Editing Alfred Hitchcock (section)

==Biography==
===Early life: 1899–1919===
====Early childhood and education====
<!--look for images of St Ignatius and Henley's-->
[[File:William Hitchcock with boy and pony, c. 1900.jpg|thumb|upright|William Hitchcock, probably with his first son, William, outside the family shop in London, {{circa}} 1900; the sign above the store says "W.&nbsp;Hitchcock's". The Hitchcocks used the pony to deliver groceries.]]

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in the flat above his parents' leased [[greengrocer]]'s shop at 517 High Road in [[Leytonstone]], which was then part of [[Essex]] (now part of the [[London Borough of Waltham Forest]]). He was the son of greengrocer and poulterer, William Edgar Hitchcock (1862–1914) and Emma Jane (née Whelan; 1863–1942). The household was "characterised by an atmosphere of discipline".<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31239|title=Hitchcock, Sir Alfred Joseph (1899–1980), film director|accessdate=2 July 2024|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3123 }}</ref> He had an older brother named William John (1888–1943) and an older sister named Ellen Kathleen (1892–1979) who used the nickname "Nellie". His parents were both [[Roman Catholic]]s with English and Irish ancestry.{{sfn|Adair|2002|pp=11–12}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/st-patricks-day-2005-the-master-of-suspense-2/ |title=St. Patrick's Day 2005: The Master of Suspense |work=Irish Echo |date=17 February 2011 |access-date=14 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215023358/https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/st-patricks-day-2005-the-master-of-suspense-2/|archive-date=15 February 2018}}</ref> His father was a greengrocer, as his grandfather had been.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1996|pp=21–22}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|1999|pp=14–15}}</ref> There was a large extended family, including uncle John Hitchcock with his five-bedroom Victorian house on Campion Road in [[Putney]], complete with a maid, cook, chauffeur, and gardener. Every summer, his uncle rented a seaside house for the family in [[Cliftonville]], Kent. Hitchcock said that he first became class-conscious there, noticing the differences between tourists and locals.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=6}}</ref>

[[File:Site of 517 High Road Leytonstone London E11 3EE (Birthplace of Alfred Hitchcock).jpg|thumb|left|Petrol station at the site of 517 High Road, [[Leytonstone]], where Hitchcock was born; commemorative mural at nos. 527–533 ''(right)''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Glanvill |first1=Natalie |title=Mateusz Odrobny speaks of pride after working on Hitchcock mural |url=http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/11240741.Hitchcock_mural_a__real_honour__says_painter/ |work=East London and West Essex Guardian |date=28 May 2014|access-date=5 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063930/http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/11240741.Hitchcock_mural_a__real_honour__says_painter/|archive-date=6 January 2018}}</ref>]]

Describing himself as a well-behaved boy{{snd}}his father called him his "little lamb without a spot"{{snd}}Hitchcock said he could not remember ever having had a playmate.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=25}} One of his favourite stories for interviewers was about his father sending him to the local police station with a note when he was five; the policeman looked at the note and locked him in a cell for a few minutes, saying, "This is what we do to naughty boys." The experience left him with a lifelong phobia of law enforcement, and he told [[Tom Snyder]] in 1973 that he was "scared stiff of anything&nbsp;... to do with the law" and that he would refuse to even drive a car in case he got a parking ticket.<ref>For the police story: {{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Taylor|1996|p=25}}; [[Dick Cavett|Cavett, Dick]] (8 June 1972). "Interview with Alfred Hitchcock", ''[[The Dick Cavett Show]]'', ABC, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYTx6N24tHk&t=6m52s 00:06:52] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225115833/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYTx6N24tHk&t=6m52s |date=25 December 2019 }}.{{pb}}
For the Snyder interview: [[Snyder, Tom]] (1973). "Alfred Hitchcock interview", ''[[Tomorrow Coast to Coast|Tomorrow]]'', NBC, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHhe2zTkeRQ&t=1m55s 00:01:55] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103162126/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHhe2zTkeRQ&t=1m55s |date=3 January 2020 }}.</ref> When he was six, the family moved to [[Limehouse]] and leased two stores at 130 and 175 Salmon Lane, which they ran as a [[fish-and-chip]] shop and fishmongers' respectively; they lived above the former.<ref name=McG2003p13>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=13}}</ref> Hitchcock attended his first school, the Howrah House Convent in [[Poplar, London|Poplar]], which he entered in 1907, at age 7.<ref>{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|pp=20, 23}}</ref> According to biographer [[Patrick McGilligan (biographer)|Patrick McGilligan]], he stayed at Howrah House for at most two years. He also attended a convent school, the Wode Street School "for the daughters of gentlemen and little boys" run by the [[Faithful Companions of Jesus]]. He then attended a primary school near his home and was for a short time a boarder at [[Salesian College, Battersea|Salesian College]] in [[Battersea]].<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1996|p=29}}; {{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=18}}</ref>

The family moved again when Hitchcock was eleven, this time to [[Stepney]], and on 5 October 1910 he was sent to [[St Ignatius' College|St Ignatius College]] in [[Stamford Hill]], a [[Jesuit]] grammar school with a reputation for discipline.<ref>{{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=23}}</ref> As corporal punishment, the priests used a flat, hard, springy tool made of [[gutta-percha]] and known as a "ferula" which struck the whole palm; punishment was always at the end of the day, so the boys had to sit through classes anticipating the punishment if they had been written up for it. He later said that this is where he developed his sense of fear.<ref>{{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Fallaci|1963}}</ref> The school register lists his year of birth as 1900 rather than 1899; biographer [[Donald Spoto]] says he was deliberately enrolled as a ten-year-old because he was a year behind with his schooling.{{sfn|Spoto|1999|pp=23–24}} While biographer Gene Adair reports that Hitchcock was "an average, or slightly above-average, pupil",{{sfn|Adair|2002|p=15}} Hitchcock said that he was "usually among the four or five at the top of the class";{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}} at the end of his first year, his work in Latin, English, French and [[religious education]] was noted.<ref>{{harvnb|Adair|2002|p=15}}; {{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|p=26}}</ref> He told [[Peter Bogdanovich]]: "The Jesuits taught me organisation, control and, to some degree, analysis."{{sfn|Adair|2002|p=15}}<!--replace source-->

Hitchcock's favourite subject was [[geography]] and he became interested in maps and the timetables of trains, trams and buses; according to [[John Russell Taylor]], he could recite all the stops on the ''[[Orient Express]]''.{{sfn|Taylor|1996|p=31}} He had a particular interest in [[Trams in London|London trams]]. An overwhelming majority of his films include rail or tram scenes, in particular ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'', ''[[Strangers on a Train (film)|Strangers on a Train]]'' and ''[[Number Seventeen]]''. A [[clapperboard]] shows the number of the scene and the number of takes, and Hitchcock would often take the two numbers on the clapperboard and whisper the London tram route names. For example, if the clapperboard showed "Scene 23; Take 3", he would whisper "[[Woodford, London|Woodford]], [[Hampstead]]"{{emdash}}Woodford being the terminus of the route 23 tram, and Hampstead the end of route 3.<ref>Patrick McGilligan, 2003. Buckley, R. J. 1984. ''Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light'' ({{ISBN|0-470-86973-9}}). Chichester, UK, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://writebetter.io/examples/film+rail/extended/ |title=How to use "film rail" in a sentence – WriteBetter |access-date=7 November 2021 |archive-date=7 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107064550/https://writebetter.io/examples/film+rail/extended/}}</ref>

