Alfred Hitchcock

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Alfred Hitchcock Trivia

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    • Alfred Hitchcock appeared on the cover of Life Magazine February 1, 1963.
    • After graduating from the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation, Alfred Hitchcock became a draftsman and advertising designer with a cable company.
    • Between 1956 and 1964, Alfred Hitchcock appeared on the cover of TV Guide five times.
    • Alfred Hitchcock has been parodied by Family Guy on several occasions. One of the plots of 'North By North Quahog' is inspired by North By Northwest and pastiches the end of the movie on Mount Rushmore and the crop-duster sequence. In 'The Perfect Castaway', the Hitchcock shadow can be briefly seen, accompanied by 'Funeral March For A Marionette'.
    • Alfred Hitchcock worked with certain actors on several occasions; he directed Cary Grant and James Stewart four times each, Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman three times each and Leo G. Carroll six times.
    • Of the 270 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Hitchcock directed 17 of them.
    • When Alfred Hitchcock accepted the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, he delivered the shortest acceptance speech in Oscar history: he simply said "Thank you."
    • Alfred Hitchcock has been pastiched several times in The Simpsons. For instance, the 1992 Halloween episode 'Treehouse Of Horror III' uses the opening sequence of Alfred Hitchcock Presents but substitutes Homer for Hitchcock. In the 1992 episode 'A Streetcar Named Marge' there is a recreation of Hitchcock's cameo from The Birds.
    • The five films for which Alfred Hitchcock was nominated for a Best Director Oscar are Rebecca (1940), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Rear Window (1954) and Psycho (1960).
    • It is rumoured that Raymond Burr was cast as the murderer Lars Thorwald in Rear Window because he resembled Alfred Hitchcock's former producer, David O. Selznick, with whom Hitchcock had a somewhat strained working relationship.
    • As a child, after he had misbehaved, Alfred 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 we do to bad little boys.'
    • Alfred Hitchcock had a serious fear of the police, which reportedly was the reason he never learned to drive. His reasoning was that if one never drove, then one would never have an opportunity to be pulled over by the police and issued a ticket.
    • Alfred Hitchcock had an extreme fear of eggs, known as ovophobia.
    • Alfred Hitchcock often described his childhood as being very lonely and sheltered, which was undoubtedly compounded by his weight issues.
    • Alfred Hitchcock loved the number seven. He often placed numbers that added up to seven in his movies.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was a pioneer in using camera movement, camera set ups, and montage to explore the outer reaches of cinematic art.
    • Alfred Hitchcock has been called The Tusitala of Movies. Tusitala means storyteller.
    • Alfred Hitchcock inspired the adjective "Hitchcockian" for suspense thrillers.
    • Alfred Hitchcock's grandchildren are Mary Stone, Tere Carrubba, and Katie Fiala.
    • Alfred Hitchcock hated to shoot on location. He preferred to shoot at the studio where he could have full control of lighting and other factors. This is why even his later films contain special effects composite and rear screen shots.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was ranked #2 in Empire Magazine's "The Greatest Directors Ever!" in 2005.
    • As with W.C. Fields and Arthur Godfrey before him, Alfred Hitchcock was legendary for gently tweaking his sponsors during the run of his TV show. One typical example runs, "We now interrupt our story for an important announcement. I needn't tell you to whom it will be most important of all."
    • Alfred Hitchcock praised Luis Buñuel as the best director ever.
    • Alfred Hitchcock directed eight different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, Albert Bassermann, Michael Chekhov, Claude Rains, Ethel Barrymore and Janet Leigh.
    • Alfred Hitchcock almost never socialized when not shooting films. Most of his evenings were spent quietly at home with his wife Alma Reville.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was infamous with cast and crews for his "practical jokes." While some inspired laughs, such as suddenly showing up in a dress, most were said to have been more cruel than funny. Usually he found out about somebody's phobias, such as mice or spiders, and in turn sent them a box full of them.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was voted the Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly. The same magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Films of all time includes more films directed by Hitchcock than by any other director, with four. On the list were his masterworks Psycho (#11), Vertigo (#19), North by Northwest (#44) and Notorious (#66).
