franchise
Psycho (film series)
The Psycho film series is an American horror film franchise loosely based on the Psycho novels by Robert Bloch. The first film, Psycho, was directed by legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in 1960, with three sequels, a spin-off, and a remake following. The official films consist of Psycho,...
starring Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
, Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
, Psycho II, Psycho III
Psycho III
Psycho III is a 1986 sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The film stars Anthony Perkins , Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey and Roberta Maxwell. The screenplay is written by Charles Edward Pogue...
, Psycho IV: The Beginning
Psycho IV: The Beginning
Psycho IV: The Beginning is a 1990 made-for-cable-television horror film that serves as both the third sequel and a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho, as it includes both events after Psycho III while focusing on flashbacks of events that took place prior to the original film...
and the TV spin-off Bates Motel
Bates Motel
Bates Motel is a 1987 television movie about Alex West, a mentally disturbed youth who was committed to an asylum after killing his abusive stepfather. There he befriends Norman Bates and ends up inheriting the infamous Bates Motel.-Plot:...
. She is not strictly a character in the novel by Bloch, and her presence is indicated only as a voice and a corpse in the Psycho films. She is not depicted as a character until the fourth film installment (Psycho IV).
Psycho
After the death of her husband John, Norma raises her son Norman BatesNorman Bates
Norman Bates is a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel Psycho, and portrayed by Anthony Perkins as the main antagonist of the 1960 film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock...
with cruelty, teaching him sex is evil and that all women except her are whores. In Psycho IV (which retells much of Norman's and his Mother's past from the original Psycho film), it is implied that "Mother" suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, which Norman inherits, although Bloch's novel doesn't mention such a plot point.
For many years, Norma and Norman live together as if there is no one else in the world. When Norman is a teenager, his mother meets a man (named Joe Considine in the novel, renamed "Chet Rudolph" in Psycho IV), whom she begins dating, and plans to marry. Joe convinces Norma to open a motel. Norman grows insanely jealous of his mother, believing that she has abandoned him for her boyfriend, and poisons them with strychnine
Strychnine
Strychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...
, making it look like suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Unable to bear the loss of his mother, Norman steals Mrs. Bates' corpse and mummifies it, and speaks to it as if his mother were still alive. He also speaks to himself in her voice and frequently dresses in her clothes; he becomes his mother in order to escape the guilt of having murdered her.
When the "Mother" persona of Norman's mind is aware of Norman's sudden desire for a certain woman, "she" would kill the woman. One of Norman's victims is Marion Crane (Mary in the novel), who fled to the Bates Motel after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to marry her boyfriend, Sam. She draws the attention of private investigator Milton Arbogast to the motel and then the house, where Norman refuses to let him see his mother. Suspicious, he goes to the Bates house, where "Mother" kills him as well. Sam and Lila Crane
Lila Crane
Lila Loomis is a fictional character from the 1959 Robert Bloch novel Psycho and its 1960 film adaptation. Additionally, she appears in Bloch's sequel novel and the unrelated sequel film of the same name.- Fictional biography :...
, Marion's sister, soon arrive, suspecting Norman of killing Marion for the money.
Psycho II
Norman Bates, now supposedly cured, is released from the institution and returns home to the Bates Motel and the Bates House, only to be confronted by notes supposedly written by Mrs. Bates and phone calls by someone who claims to be his Mother. Norman takes a job at a local diner and befriends Mrs. Spool, the cook, and a waitress named Mary Samuels, who has boyfriend trouble and is left without a home. Norman offers a room at his house for Mary, and she reluctantly accepts. Then, mysterious murders are committed by a woman with a knife to people who come to the motel and the house.Norman's sanity begins to crack, as he starts to believe that it is his Mother's ghost that committs the murders, but his psychiatrist Dr. Raymond, to change Norman's thinking, he shows him Mrs. Bates's corpse (who, for an unknown reason, holds a knife with dried blood on it) and reveals to him that Mary Samuels is actually Mary Loomis, the daughter of Sam Loomis and Lila Loomis (the sister of Marion Crane) and are plotting to drive him crazy in order to get revenge. Actually, Mary feels sorry for Norman while Lila continues dressing up as Norman's mother and appearing through the window of Mother's bedroom. Mary believes that there is someone else in the house, the one who is committing the murders, and when Norman explains to Mary that the woman-murderer might be his real mother, she becomes suspicious if Norman was ever adopted.
While Norman is at the swamp with the police where a car containing the corpse of the ex-manager of the motel is found, Lila sneaks in the house to dress up as Mother, but then the murderer comes in and finishes her. When Mary and Norman return to the house, with Norman slowly going mad again, he receives a phone call from Dr. Raymond but in his mind, the phone call is from Mother. Mary, disturbed, tries to convince Norman to stop answering the phone to mother by dressing up with a dress, a wig and bearing a knife to make him believe she is his mother. He still continues talking to no one on the phone, and when Mary accidentally kills Dr. Raymond who has come to the house to catch Mary, Norman drives her to the cellar believing she is Mother and tries to hide her (the police have arrived outside), Mary discovers Lila's corpse hidden in a pile of coal, and convinced Norman is the murderer, she tries to kill him but is shot by the police before she manages it.
Psycho III
In Psycho IIIPsycho III
Psycho III is a 1986 sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The film stars Anthony Perkins , Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey and Roberta Maxwell. The screenplay is written by Charles Edward Pogue...
, a reporter named Tracy Venable latches on to the history of the Bates/Spool families; her research leads her to the disturbing story of a love triangle
Love triangle
A love triangle is usually a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two...
between John Bates and the Spool sisters, Norma and Emma
Emma Spool
Mrs. Emma Spool is a fictional character in the Psycho film series, created by Tom Holland for the screenplay of the 1982 sequel to the 1960 film Psycho, Psycho II. More attention is given to her character in Psycho III, although she's a corpse...
.
Film
- PsychoPsycho (1960 film)Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
(1960) - Appears as a corpse and a voice (voices by Virginia GreggVirginia GreggVirginia Gregg Burket was an American actress best known for her many roles in radio dramas.Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, Virginia Gregg was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta and businessman Edward William Gregg.-Radio:Gregg was a prolific radio actor, heard on such programs as The...
, Jeanette NolanJeanette NolanJeanette Nolan was an American radio, film and television actress. Nolan was nominated for four Emmy Awards.-Early life:...
, and Paul Jasmin). - Psycho II (1983) - Appears as a corpse, and as a voice in a flashback (by Virginia Gregg).
- Psycho IV: The BeginningPsycho IV: The BeginningPsycho IV: The Beginning is a 1990 made-for-cable-television horror film that serves as both the third sequel and a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho, as it includes both events after Psycho III while focusing on flashbacks of events that took place prior to the original film...
(1990) - Appears as one of the main characters (played by Olivia HusseyOlivia HusseyOlivia Hussey is an Argentinian actress who became famous for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Academy Award-winning 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress as well as the David di Donatello for best actress...
), and also as a voice (Alice HirsonAlice HirsonAlice Hirson is an American actress best known for her roles on television.She appeared regularly in soap opera with roles as Stephanie Martin on The Edge of Night, as Marcia Davis on Somerset, and as Eileen Riley Siegel on One Life to Live...
) and a corpse. - PsychoPsycho (1998 film)Psycho is a 1998 American horror film produced and directed by Gus Van Sant for Universal Pictures, a remake of the 1960 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock...
(1998) - As corpse and voice.