====Henley's====
Hitchcock told his parents that he wanted to be an engineer,{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}} and on 25 July 1913,<ref name=Spoto1999p23>{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=23}}</ref> he left St Ignatius and enrolled in night classes at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar. In a [[Hitchcock/Truffaut|book-length interview]] in 1962, he told [[François Truffaut]] that he had studied "mechanics, electricity, acoustics, and navigation".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}} Then, on 12 December 1914, his father, who had been suffering from [[Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease|emphysema]] and kidney disease, died at the age of 52.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=25}}</ref> To support himself and his mother{{snd}}his older siblings had left home by then{{snd}}Hitchcock took a job, for 15 [[Shilling (British coin)|shillings]] a week (£{{formatnum:{{inflation|UK|0.75|1914}}}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}),{{inflation-fn|UK}} as a technical clerk at the [[William Thomas Henley|Henley Telegraph and Cable Company]] in Blomfield Street, near [[London Wall]].<ref>{{harvnb|Adair|2002|p=15}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=37}}</ref> He continued night classes, this time in art history, painting, economics and political science.<ref>{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=37}}</ref> His older brother ran the family shops, while he and his mother continued to live in Salmon Lane.{{sfn|Ackroyd|2015|p=11}}

Hitchcock was too young to enlist when the [[First World War]] started in July 1914, and when he reached the required age of 18 in 1917, he received a C3 classification ("free from serious organic disease, able to stand service conditions in garrisons at home&nbsp;... only suitable for sedentary work").<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1996|pp=27–28}};<!--check page--> [https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1918-06-20/debates/3ec12ba9-4d13-4c03-880a-226006f28d83/MilitaryService(MedicalGrading) "Military service (medical grading")] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224062439/https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1918-06-20/debates/3ec12ba9-4d13-4c03-880a-226006f28d83/MilitaryService(MedicalGrading) |date=24 February 2019 }}, ''Hansard'', vol. 107, 20 June 1918, 607–642.</ref> He joined a cadet regiment of the [[Royal Engineers]] and took part in theoretical briefings, weekend drills and exercises. John Russell Taylor wrote that, in one session of practical exercises in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]], Hitchcock was required to wear [[puttees]]. He could never master wrapping them around his legs, and they repeatedly fell down around his ankles.{{sfn|Taylor|1996|p=28}}

After the war, Hitchcock took an interest in creative writing. In June 1919, he became a founding editor and business manager of Henley's in-house publication, ''The Henley Telegraph'' (sixpence a copy), to which he submitted several short stories.{{sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=30}}{{efn|In his first story, "Gas" (June 1919), published in the first issue, a young woman is being assaulted by a mob of men in Paris, only to find she has been hallucinating in the dentist's chair.<ref>{{harvnb|Duncan|2003|p=20}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (June 1919). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1919)_-_Gas "Gas"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222220201/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1919)_-_Gas |date=22 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> This was followed by "The Woman's Part" (September 1919), which describes a husband watching his wife, an actor, perform on stage.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=19}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (September 1919). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1919)_-_The_Woman%27s_Part "The Women's Part"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042537/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1919)_-_The_Woman%27s_Part |date=23 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''; {{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=34}}</ref> "Sordid" (February 1920) concerns an attempt to buy a sword from an antiques dealer, with another twist ending.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=20}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (February 1920). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_Sordid "Sordid"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042506/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_Sordid |date=23 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> "And There Was No Rainbow" (September 1920) finds Bob caught ''[[in flagrante]]'' with a friend's wife.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=22}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (September 1920). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_And_There_Was_No_Rainbow "And There Was No Rainbow"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042508/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_And_There_Was_No_Rainbow |date=23 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> In "What's Who?" (December 1920), confusion reigns when a group of actors impersonate themselves.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=23}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (December 1920). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_What%27s_Who%3F "What's Who?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223145710/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_What%27s_Who%3F |date=23 December 2019 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> "The History of Pea Eating" (December 1920) is a satire on the difficulty of eating peas.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=24}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (December 1920). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_The_History_of_Pea_Eating "The History of Pea Eating"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003030654/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_The_History_of_Pea_Eating |date=3 October 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> His final piece, "Fedora" (March 1921) describes an unknown woman: "small, simple, unassuming, and noiseless, yet she commands profound attention on all sides".<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=26}}; {{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp=44–45}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (March 1921). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1921)_-_Fedora "Fedora"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042540/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1921)_-_Fedora |date=23 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref>}} Henley's promoted him to the advertising department, where he wrote copy and drew graphics for electric cable advertisements. He enjoyed the job and would stay late at the office to examine the proofs; he told Truffaut that this was his "first step toward cinema".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}}{{sfn|Taylor|1996|p=21}} He enjoyed watching films, especially American cinema, and from the age of 16 read the trade papers; he watched [[Charlie Chaplin]], [[D. W. Griffith]] and [[Buster Keaton]], and particularly liked [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[Der müde Tod]]'' (released in Britain in 1921 as ''Destiny'').{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}}

===Inter-war career: 1919–1939===
====Famous Players–Lasky====
[[File:Number 13.jpg|thumb|alt=An early 1920s image of Hitchcock while directing his film titled Number 13|Hitchcock (right) during the making of ''[[Number 13 (1922 film)|Number 13]]'' in London]]
While still at Henley's, he read in a trade paper that [[Famous Players–Lasky]], the production arm of [[Paramount Pictures]], was opening a studio in London.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=27}} They were planning to film ''[[The Sorrows of Satan]]'' by [[Marie Corelli]], so he produced some drawings for the [[title cards]] and sent his work to the studio.{{sfn|Taylor|1996|p=24}} They hired him, and in 1919 he began working for [[Islington Studios]] in Poole Street, [[Hoxton]], as a title-card designer.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=27}}

Donald Spoto wrote that most of the staff were Americans with strict job specifications, but the English workers were encouraged to try their hand at anything, which meant that Hitchcock gained experience as a co-writer, art director and production manager on at least 18 silent films.{{sfn|Spoto|2008|p=3}} ''The Times'' wrote in February 1922 about the studio's "special art title department under the supervision of Mr. A. J. Hitchcock".<ref name=MillerBFI>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Henry K. |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1422787/index.html |title=Always Tell Your Wife (1923) |publisher=British Film Institute Screenonline |access-date=25 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213454/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1422787/index.html|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref> His work included ''[[Number 13 (1922 film)|Number 13]]'' (1922), also known as ''Mrs. Peabody;'' it was cancelled because of financial problems - the few finished scenes are [[Lost film|lost]]{{sfn|Spoto|1992|p=3}}{{snd}}and ''[[Always Tell Your Wife]]'' (1923), which he and [[Seymour Hicks]] finished together when Hicks was about to give up on it.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=27}} Hicks wrote later about being helped by "a fat youth who was in charge of the property room&nbsp;... [n]one other than Alfred Hitchcock".{{sfn|Kerzoncuf|Barr|2015|p=45}}<!--check page-->