    • When Alfred Hitchcock won his Lifetime Achievement Award in 1979, he joked with friends that he must be about to die soon. He died a year later.
    • One of the most successful Hitchcock tie-ins is a pulp publication titled Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. The publication is highly respected and has become one of the longest running mystery anthologies. It continues to be published over a quarter century after Hitchock's death.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was listed as the editor of a series of anthologies containing mysteries and thillers. However, he had little to do with them. Even the introductions, credited to him, were, like the introductions on his television series, written by others.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was director William Girdler's idol. Girdler made Day of the Animals borrowing elements from Hitchcock's The Birds.
    • When finishing a cup of tea while on the set, Alfred Hitchcock would often non-discriminatingly toss the cup and saucer over his shoulder, letting it fall (or break) wherever it may.
    • Alfred Hitchcock's bridling under the heavy hand of producer David O. Selznick was exemplified by the final scene of Rebecca. Selznick wanted his director to show smoke coming out of the burning house's chimney forming the letter "R." Hitchcock thought the touch lacked any subtlety. Instead, he showed flames licking at a pillow embroidered with the letter 'R.'
    • Alfred Hitchcock made his cameos at 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.
    • From 1977 until his death, Alfred Hitchcock 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.
    • In the New Year's Honour's list of 1980 (only a few months before his death), Alfred Hitchcock was named an Honorary (as he was a U.S. citizen) Knight Commander of the British Empire.
    • Alfred Hitchcock made a cameo appearance in all of his movies beginning with The Lodger except for Lifeboat, in which he appeared in a newspaper advertisement.
    • Alfred Hitchcock had one daughter with Alma Reville, Patricia Hitchcock, who appeared in several of his movies: Stage Fright, Strangers on a Train and Psycho.
    • Alfree Hitchcock was a close friend of Albert R. Broccoli, well known as the producer of the James Bond - 007 franchise. Hitchcock's North by Northwest was the influence for the helicopter scene in From Russia with Love.
    • Alfred Hitchcock dressed up in drag for a party he hosted. Footage of this was in his office, but after his death his office was cleaned out and it is not known if the footage still exists.
    • Alfred Hitchcock has been spoofed by the famous sketch show Saturday Night Live.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was one of the first 100 persons to have his name set into the pavement in London's Avenue of the Stars in Convent Garden.
    • Being a true British gentleman, Alfred Hitchcock usually wore a suit on his film sets.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was born one day before his wife.
    • Alfred Hitchcock appeared on a 32 cent U.S. postage stamp, in The Legends of Hollywood series that debuted 8/3/98 in Los Angeles, California.
    • It was reported that Alfred Hitchcock couldn't stand to look at his wife, Alma Reville, while she was pregnant.
    • Alfred Hitchcock usually preferred blondes as the lead actress in his films. 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.
    • Alfred Hitchcock often used the "wrong man" or "mistaken identity" theme in his films.
    • In 1967 Alfred Hitchcock was awarded 'The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.' This made him the 20th recipient of this prestigious award.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was at his heaviest in the late 1930s, when he weighed over 300 pounds. Although always overweight, he dieted and lost a considerable amount of weight in the early 50s, with pictures from sets like To Catch a Thief showing a surprisingly thin Hitchcock. His weight continued to fluctuate throughout his life.
    • Alfred Hitchcock declared Der Müde Tod as his declared favourite movie.
    • Alfred Hitchcock was married to writer and film editor Alma Reville from 2 December 1926 until his death on 29 April 1980.
    • According to Alfred Hitchcock himself, he was required to stand at the foot of his mother's bed, and tell her what happened to him each day. This explains Anthony Perkins in Psycho standing at the foot of his mother's bed.

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