Date of Birth
13 August 1899,
Leytonstone, London, England, UK
29 April 1980,
Bel Air,
California,
USA (renal failure)
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock
Nickname
Hitch
The Master of Suspense
Height
5' 7" (1.70 m)
Mini Biography
Alfred Hitchcock was the son of East End greengrocer William Hitchcock and his wife Emma. Raised as a strict Catholic and attending Saint Ignatius College, a school run by Jesuits, Hitch had very much of a regular upbringing. His first job outside of the family business was in 1915 as an estimator for the Henley Telegraph and Cable Company. His interest in movies began at around this time, frequently visiting the cinema and reading US trade journals.
In 1920, Hitch learned that Lasky were to open a studio in London and managed to secure a job as a title designer. He designed the titles for all the movies made at the studio for the next two years. In 1923, he got his first chance at directing when the director of Always Tell Your Wife (1923) fell ill and Hitch completed the movie. Impressed by his work, studio chiefs gave him his first directing assignment on Number 13 (1922); however, before it could be finished, the studio closed its British operation. Hitch was then hired by Michael Balcon to work as an assistant director for the company later to be known as Gainsborough Pictures. In reality, Hitch did more than this -- working as a writer, title designer and art director. After several films for the company, Hitch was given the chance to direct a British/German co-production called The Pleasure Garden (1925). Hitchcock's career as a director finally began. Hitchcock went on to become the most widely known and influential director in the history of world cinema with a significant body of work produced over 50 years.
ed the
AFI Life Achievement
Award, where he said this
famous quote: "I beg permission to mention by
Name only
four people who have given me the most affection, appreciation, and encouragement, and constant collaboration. The first of the four is a film editor, the second is a scriptwriter, the third is the mother of my daughter
Pat, and the fourth is as
fine a
cook as
ever performed
miracles in a domestic
kitchen. And their names are
Alma Reville." By this
time, he was quite ill, he had angina and his kidneys had already started to have problems functioning properly.
He retired soon after making Family Plot (1976), he started to write a screenplay with
Ernest Lehman called "The
Short Night" then later
David Freeman who completed
the script. Though
due to
Hitchcock's failing health the film was never
made.
Freeman published the script after Hitchcock's
Death.
In late 1979,
Hitchcock was knighted, making him Sir
Alfred Hitchcock. On the 29th
April 1980, 9:17AM, he died peacefully in his sleep
due to renal failure. His funeral was held in the
Church of Good Shepheard in
Beverly Hills. Father
Thomas Sullivan held the service, 600
people attended the service, among them where
Mel Brooks (Director of High Anxeity (1977), a comedy tribute to Hitchcock and his films),
Louis Jourdan,
Karl Malden,
Tippi Hedren,
Janet Leigh and
Francois Truffaut.
Spouse
Has a cameo in most of his films.
Likes to insert shots of a woman's hairstyle, frequently close-ups. [hair]
Bathrooms are often a plot device; often a hiding place or a place where lovemaking is prepared for. Hitchcock also frequently used the letters "BM," which stand for "Bowel Movement". [bathroom]
Often used the "wrong man" or "mistaken identity" theme in his movies.
He preferred blondes: The most famous actresses in his filmography were Anny Ondra, Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh and Tippi Hedren.
There is a recurrent motif of loss or assumed identity. While mistaken identity applies to a film like North by Northwest (1959), assumed identity applies to films such as Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), Marnie (1964), and The 39 Steps (1935) among others.
Always formally dressed
Usually hired blonde haired women to play the leading women
In order to create suspense in his films, he would use different shots and angles with the camera. For example in Psycho, the shower scene has lots of different angles.
Driving sequences shot in particular way, which typically alternates twixt the character's POV while driving and a close-up shot of those inside car from opposite direction, so as to keep the viewer 'inside' the car and make any danger encountered more richly felt.