====Gainsborough Pictures and work in Germany====
[[File:Hitchcock sculpture, London, 2007.jpg|thumb|left|Hitchcock sculpture at the site of [[Gainsborough Pictures]], Poole Street, [[Hoxton]], north London<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rose |first1=Steve |title=Where the lady vanished |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/15/artsfeatures |work=The Guardian |date=15 January 2001|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231051755/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/15/artsfeatures|archive-date=31 December 2017}}</ref>]]
When Paramount pulled out of London in 1922, Hitchcock was hired as an assistant director by a new firm run in the same location by [[Michael Balcon]], later known as [[Gainsborough Pictures]].{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=27}}{{sfn|Spoto|2008|pp=3–4}} Hitchcock worked on ''[[Woman to Woman (1923 film)|Woman to Woman]]'' (1923) with the director [[Graham Cutts]], designing the set, writing the script and producing. He said: "It was the first film that I had really got my hands onto."{{sfn|Spoto|2008|pp=3–4}} The editor and "script girl" on ''Woman to Woman'' was [[Alma Reville]], his future wife. He also worked as an assistant to Cutts on ''[[The White Shadow (film)|The White Shadow]]'' (1924), ''[[The Passionate Adventure]]'' (1924), ''[[The Blackguard]]'' (1925) and ''[[The Prude's Fall]]'' (1925).{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=30}} ''The Blackguard'' was produced at the [[Babelsberg Studios]] in Potsdam, where Hitchcock watched part of the making of [[F. W. Murnau]]'s ''[[The Last Laugh (1924 film)|The Last Laugh]]'' (1924).<ref>{{harvnb|Gottlieb|2002|p=42}}; {{harvnb|Gottlieb|2003|pp=157–158}}; also see {{harvnb|Garncarz|2002}}</ref> He was impressed with Murnau's work, and later used many of his techniques for the set design in his own productions.{{sfn|Gottlieb|2002|pp=42–43}}

In the summer of 1925, Balcon asked Hitchcock to direct ''[[The Pleasure Garden (1925 film)|The Pleasure Garden]]'' (1925), starring [[Virginia Valli]], a co-production of Gainsborough and the German firm [[Emelka]] at the [[Bavaria Studios|Geiselgasteig studio]] near Munich. Reville, by then Hitchcock's fiancée, was assistant director-editor.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|pp=31, 36}}{{sfn|Spoto|1992|p=3}} Although the film was a commercial flop,{{sfn|McGilligan|2003|pp=68–71}} Balcon liked Hitchcock's work; a ''Daily Express'' headline called him the "Young man with a master mind".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=39}} In March 1926, the British film magazine ''[[Picturegoer]]'' ran an article entitled "Alfred the Great" by the film critic [[Cedric Belfrage]], who praised Hitchcock for possessing "such a complete grasp of all the different branches of film technique that he is able to take far more control of his production than the average director of four times his experience."{{sfn|Spoto|1999|p=84}} Production of ''The Pleasure Garden'' encountered obstacles which Hitchcock would later learn from: on arrival to [[Brenner Pass]], he failed to declare his [[film stock]] to customs and it was confiscated; one actress could not enter the water for a scene because she was on her [[Menstrual cycle|period]]; budget overruns meant that he had to borrow money from the actors.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=70}} Hitchcock also needed a translator to give instructions to the cast and crew.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=70}}

In Germany, Hitchcock observed the nuances of [[German cinema]] and filmmaking which had a big influence on him.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=63}} When he was not working, he would visit Berlin's art galleries, concerts and museums. He would also meet with actors, writers and producers to build connections.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=64}} Balcon asked him to direct a second film in Munich, ''[[The Mountain Eagle]]'' (1926), based on an original story titled ''Fear o' God''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brentonfilm.com/articles/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-mountain-eagle-1926 |title=Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: The Mountain Eagle (1926) |publisher=Brenton Film |access-date=30 August 2019 |date=23 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219011242/https://www.brentonfilm.com/articles/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-mountain-eagle-1926|archive-date=19 December 2019}}</ref> The film is lost, and Hitchcock called it "a very bad movie".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=39}}{{sfn|Spoto|1992|p=5}} A year later, Hitchcock wrote and directed ''[[The Ring (1927 film)|The Ring]]''; although the screenplay was credited solely to his name, [[Eliot Stannard|Elliot Stannard]] assisted him with the writing.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=98}} ''The Ring'' garnered positive reviews; the ''Bioscope'' critic called it "the most magnificent British film ever made".{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=76}}

When he returned to England, Hitchcock was one of the early members of the London Film Society, newly formed in 1925.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=75}} Through the Society, he became fascinated by the work by Soviet filmmakers: [[Dziga Vertov]], [[Lev Kuleshov]], [[Sergei Eisenstein]] and [[Vsevolod Pudovkin]]. He would also socialise with fellow English filmmakers [[Ivor Montagu]], [[Adrian Brunel]] and [[Walter Mycroft]].{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=76}} Hitchcock recognised the value in cultivating his own brand, with the director aggressively promoting himself during this period.<ref>{{harvnb|Kapsis|1992|p=20}}</ref> In a 1925 London Film Society meeting he declared directors were what mattered most in making films, with [[Donald Spoto]] writing that Hitchcock proclaimed, "''We'' make a film succeed. The name of the director should be associated in the public's mind with a quality product. Actors come and go, but the name of the director should stay clearly in the mind of the audience."{{sfn|Spoto|1999|p=73}} 

