Alfred Hitchcock

80 years 1980

Biography

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in cinema history. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films, many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", Hitchcock became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, cameo appearances in most of his films, and hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins. However, despite five nominations, he never won the Best Director award.

Hitchcock initially trained as a technical clerk and copywriter before entering the film industry in 1919 as a title card designer. The British–German silent film The Pleasure Garden (1925) was his directorial debut. His first successful film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), helped to shape the thriller genre, and Blackmail (1929) was the first British "talkie". His thrillers The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) are ranked among the greatest British films of the 20th century. By 1939, he had international recognition and producer David O. Selznick persuaded him to move to Hollywood. A string of successful films followed, including Rebecca(1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Notorious (1946). Rebecca won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Hitchcock nominated as Best Director. He also received Oscar nominations for Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Rear Window (1954) and Psycho (1960).

Hitchcock's other notable films include Rope (1948), Strangers on a Train (1951), Dial M for Murder (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), The Birds (1963), Marnie (1964) and Frenzy (1972), all of which were also financially successful and are highly regarded by film historians. Hitchcock made several films with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, including four with Cary Grant, four with James Stewart, three with Ingrid Bergman and three consecutively with Grace Kelly. Hitchcock became an American citizen in 1955.

In 2012, Hitchcock's psychological thriller Vertigo, starring Stewart, displaced Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) as the British Film Institute's greatest film ever made based on its worldwide poll of hundreds of film critics. As of 2021, nine of his films had been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, including his favourite, Shadow of a Doubt (1943). He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 1971, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1979, and was knighted in December of that year, four months before his death on 29 April 1980.

Acting (103 movies)

7.9

Rebecca

1940

8.4

Psycho

1960

8.3

Rear Window

1954

6.4

The Movie Orgy

1968

Monsieur Truffaut Meets Mr. Hitchcock

1999

Ingrid Bergman Remembered

1996

7.7

Strangers on a Train

1951

6.0

Murder!

1930

7.0

Kim Novak: Hollywood's Golden Age Rebel

2023

Tales of the Uncanny

2020

Normandie ne partira pas ce soir

2021

8.0

Dial M for Murder

1954

Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock

2008

Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock

2008

7.1

Marnie

1964

Once Upon a Time... 'Notorious'

2009

Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels

1996

7.4

The Making of 'Psycho'

2005

My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock

2023

The Men Who Made the Movies: Alfred Hitchcock

1973

Hitchcock's Pro-Nazi Film?

2023

6.8

Stage Fright

1950

6.7

Sabotage

1937

The Illustrated Hitchcock

1972

The Children of Alda Nuova

1962

7.5

The Birds

1963

6.5

Blackmail

1929

Hollywood: The Selznick Years

1961

Topaz: An Appreciation by Film Critic/Historian Leonard Maltin

2001

Hitchcock and Dial M

2004

7.3

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema

2006

Masters Of Cinema - Alfred Hitchcock

1972

Alfred Hitchcock And To Catch A Thief: An Appreciation

2002

Writing And Casting To Catch A Thief

2002

Alfred Hitchcock: The Early Years

2004

6.2

Sound Test for Blackmail

1929

7.3

To Catch a Thief

1955

The Trouble with 'Marnie'

2000

Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man

1988

Gregory Peck: His Own Man

1988

Memory of the Camps

1985

6.1

Under Capricorn

1949

Mais qui a tué Alfred Hitchcock?

2018

Hitch x 4

2018

8.0

North by Northwest

1959

7.5

Shadow of a Doubt

1943

7.3

The 39 Steps

1935

A Talk with Hitchcock

1964

7.7

Notorious

1946

7.5

The Man Who Knew Too Much

1956

7.1

I Confess

1953

7.0

Foreign Correspondent

1940

Mondo Hollywood

1967

7.1

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

1927

Grace Kelly – Hollywoods tragische Prinzessin

2022

5.3

Easy Virtue

1928

6.8

Family Plot

1976

7.0

The Trouble with Harry

1955

Hitchcock at the N.F.T.

1969

Destination Hitchcock: The Making of 'North by Northwest'

2000

7.2

All About 'The Birds'

2000

Plotting 'Family Plot'

2001

The Story of 'Frenzy'

2001

The Making of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'

2000

'Rear Window' Ethics: Remembering and Restoring a Hitchcock Classic

2001

'The Trouble with Harry' Isn't Over

2001

In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy

2008

7.1

The Wrong Man

1956

5.9

The Ring

1927

7.4

The Lady Vanishes

1938

7.3

German Concentration Camps Factual Survey

2017

Show-Business at War

1943

The Universal Story

1996

6.8

Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story

2017

6.5

The Man Who Knew Too Much

1934

6.6

Young and Innocent

1937

Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock

1966

7.1

Suspicion

1941

Dark Glamour: The Blood and Guts of Hammer Productions

2017

7.4

Spellbound

1945

A Profile of Hitchcock: The Early Years

2001

Hitchcock Confidential

2019

7.1

Frenzy

1972

6.4

What Is Cinema?

2013

6.0

Topaz

1969

6.6

Torn Curtain

1966

6.9

Saboteur

1942

7.9

Rope

1948

6.2

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

1941

8.2

Vertigo

1958

Her Name Was Grace Kelly

2021

Grace Kelly: Destiny of a Princess

2006

7.2

I Am Alfred Hitchcock

2021

6.1

Terror in the Aisles

1984

When Hitchcock met O'Casey

2019

Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail

2024

Hitchcock in the News

2008

The Man Who Found the Money

1960

Santa Claus and the Tenth Avenue Kid

1955

Shepperton Babylon

2005

Title	Year	Job
Woman to Woman	1923	Writer
The White Shadow	1924	Screenplay
The Passionate Adventure	1924	Writer
The Blackguard	1925	Writer
The Prude's Fall	1925	Writer
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog	1927	Screenplay
The Ring	1927	Writer
The Farmer's Wife	1928	Writer
Champagne	1928	Writer
Blackmail	1929	Screenplay
Juno and the Paycock	1930	Writer
Number Seventeen	1932	Screenplay
Lord Camber's Ladies	1932	Producer
Lifeboat	1944	Producer
Notorious	1946	Producer
Rope	1948	Producer
Under Capricorn	1949	Producer
Stage Fright	1950	Producer
Strangers on a Train	1951	Producer
I Confess	1953	Producer
Dial M for Murder	1954	Producer
Rear Window	1954	Producer
To Catch a Thief	1955	Producer
The Trouble with Harry	1955	Producer
The Man Who Knew Too Much	1956	Producer
The Wrong Man	1956	Producer
Vertigo	1958	Producer
North by Northwest	1959	Producer
Psycho	1960	Producer
The Birds	1963	Producer
Marnie	1964	Producer
Torn Curtain	1966	Producer
Frenzy	1972	Producer
Family Plot	1976	Producer

Alfred Hitchcock

Biography

Acting (103 movies)

Directing (62 movies)