Norma Bates

Film Series	Literary	1998	Bates Motel

Norma Bates
Biographical information
Cause of Death	Poisoned
Residence	Fairvale, California
Family	Mr. Bates (husband) Norman Bates (son) Emma Spool (sister) Connie Bates(daughter-in-law)
Behind the scenes
Actor	Psycho (1960) – Virginia Gregg Paul Jasmin Jeanette Nolan Psycho II, Psycho III – Virginia Gregg Psycho IV: The Beginning – Olivia Hussey Alice Hirson Psycho (1998) – Rose Marie

"A boy's best friend is his mother."

―Norman Bates

Norma Bates (nee Spool) was the domineering mother of Norman Bates. After Norman murdered her, he developed a murderous split personality based on her.

Biography

As a young woman, Norma and her sister, Emma were both in love with the same man. He decided to marry Norma and they had a child, Norman Bates. Emma, mentally unstable and extremely jealous, kidnapped Norman, believing him to be the son she should have had with Norma's husband. The authorities intervened, returning Norman to his parents and arresting Emma. She was later remanded to a mental institution, having been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Following the death of her husband by bee stings, Norma raised their son alone. The two lived in Fairvale, California, where they ran the Bates Motel.

Norma was extremely controlling of her son's life and preached to him that all women – except herself – were whores and that sexual intercourse was sinful. On one occasion, Norma found a ladies' lingerie catalog in Norman's room and reprimanded him, forcing him to throw it away.

On another occasion, Norman doused her with orange flower water and Norma playfully wrestled with him until she felt him have an erection. Thrown into a rage, she put him in a dress and lipstick and called him a girl as she locked him in a closet in an attempt to make him forget about his penis.

Soon, Norma began seeing Chet Rudolph, who she planned to marry after he received a divorce. A jealous Norman poisoned them both with strychnine and staged the scene to look like a murder-suicide perpetrated by Norma.

Norman later stole his mother's corpse and mummified it. He began to act as though she was still alive and would hear her speak to him. He also believed that she was responsible for several murders that took place on the motel property when, in reality, Norman had developed a split personality of his mother. When the Norma personality took over, he would dress up as her and speak with her voice.

After Norman murdered four people – including Marion Crane and Milton Arbogast – as "Mother," the personality took full hold on his mind. Norma's corpse was then reburied.

After twenty-two years of being institutionalized, Norman was able to fully resist the "Mother" personality. However, after efforts by Lila and Mary Loomis – the sister and niece of Marion Crane, respectively – to return him to his insanity, the "Mother" personality became evident once more. Furthermore, Norma's sister, by then a co-worker of Norman, convinced him that she was his biological mother. He killed her and used her corpse in the same way he did Norma's.

Following several more murders as "Mother," Norman was told the truth about his mother and he destroyed Emma's mummified corpse as well as the "Mother" personality. Although he would be institutionalized again, he noted that he was "finally free."

Four-and-a-half years later, after his final release, Norman saw visions of his mother as he destroyed his childhood home.