{{Quote box
 |quote = Visually, it was extraordinarily imaginative for the time, most notably in the scene in which Hitchcock installed a glass floor so that he could show the lodger pacing up and down in his room from below, as though overheard by his landlady.
 |source ={{snd}}[[BFI]] entry for Hitchcock's first thriller, ''[[The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog]]'' (1927)<ref>{{cite news |title=The Lodger A Story of the London Fog|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6af1296e |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222212308/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6af1296e |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 February 2016 |access-date=2 May 2023 |publisher=BFI}}</ref>
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Hitchcock established himself as a name director with his first thriller, ''[[The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog]]'' (1927).<ref name="Lodger BFI"/> The film concerns the hunt for a [[Jack the Ripper]]-style serial killer who, wearing a black cloak and carrying a black bag, is murdering young blonde women in London, and only on Tuesdays.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=45}} A landlady suspects that her lodger is the killer, but he turns out to be innocent.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=47}} Hitchcock had wanted the leading man to be guilty, or for the film at least to end ambiguously, but the star was [[Ivor Novello]], a [[matinée idol]], and the "[[star system (filmmaking)|star system]]" meant that Novello could not be the villain. Hitchcock told Truffaut: "You have to clearly spell it out in big letters: 'He is innocent.'" (He had the same problem years later with [[Cary Grant]] in ''[[#Suspicion|Suspicion]]'' (1941).){{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=43}} Released in January 1927, ''The Lodger'' was a commercial and critical success in the UK.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=85}}<ref>{{harvnb|Kapsis|1992|p=19}}</ref> Upon its release, the trade journal ''Bioscope'' wrote: "It is possible that this film is the finest British production ever made".<ref name="Lodger BFI">{{cite news |title=Lodger, The: A Story of the London Fog (1926) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/438120/index.html |access-date=13 July 2022 |work=BFI}}</ref> Hitchcock told Truffaut that the film was the first of his to be influenced by [[German expressionist cinema|German Expressionism]]: "In truth, you might almost say that ''The Lodger'' was my first picture."{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=44}}<!--<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=83}}</ref> in 2004 edition; is the date correct? --> In a strategy for self-publicity, ''The Lodger'' saw him make his first [[List of cameo appearances by Alfred Hitchcock|cameo appearance]] in a film, where he sat in a newsroom.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brentonfilm.com/articles/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-lodger-a-story-of-the-london-fog-1926 |title=Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1926) |publisher=Brenton Film |access-date=30 August 2019 |date=23 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222033129/https://www.brentonfilm.com/articles/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-lodger-a-story-of-the-london-fog-1926|archive-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=49}} 

Continuing to market his brand following the success of ''The Lodger'', Hitchcock wrote a letter to the ''[[The Evening News (London newspaper)|London Evening News]]'' in November 1927 about his filmmaking, participated in studio-produced publicity, and by December 1927 he developed the original sketch of his widely recognised profile which he introduced by sending it to friends and colleagues as a Christmas present.<ref>{{harvnb|Kapsis|1992|p=20}}</ref>

====Marriage====
[[File:Hitch Gets Hitched.jpg|thumb|Hitchcock and Reville on their wedding day, [[Brompton Oratory]], 2 December 1926]]
On 2 December 1926, Hitchcock married the English screenwriter [[Alma Reville]] at the [[Brompton Oratory]] in [[South Kensington]].{{sfn|Spoto|1999|p=5}} The couple honeymooned in Paris, [[Lake Como]] and St. Moritz, before returning to London to live in a leased flat on the top two floors of 153 [[Cromwell Road]], Kensington.{{sfn|McGilligan|2003|pp=89–90}} Reville, who was born just hours after Hitchcock,{{sfn|Hitchcock O'Connell|Bouzereau|2003|p=15}} converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, apparently at the insistence of Hitchcock's mother; she was baptised on 31 May 1927 and confirmed at [[Westminster Cathedral]] by Cardinal [[Francis Bourne]] on 5 June.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock O'Connell|Bouzereau|2003|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|1999|pp=92–93}}</ref>

In 1928, when they learned that Reville was pregnant, the Hitchcocks purchased "Winter's Grace", a [[Tudor architecture|Tudor]] farmhouse set in eleven acres on Stroud Lane, [[Shamley Green]], Surrey, for £2,500.<ref>{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=115}}; {{harvnb|Hitchcock O'Connell|Bouzereau|2003|p=55}}; {{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Ross |title=Alfred Hitchcock: A long way from the Bates Motel |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/period-property/3360983/Alfred-Hitchcock-A-long-way-from-the-Bates-Motel.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=13 April 2008|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227193225/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/period-property/3360983/Alfred-Hitchcock-A-long-way-from-the-Bates-Motel.html|archive-date=27 December 2017}}</ref> Their daughter and only child, [[Pat Hitchcock|Patricia (Pat) Alma Hitchcock]], was born on 7 July that year.{{sfn|Hitchcock O'Connell|Bouzereau|2003|pp=59–60}} Pat died on 9 August 2021 at the age of 93.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=Pat Hitchcock, 'Strangers on a Train' Actress and Daughter of Alfred Hitchcock, Dies at 93 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/pat-hitchcock-dead-alfred-daughter-1234995917/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=10 August 2021 |access-date=11 August 2021}}</ref>

Reville became her husband's closest collaborator; [[Charles Champlin]] wrote in 1982: "The Hitchcock touch had four hands, and two were Alma's."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Champlin |first1=Charles|author-link=Charles Champlin |title=Alma Reville Hitchcock, The Unsung Partner |work=Los Angeles Times |date=29 July 1982}}</ref> When Hitchcock accepted the [[AFI Life Achievement Award]] in 1979, he said that he wanted to mention "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."<ref>{{cite web|title=Alfred Hitchcock Accepts the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1979|website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb5VdGCQFOM&t=3m14s|access-date=11 February 2023 |date=16 April 2009}}</ref> Reville wrote or co-wrote on many of Hitchcock's films, including ''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'', ''[[Suspicion (1941 film)|Suspicion]]'' and ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Reville [married name Hitchcock], Alma Lucy |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-109643?d=%2F10.1093%2Fodnb%2F9780198614128.001.0001%2Fodnb-9780198614128-e-109643&p |access-date=29 April 2024 |publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography}}</ref>

====Early sound films====
[[File:BlackmailUSWindowCardOndra.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=An advertisement for the film ''Blackmail'' Surrounding text describes the film as "A Romance of Scotland Yard" and "The Powerful Talking Picture"|Advertisement for ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'' (1929)]]

<!--mention Hitchcock Baker Productions and cruise in 1931-->Hitchcock began work on his tenth film, ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'' (1929), when its production company, [[British International Pictures]] (BIP), converted its [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree studios]] to [[Sound film|sound]]. The film was the first British "[[Sound film#Transition: Europe|talkie]]"; this followed the rapid development of sound films in the United States, from the use of brief sound segments in ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'' (1927) to the first full sound feature ''[[Lights of New York (1928 film)|Lights of New York]]'' (1928).<ref name=Blackmail>{{cite web |title=Blackmail (1929) |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a55273b |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=1 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231082847/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a55273b|archive-date=31 December 2017}}; also see {{harvnb|White|Buscombe|2003|p=94}}; {{harvnb|Allen|Ishii-Gonzalès|2004|p=xv}}</ref> ''Blackmail'' began the Hitchcock tradition of using famous landmarks as a backdrop for suspense sequences, which includes an early example of a [[red telephone box]] being used for criminal activity, while the climax takes place on the dome of the [[British Museum]].<ref name="Time Out"/> It also features one of his longest cameo appearances, which shows him being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book on the [[London Underground]].{{sfn|Walker|2005|p=88}} In the [[PBS]] series ''The Men Who Made The Movies'', Hitchcock explained how he used early sound recording as a special element of the film to create tension, with a gossipy woman ([[Phyllis Monkman]]) stressing the word "knife" in her conversation with the woman suspected of murder.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp=120–123}}; {{cite web |title=Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick Collaborations |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/hitchcock_a.html |publisher=Public Broadcasting System |date=10 January 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319043811/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/hitchcock_a.html |archive-date=19 March 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> During this period, Hitchcock directed segments for a BIP [[revue]], ''[[Elstree Calling]]'' (1930), and directed a short film, ''[[An Elastic Affair]]'' (1930), featuring two ''Film Weekly'' scholarship winners.{{sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=137}} ''An Elastic Affair'' is one of the lost films.<ref name=Kerzoncuf2009>{{cite journal |last1=Kerzoncuf |first1=Alain |date=February 2009 |title=Alfred Hitchcock and The Fighting Generation |journal=[[Senses of Cinema]] |issue=49 |url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/feature-articles/hitchcock-fighting-generation/ |access-date=15 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405234711/http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/feature-articles/hitchcock-fighting-generation/ |archive-date=5 April 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:The 39 Steps Still.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Madeleine Carroll]] (the archetypal [[Blonde stereotype#Typology|"Hitchcock blonde"]]) and [[Robert Donat]] in ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'' (1935)]]