The silhouette he drew for himself to put on a Christmas card when he was still living in England. He used this silhouette in both his television shows "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour"
In a lot of his films, (more noticeably in the early black and white American films) he used to create more shadows on the walls to create suspense and tension, such as the "Glowing Milk" scene in Suspicion (1941).
Trivia
According to many people who knew Hitchcock, he couldn't stand to even look at his wife, Alma Reville, while she was pregnant.
Once dressed up in drag for a party he threw. Footage of this was in his office, but his office was cleaned out after his Death, and it is not known if the footage still exists.
According to Hitchcock himself, he was required to stand at the foot of his mother's bed, and tell her what happened to him each day.
Born only one day before his wife, Alma Reville
Was a close friend of Albert R. Broccoli, well known as the producer of the James Bond - 007 franchise. Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) was the influence for the helicopter scene in From Russia with Love (1963)
He appears on a 32-cent U.S. postage stamp, in the "Legends of Hollywood" series, that was released 8/3/98 in Los Angeles, California.
As a child Hitchcock was sent to the local police station with a letter from his father. The desk sergeant read the letter and immediately locked the boy up for ten minutes. After that, the sergeant let young Alfred go, explaining, "This is what happens to people who do bad things." Hitchcock had a morbid fear of police from that day on. He possessed one additional phobia: eggs.
On April 29, 1974, the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York sponsored a gala homage to Alfred Hitchcock and his contributions to the cinema. Three hours of film excerpts were shown that night. François Truffaut who had published a book of interviews with Hitchcock a few years earlier, was there that night to present "two brilliant sequences: the clash of the symbols in the second version of The man Who Knew Too Much (1956) , and the plane attack on Cary Grant in North by Northwest (1959)." After the gala, Truffaut reflected again on what made Hitchcock unique and concluded: "It was impossible not to see that the Love scenes were filmed like murder scenes, and the murder scenes like love scenes...It occurred to me that in Hitchcock's cinema...to make love and to die are one and the same."
He never won a best director Oscar in competition, although he was awarded the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at the 1967 Oscars.
Alma Reville and Hitch had one daughter, Patricia Hitchcock, who appeared in several of his movies: Stage Fright (1950), Strangers on a Train (1951) and Psycho (1960)
In the New Year's Honour's list of 1980 (only a few months before his Death), he was named an Honorary (as he was a U.S. citizen) Knight Commander of the British Empire.
From 1977 until his Death, he worked with a succession of writers on a film to be known as "The Short Night". The majority of the writing was done by David Freeman, who published the final screenplay after Hitchcock's Death.
He eventually began making his appearances in the beginning of his films, because he knew viewers were watching for him and he didn't want to divert their attention away from the story's plot.
His bridling under the heavy hand of producer David O. Selznick was exemplified by the final scene of Rebecca (1940). Selznick wanted his director to show smoke coming out of the burning house's chimney forming the letter 'R." Hitch thought the touch lacked any subtlety; instead, he showed flames licking at a pillow embroidered with the letter 'R.'
First visited Hollywood in 1940, but was turned down by virtually all major motion picture studios because they thought he could not make a "Hollywood" picture. He was finally offered a seven-year directing contract by producer David O. Selznick. His first project was supposed to be a film about the Titanic, but Selznick scrapped the project because he "couldn't find a boat to sink." Selznick assigned Hitch to direct Rebecca (1940) instead.
The famous Hitchcock profile sketch, most often associated with "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955), was actually from a Christmas card Hitchcock designed himself while still living in England.
When finishing a cup of tea while on the set, he would often non-discriminatingly toss the cup and saucer over his shoulder, letting it fall (or break) wherever it may.
He was director William Girdler's idol. Girdler made Day of the Animals (1977) borrowing elements from Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).
Asked writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac to write a novel for him after Henri-Georges Clouzot had been faster in buying the rights for "Celle qui n'
![Alfred Hitchcock \"Ghost Stories for Young People\](http://www.weblo.com/asset_images/full/Alfred_Hitchcock_Ghost_4904799c6ea5f.jpg "Alfred Hitchcock \\"Ghost Stories for Young People\")
