Lila Crane

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Psycho character
Lila Crane.jpg
Lila Crane
Gender Female
Born ca. 1928
Age 54
Died 1982
Race Caucasian
Relationships Marion Crane (sister, deceased)
Sam Loomis (husband, deceased)
Mary Loomis (daughter, deceased)
Portrayed by: Vera Miles (Psycho, Psycho II)
Julianne Moore (Psycho: 1998 remake)

Lila Loomis (née Crane) 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, in which she serves as the secondary antagonist.

Fictional biography

Lila Crane is the older sister of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). After Marion steals $40,000 from her employer, she plans to run off from Phoenix, Arizona to the (fictional) small town of Fairvale, California, where her boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) lives. Lila travels to Fairvale to meet Sam, hoping that Marion would be there with him and the money. She planned to convince Marion to return the money to her employer, so that he won't press charges. Upon arriving in Fairvale, she learns from Sam that he has not seen Marion for days; she has disappeared. Shortly after her arrival, a private investigator hired by Marion's employer, Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam), also comes into contact with her and Sam.

Arbogast searches local hotels, eventually coming to the Bates Motel. After calling to update Lila and Sam about tracing Marion to the motel, he disappears as well. This prompts Sam and Lila to pose as a married couple in order to get a room at the motel to investigate without arousing the suspicion of the owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Lila makes her way to Bates' house while Sam distracts him. When Bates realizes what Lila is up to, he knocks Sam unconscious and runs after her. When she enters the fruit cellar, she makes a ghastly discovery: the corpse of Bates' mother, whom Bates claimed was alive.[1] A moment later, Bates enters dressed in his mother's clothes and a wig, wielding a kitchen knife. He attacks her, but Sam tackles him to the ground and disarms him. A psychiatrist later tells her that Bates — who murders people while under the control of an alternate personality taking the form of his long-dead mother — killed her sister and Arbogast.[2]

In Psycho II, Bates is released from the mental institution he was placed in at the end of the first film. Lila (now Lila Loomis, having apparently married Sam) protests angrily, and petitions to keep Bates locked up. The petition is unsuccessful, however, and Bates is released.

Bates gets a job at a local diner, where he meets a coworker, a young woman named Mary (Meg Tilly). Later, it is revealed that Mary is Lila's daughter, and they are trying to get Bates recommitted by dressing up as his mother and leaving notes and calls claiming to be her. As this goes on, more people are murdered by someone who looks like Bates in his "Mother" guise: Bates' motel manager, and a teenage boy making out with a girl in Bates' fruit cellar.

Later, Mary, who has grown to care about Bates, tells Lila that she is backing out of their plan. Lila angrily rebukes her daughter, and sneaks to Norman's fruit cellar to put on her "Mother" costume. In the process of doing so, she is murdered by the figure who appears to be "Mother." Mary is later killed in a standoff with police, who exonerate Bates. It is later revealed later that Emma Spool (Claudia Bryar), Norman's maternal aunt, killed Lila and the others. She claims to be Norman's real mother, and that she killed people who had "wronged him".[3]

Novels

The character of Lila Crane is basically the same, as is the plot events, in Robert Bloch's novel Psycho. However, the plots of Psycho II the book and Psycho II the movie are nothing alike. In the Psycho II novel, there are no mentioned plans of releasing Norman from the institution. Instead, he escapes. He then travels to Fairvale, where he murders Sam and Lila Loomis.

Portrayals

Lila Crane/Loomis was portrayed by Vera Miles in the 1960 film Psycho and its 1983 sequel, Psycho II. Julianne Moore portrayed the character in the 1998 remake of the 1960 film.

Lila is one of two characters from the original film to return in the sequels, the other being Norman Bates himself.

Comic books

Lila appears in the colorized 1992 three-issue comic book miniseries adaptation of the original film, printed by Innovation Publishing.

Appearances

Novels

Films

Comics

  • Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, 1992

References

  1. ↑ http://oldhollywood.tumblr.com/post/141030752/lila-crane-meets-the-lady-of-the-house-vera-miles
  2. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/synopsis
  3. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086154/synopsis

External links

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