In 1933, Hitchcock signed a multi-film contract with [[Gaumont-British]], once again working for Michael Balcon.{{Sfn|Spoto|1999|p=37}}{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=153}} His first film for the company, ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)|The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'' (1934), was a success; his second, ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'' (1935), was acclaimed in the UK, and gained him recognition in the US. It also established the quintessential English "Hitchcock blonde" ([[Madeleine Carroll]]) as the template for his succession of ice-cold, elegant leading ladies.<ref name="Chapman">{{cite book |last1=Chapman |first1=James |title=Hitchcock and the Spy Film |date=2017 |page=54 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|quote=Carroll was the archetypal 'Hitchcock blonde' – the first in a lineage that would also include Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren}}</ref> Screenwriter [[Robert Towne]] remarked: "It's not much of an exaggeration to say that all contemporary escapist entertainment begins with ''The 39 Steps''".<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Scragow |first1=Michael |title=Rewatching Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/rewatching-hitchcocks-the-39-steps |magazine=The New Yorker |date=9 July 2012|access-date=25 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026110604/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/rewatching-hitchcocks-the-39-steps|archive-date=26 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[John Buchan]], author of ''[[The Thirty-Nine Steps]]'' on which the film is loosely based, met with Hitchcock on set, and attended the high-profile premiere at the [[New Gallery (London)|New Gallery Cinema]] in London. Upon viewing the film, the author said it had improved on the book.<ref name="Chapman"/> This film was one of the first to introduce the "[[MacGuffin]]" plot device, a term coined by the English screenwriter and Hitchcock collaborator [[Angus MacPhail]].<ref>{{cite book |last=McArthur |first=Colin |title=Whisky Galore! and the Maggie |year=2003 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |location=London |page=21}}</ref> The MacGuffin is an item or goal the protagonist is pursuing, one that otherwise has no narrative value; in ''The 39 Steps'', the MacGuffin is a stolen set of design plans.<ref>{{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|pp=137–139}}</ref>

Hitchcock released two spy thrillers in 1936. ''[[Sabotage (1936 film)|Sabotage]]'' was loosely based on [[Joseph Conrad]]'s novel, ''[[The Secret Agent]]'' (1907), about a woman who discovers that her husband is a terrorist, and ''[[Secret Agent (1936 film)|Secret Agent]]'', based on two stories in ''[[Ashenden: Or the British Agent]]'' (1928) by [[W. Somerset Maugham]].{{efn|In 2017, a ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' magazine poll ranked ''Sabotage'' as the 44th best British film ever.<ref name="Time Out">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/100-best-british-films#tab_panel_4 |title=The 100 best British films |magazine=Time Out |access-date=24 October 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190403073405/https://www.timeout.com/london/film/100-best-british-films%23tab_panel_4|archive-date=3 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}} In his positive review of ''Sabotage'' for ''[[The Spectator]]'', the writer and journalist [[Graham Greene]] identified the children's matinée scene as an "ingenious and pathetic twist [[Hitchcockian|stamped as Mr Hitchcock's own]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last= Greene|first= Graham|author-link= Graham Greene|date= 11 December 1936|title= Sabotage/The Tenth Man|journal= [[The Spectator]]}} (reprinted in: {{cite book|editor-last= Taylor|editor-first= John Russell|editor-link= John Russell Taylor|date= 1980|title= The Pleasure Dome|url= https://archive.org/details/pleasuredomegrah00gree/page/122|publisher= Oxford University Press|pages= [https://archive.org/details/pleasuredomegrah00gree/page/122 122-123]|isbn= 0192812866}})</ref> ''Secret Agent'' starred Madeleine Carroll and [[John Gielgud]], with [[Peter Lorre]] playing Gielgud's deranged assistant, and typical Hitchcockian themes include mistaken identity, trains and a "Hitchcock blonde".<ref>"'Secret Agent' – Exciting Spy Film by Alfred Hitchcock", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 11 May 1936, p. 13; "New Films in London", ''The Times'', 11 May 1936, p. 10; and "'Secret Agent' at the Gaumont", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 13 October 1936, p. 13</ref>

[[File:Hitchcocks-Joan-Harrison-1937.jpg|thumb|left|[[Alma Reville]], [[Joan Harrison (screenwriter)|Joan Harrison]], Hitchcock, and [[Pat Hitchcock]], 24 August 1937]]

At this time, Hitchcock also became notorious for pranks against the cast and crew. These jokes ranged from simple and innocent to crazy and maniacal. For instance, he hosted a dinner party where he dyed all the food blue because he claimed there weren't enough blue foods. He also had a horse delivered to the dressing room of his friend, actor [[Gerald du Maurier]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/29/alfred-hitchcock-a-sadistic-prankster/ |title=Alfred Hitchcock: a sadistic prankster |last=Chilton |first=Martin |date=29 April 2016 |work=The Telegraph |access-date=9 January 2019 |issn=0307-1235|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110014406/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/29/alfred-hitchcock-a-sadistic-prankster/|archive-date=10 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchcock followed up with ''[[Young and Innocent]]'' in 1937, a crime thriller based on the 1936 novel ''[[A Shilling for Candles]]'' by [[Josephine Tey]].{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=137}} Starring [[Nova Pilbeam]] and [[Derrick De Marney]], the film was relatively enjoyable for the cast and crew to make.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=137}} To meet distribution purposes in America, the film's runtime was cut and this included removal of one of Hitchcock's favourite scenes: a children's tea party which becomes menacing to the protagonists.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=138}}

[[File:The-Lady-Vanishes-1938.jpg|thumb|[[Margaret Lockwood]] (middle) and [[Michael Redgrave]] (right) in a publicity shot for ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'' (1938)]]

