Norma Bates

Norma Bates is a character in Psycho film series. She is the evil mother of Norman Bates.

Psycho
She is shown offscreen where she argues with Norman about bringing Marion Crane into the motel. When she gets into the shower, Norma stabs her to death and leaves her room. Norman, horrified by this, covers up the crime. Later, she murders a private detective who tries to find her. Realizing this, Norman tries to hide her in a fruit cellar, much to her dismay.

When Marion's sister, Lila, checks out the cellar, she finds Mrs. Bates dead all this time and that Norman has been doing the murders all along. Dr. Richmond tells Lila and Sam of Norman's origins.

Psycho II
Norman starts to lose his mind again, which prompts Dr. Raymond to prove to him his mother is truly dead. Norma's coffin is dug up and opened, showing her corpse similar to the one in the original film.

Psycho III
Although not shown, it is revealed that Emma Spool is Norma's sister, making her Norman's aunt. There is a love triangle between the two sisters with Mr. Bates. So he chooses Norma, making Emma jealous of this as she could have been Norman's mother.

Psycho IV
She only appears in flashbacks and is played by Olivia Hussey.

Norma first appears with her son at his father's funeral. She tickles him in order to get him to laugh and slaps him for it, warning him to not laugh at the dead. For years, they live together as if they were the only people in the world. However, Norman gets abused by his mother such as locked in a closet for having dirty magazines, dressed up like a girl and bringing a prostitute.

Later, she becomes engaged to a man named Chet Rudolph. This makes Norman jealous as he believes his mother betrayed him for a lover. As a result, he ended up murdering them with strychnine, starting the events of the first movie.