Hitchcock's next major success was ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'' (1938), "one of the greatest train movies from the genre's golden era", according to [[Philip French]], in which Miss Froy ([[May Whitty]]), a British spy posing as a governess, disappears on a train journey through the [[List of fictional countries on the Earth|fictional European country of Bandrika]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Philip |last=French |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/24/my-favourite-hitchcock-lady-vanishes |title=My favourite Hitchcock: The Lady Vanishes |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 July 2012|access-date=10 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209074800/https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/24/my-favourite-hitchcock-lady-vanishes|archive-date=9 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The film saw Hitchcock receive the [[1938 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|1938 New York Film Critics Circle Award]] for Best Director.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Lady Vanishes |work=Turner Classic Movies |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/80706/the-lady-vanishes |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711175302/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/80706/The-Lady-Vanishes/ |archive-date=11 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Benjamin Crisler of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote in June 1938: "Three unique and valuable institutions the British have that we in America have not: [[Magna Carta]], the [[Tower Bridge]] and Alfred Hitchcock, the greatest director of screen melodramas in the world."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crisler |first1=B. R. |title=Hitchcock: Master Melodramatist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/06/12/archives/hitchcock-master-melodramatist.html |work=The New York Times |date=12 June 1938|access-date=11 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612224617/https://www.nytimes.com/1938/06/12/archives/hitchcock-master-melodramatist.html|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The film was based on the novel ''[[The Wheel Spins]]'' (1936) written by [[Ethel Lina White]], and starred [[Michael Redgrave]] (in his film debut) and [[Margaret Lockwood]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holston |first1=Kim R.|title=The English-speaking Cinema An Illustrated History, 1927-1993 |date=1994 |publisher=McFarland |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=11 December 2021|title=Crime writer Ethel Lina White's Abergavenny blue plaque|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-59550580|access-date=11 December 2021}}</ref>

By 1938, Hitchcock was aware that he had reached his peak in Britain.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=140}} He had received numerous offers from producers in the United States, but he turned them all down because he disliked the contractual obligations or thought the projects were repellent.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=141}} However, producer [[David O. Selznick]] offered him a concrete proposal to make a film based on the sinking of {{RMS|Titanic}}, which was eventually shelved, but Selznick persuaded Hitchcock to come to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]. In June 1938, Hitchcock sailed to New York aboard the [[RMS Queen Mary|RMS ''Queen Mary'']],<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=1938-06-01 |title=Western Morning News from Plymouth, Devon, England |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/816153978/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref> and found that he was already a celebrity; he was featured in magazines and gave interviews to radio stations.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=142}} In Hollywood, Hitchcock met Selznick for the first time. Selznick offered him a four-film contract, approximately $40,000 for each picture ({{Inflation|US|40,000|1938|fmt=eq|r=-4}}).{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=142}} Before finalising any American deal, Hitchcock had one last film to make in England, as director of the [[Charles Laughton]]-produced picture ''[[Jamaica Inn (film)|Jamaica Inn]]'' (1939), which he had signed on to make in May 1938, right before his first trip to the US.<ref name=":1" />

===Early Hollywood years: 1939–1945===
====Selznick contract====
Selznick signed Hitchcock to a seven-year contract beginning in April 1939,{{Sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=121}} and the Hitchcocks moved to Hollywood.<ref>{{harvnb|Leff|1999|p=35}}.</ref> The Hitchcocks lived in a spacious flat on [[Wilshire Boulevard]], and slowly acclimatised themselves to the Los Angeles area. He and his wife Alma kept a low profile, and were not interested in attending parties or being celebrities.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=153}} Hitchcock discovered his taste for fine food in West Hollywood, but still carried on his way of life from England.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=154}} He was impressed with Hollywood's filmmaking culture, expansive budgets and efficiency,{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=154}} compared to the limits that he had often faced in Britain.<ref>{{harvnb|Leff|1999|p=30}}</ref> In June that year, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' called him the "greatest master of melodrama in screen history".<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |date=19 June 1939 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=b0kEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA66 66] |title=Alfred Hitchcock: England's Best Director starts work in Hollywood}}</ref>

Although Hitchcock and Selznick respected each other, their working arrangements were sometimes difficult. Selznick suffered from constant financial problems, and Hitchcock was often unhappy about Selznick's creative control and interference over his films. Selznick was also displeased with Hitchcock's method of shooting just what was in the script, and nothing more, which meant that the film could not be cut and remade differently at a later time.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=152}} As well as complaining about Hitchcock's "goddamn jigsaw cutting",<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp= 251–252}}</ref> their personalities were mismatched: Hitchcock was reserved whereas Selznick was flamboyant.<ref>{{cite book|last=Billheimer|first=John|chapter=Hitchcock and Selznick|date=1 May 2019|chapter-url=http://kentucky.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5810/kentucky/9780813177427.001.0001/upso-9780813177427-chapter-006|title=Hitchcock and the Censors|pages=59–63|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|doi=10.5810/kentucky/9780813177427.003.0006|isbn=978-0-8131-7742-7|s2cid=213530256|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129082758/https://kentucky.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5810/kentucky/9780813177427.001.0001/upso-9780813177427-chapter-006|url-status=live}}</ref> Eventually, Selznick generously lent Hitchcock to the larger film studios.{{Sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=145}} Selznick made only a few films each year, as did fellow independent producer [[Samuel Goldwyn]], so he did not always have projects for Hitchcock to direct. Goldwyn had also negotiated with Hitchcock on a possible contract, only to be outbid by Selznick. In a later interview, Hitchcock said: "[Selznick] was the Big Producer.&nbsp;... Producer was king. The most flattering thing Mr. Selznick ever said about me—and it shows you the amount of control—he said I was the 'only director' he'd 'trust with a film'."<ref>{{harvnb|Gottlieb|2003|p=206}}</ref>

[[File:Rebecca (1940) - Trailer.webm|thumb|Trailer for ''Rebecca'' (1940)]]

Hitchcock approached American cinema cautiously; his first American film was set in England in which the "Americanness" of the characters was incidental:{{Sfn|Wood|2002|p=240}} ''[[Rebecca (1940 film)|Rebecca]]'' (1940) was set in a Hollywood version of England's Cornwall and based on a [[Rebecca (novel)|novel]] by English novelist [[Daphne du Maurier]]. Selznick insisted on a faithful adaptation of the book, and disagreed with Hitchcock with the use of humour.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=150}}{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=155}} The film, starring [[Laurence Olivier]] and [[Joan Fontaine]], concerns an unnamed naïve young woman who marries a widowed aristocrat. She lives in his large [[English country house]], and struggles with the lingering reputation of his elegant and worldly first wife Rebecca, who died under mysterious circumstances. The film won [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]] at the [[13th Academy Awards]]; the statuette was given to producer Selznick. Hitchcock received his first nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]], his first of five such nominations.<ref name=Rebecca>{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1941 |title=The 13th Academy Awards, 1941 |access-date=30 December 2017 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303110034/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/13th-winners.html|archive-date=3 March 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Duncan|2003|p=84}}</ref>

Hitchcock's second American film was the thriller ''[[Foreign Correspondent (film)|Foreign Correspondent]]'' (1940), set in Europe, based on [[Vincent Sheean]]'s book ''Personal History'' (1935) and produced by [[Walter Wanger]]. It was nominated for Best Picture that year. Hitchcock felt uneasy living and working in Hollywood while Britain was at [[World War II|war]]; his concern resulted in a film that overtly supported the British war effort.<ref>{{harvnb|Duncan|2003|p=90}}</ref> Filmed in 1939, it was inspired by the rapidly changing events in Europe, as covered by an American newspaper reporter played by [[Joel McCrea]]. By mixing footage of European scenes with scenes filmed on a Hollywood [[backlot]], the film avoided direct references to [[Nazism]], [[Nazi Germany]] and Germans, to comply with the [[Motion Picture Production Code]] at the time.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=244}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=December 2017}}

====Early war years====
In September 1940, the Hitchcocks bought the {{convert|200|acre|km2|adj=on}} Cornwall Ranch near [[Scotts Valley]], California, in the [[Santa Cruz Mountains]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.scottsvalleychamber.com/history/history/hitchcock.htm |title=Alfred Hitchcock Found Contentment in SV |first=Marion |last=Pokriots |publisher=Scotts Valley Historical Society |access-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101100444/http://history.scottsvalleychamber.com/history/history/hitchcock.htm|archive-date=1 January 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> Their primary residence was an English-style home in [[Bel Air, Los Angeles|Bel Air]], purchased in 1942.<ref name="Variety obituary"/> Hitchcock's films were diverse during this period, ranging from the romantic comedy ''[[Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941 film)|Mr. & Mrs. Smith]]'' (1941) to the bleak [[film noir]] ''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'' (1943).

[[File:Cary Grant Joan Fontaine Suspicion.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Cary Grant]] and [[Joan Fontaine]] in a publicity shot for ''[[Suspicion (1941 film)|Suspicion]]'' (1941)]]
{{anchor|Suspicion}}''[[Suspicion (1941 film)|Suspicion]]'' (1941) marked Hitchcock's first film as a producer and director. It is set in England; Hitchcock used the north coast of [[Santa Cruz, California|Santa Cruz]] for the English coastline sequence. The film is the first of four in which [[Cary Grant]] was cast by Hitchcock, and it is one of the rare occasions that Grant plays a sinister character. Grant plays Johnnie Aysgarth, an English [[conman]] whose actions raise suspicion and anxiety in his shy young English wife, Lina McLaidlaw ([[Joan Fontaine]]).{{sfn|Whitty|2016|pp=434–435}} In one scene, Hitchcock placed a light inside a glass of milk, perhaps poisoned, that Grant is bringing to his wife; the light ensures that the audience's attention is on the glass. Grant's character is actually a killer, according to the book, ''[[Before the Fact]]'' by [[Francis Iles]], but the studio felt that Grant's image would be tarnished by that. Hitchcock would have preferred to end with the wife's murder.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|pp=142–143}}{{efn|Hitchcock told [[Bryan Forbes]] in 1967: "They had gone through the film in my absence and taken out every scene that indicated the possibility that Cary Grant was a murderer. So there was no film existing at all. That was ridiculous. Nevertheless, I had to compromise on the end. What I wanted to do was that the wife was aware that she was going to be murdered by her husband, so she wrote a letter to her mother saying that she was very much in love with him, she didn't want live anymore, she was going to be killed but society should be protected. She therefore brings up this fatal glass of milk, drinks it and before she does she says, "Will you mail this letter to mother?" Then she drinks the milk and dies. You then have just one final scene of a cheerful Cary Grant going to the mailbox and posting the letter.&nbsp;... But this was never permitted because of the basic error in casting."<ref name=HitchcockForbes/>}} Instead, the actions that she found suspicious are a reflection of his own despair and his plan to commit suicide. Fontaine won [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] for her performance.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Luther |first1=Claudia |title=Joan Fontaine, actress who won Oscar for 'Suspicion,' dies at 96 |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-et-mn-joan-fontaine-actress-who-won-oscar-for-suspicion-dies-at-96-20131215-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=15 December 2013|access-date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327063921/http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/15/entertainment/la-et-mn-joan-fontaine-actress-who-won-oscar-for-suspicion-dies-at-96-20131215|archive-date=27 March 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[Saboteur (film)|Saboteur]]'' (1942) is the first of two films that Hitchcock made for [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] during the decade. Hitchcock wanted [[Gary Cooper]] and [[Barbara Stanwyck]] or [[Henry Fonda]] and [[Gene Tierney]] to star, but was forced by Universal to use Universal contract player [[Robert Cummings]] and [[Priscilla Lane]], a freelancer who signed a one-picture deal with the studio, both known for their work in comedies and light dramas.<ref>{{harvnb|Humphries|1994|p=71}}</ref> The story depicts a confrontation between a suspected saboteur (Cummings) and a real saboteur ([[Norman Lloyd]]) atop the [[Statue of Liberty]]. Hitchcock took a three-day tour of New York City to scout for ''Saboteur''{{'}}s filming locations.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=445}} He also directed ''Have You Heard?'' (1942), a photographic dramatisation for ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine of the [[Loose lips sink ships|dangers of rumours during wartime]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title="Have You Heard?": The Story of Wartime Rumors |date=13 July 1942 |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3E0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA68 68]}}</ref> In 1943, he wrote a mystery story for ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'', "The Murder of [[Monty Woolley]]",{{sfn|Brunsdale|2010|p=442}} a sequence of captioned photographs inviting the reader to find clues to the murderer's identity; Hitchcock cast the performers as themselves, such as Woolley, Doris Merrick and make-up man Guy Pearce.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

[[File:Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - Trailer.webm|thumb|''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'' (1943) trailer with [[Joseph Cotten]] and [[Teresa Wright]]|alt=''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'' trailer depicting [[Joseph Cotten]] and [[Teresa Wright]]]]

Back in England, Hitchcock's mother Emma was severely ill; she died on 26 September 1942 at age 79. Hitchcock never spoke publicly about his mother, but his assistant said that he admired her.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=321}} Four months later, on 4 January 1943, his brother William died of an overdose at age 52.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=325}} Hitchcock was not very close to William,{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=193}} but his death made Hitchcock conscious about his own eating and drinking habits. He was overweight and suffering from back aches. His New Year's resolution in 1943 was to take his diet seriously with the help of a physician.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=326}} In January that year, ''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'' was released, which Hitchcock had fond memories of making.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=327}} In the film, Charlotte "Charlie" Newton ([[Teresa Wright]]) suspects her beloved uncle Charlie Oakley ([[Joseph Cotten]]) of being a serial killer. Hitchcock filmed extensively on location, this time in the Northern California city of [[Santa Rosa, California|Santa Rosa]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Leitch |first1=Thomas |title=Shadow of a Doubt |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-film-preservation-board/documents/shadow_of_doubt.pdf |access-date=31 December 2017 |publisher=Library of Congress|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215151517/http://www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-film-preservation-board/documents/shadow_of_doubt.pdf|archive-date=15 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

At [[20th Century Fox]], Hitchcock approached [[John Steinbeck]] with an idea for a film, which recorded the experiences of the survivors of a German [[U-boat]] attack. Steinbeck began work on the script for what would become ''[[Lifeboat (1944 film)|Lifeboat]]'' (1944). However, Steinbeck was unhappy with the film and asked that his name be removed from the credits, to no avail. The idea was rewritten as a short story by [[Harry Sylvester]] and published in ''[[Collier's]]'' in 1943. The action sequences were shot in a small boat in the studio water tank. The locale posed problems for Hitchcock's traditional cameo appearance; it was solved by having Hitchcock's image appear in a newspaper that [[William Bendix]] is reading in the boat, showing the director in a before-and-after advertisement for "Reduco-Obesity Slayer". He told Truffaut in 1962:

{{blockquote|At the time, I was on a strenuous diet, painfully working my way from three hundred to two hundred pounds. So I decided to immortalize my loss and get my bit part by posing for "before" and "after" pictures.&nbsp;... I was literally submerged by letters from fat people who wanted to know where and how they could get Reduco.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|pp=158–159}}}}

Hitchcock's typical dinner before his weight loss had been a roast chicken, boiled ham, potatoes, bread, vegetables, relishes, salad, dessert, a bottle of wine and some brandy. To lose weight, his diet consisted of black coffee for breakfast and lunch, and steak and salad for dinner,{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=326}} but it was hard to maintain; Donald Spoto wrote that his weight fluctuated considerably over the next 40 years. At the end of 1943, despite the weight loss, the Occidental Insurance Company of Los Angeles refused his application for life insurance.{{sfn|Spoto|1999|pp=266–267}}

====Wartime non-fiction films====
{{further|German Concentration Camps Factual Survey}}
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Hitchcock returned to the UK for an extended visit in late 1943 and early 1944. While there he made two short [[propaganda film]]s, ''[[Bon Voyage (1944 film)|Bon Voyage]]'' (1944) and ''[[Aventure Malgache]]'' (1944), for the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]]. In June and July 1945, Hitchcock served as "treatment advisor" on a [[Holocaust]] documentary that used [[Allies of World War II|Allied Forces]] footage of the liberation of [[Nazi concentration camps]]. The film was assembled in London and produced by [[Sidney Bernstein, Baron Bernstein|Sidney Bernstein]] of the Ministry of Information, who brought Hitchcock (a friend of his) on board. It was originally intended to be broadcast to the Germans, but the British government deemed it too traumatic to be shown to a shocked post-war population. Instead, it was transferred in 1952 from the [[British War Office]] film vaults to London's [[Imperial War Museum]] and remained unreleased until 1985, when an edited version was broadcast as an episode of [[PBS]] ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'', under the title the Imperial War Museum had given it: ''Memory of the Camps''. The full-length version of the film, ''[[German Concentration Camps Factual Survey]]'', was restored in 2014 by scholars at the Imperial War Museum.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pages=372–374}}</ref><ref name=Jeffries9Jan2015>{{cite news |last1=Jeffries |first1=Stuart |title=The Holocaust film that was too shocking to show |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/09/holocaust-film-too-shocking-to-show-night-will-fall-alfred-hitchcock |work=The Guardian |date=9 January 2015 |access-date=24 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110022047/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/09/holocaust-film-too-shocking-to-show-night-will-fall-alfred-hitchcock|archive-date=10 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Memory of the Camps: Frequently Asked Questions |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/camp/faqs.html |publisher=PBS |access-date=6 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222140552/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/camp/faqs.html|archive-date=22 February 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Post-war Hollywood years: 1945–1953===
====Later Selznick films====
[[File:Spellbound-1945.jpg|thumb|left|[[Gregory Peck]] and [[Ingrid Bergman]] in ''[[Spellbound (1945 film)|Spellbound]]'' (1945)]]
Hitchcock worked for David Selznick again when he directed ''[[Spellbound (1945 film)|Spellbound]]'' (1945), which explores [[psychoanalysis]] and features a [[dream sequence]] designed by [[Salvador Dalí]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Boyd |first=David |title=The Parted Eye: ''Spellbound'' and Psychoanalysis |url=https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2000/conference-for-the-love-of-fear/spellbound/ |year=2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211104103/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com:80/contents/00/6/spellbound.html |archive-date=11 February 2009}}</ref> The dream sequence as it appears in the film is ten minutes shorter than was originally envisioned; Selznick edited it to make it "play" more effectively.<ref>{{harvnb|Leff|1987|pp=164–165}}</ref> [[Gregory Peck]] plays amnesiac Dr. Anthony Edwardes under the treatment of analyst Dr. Peterson ([[Ingrid Bergman]]), who falls in love with him while trying to unlock his repressed past.{{sfn|Whitty|2016|pp=408–412}} Two [[Point-of-view shot|point-of-view]] shots were achieved by building a large wooden hand (which would appear to belong to the character whose point of view the camera took) and out-sized props for it to hold: a bucket-sized glass of milk and a large wooden gun. For added novelty and impact, the climactic gunshot was hand-coloured red on some copies of the black-and-white film. The original musical score by [[Miklós Rózsa]] makes use of the [[theremin]], and some of it was later adapted by the composer into Rozsa's Piano Concerto Op. 31 (1967) for piano and orchestra.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Miklos Rozsa Society Website |url=http://www.miklosrozsa.info/mrs/works/aboutPianoConcerto.html |year=2017 |access-date=13 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324124603/http://www.miklosrozsa.info/mrs/works/aboutPianoConcerto.html |archive-date=24 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=December 2017}}

<!--mention ''The Paradine Case'' (1947) and the Motion Picture Production Code-->The spy film ''[[Notorious (1946 film)|Notorious]]'' followed next in 1946. Hitchcock told François Truffaut that Selznick sold him, Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant and [[Ben Hecht]]'s screenplay, to [[RKO Radio Pictures]] as a "package" for $500,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.5|1946|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}) because of cost overruns on Selznick's ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' (1946).{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} ''Notorious'' stars Bergman and Grant, both Hitchcock collaborators, and features a plot about Nazis, [[uranium]] and South America. His prescient use of uranium as a plot device led to him being briefly placed under surveillance by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].{{Sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=168}} According to Patrick McGilligan, in or around March 1945, Hitchcock and Hecht consulted [[Robert Millikan]] of the [[California Institute of Technology]] about the development of a uranium bomb. Selznick complained that the notion was "science fiction", only to be confronted by the news of the detonation of two atomic bombs on [[Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] in Japan in August 1945.{{sfn|McGilligan|2003|pp=370–371}}

====Transatlantic Pictures====
[[File:Ropetrailer2.jpg|thumb|A typical shot from ''[[Rope (film)|Rope]]'' (1948) with [[James Stewart]] turning his back to the fixed camera|alt=A typical scene from ''[[Rope (film)|Rope]]'' showing [[James Stewart]]]]

Hitchcock formed an independent production company, [[Transatlantic Pictures]], with his friend [[Sidney Bernstein, Baron Bernstein|Sidney Bernstein]]. He made two films with Transatlantic, one of which was his first colour film. With ''[[Rope (film)|Rope]]'' (1948), Hitchcock experimented with marshalling suspense in a confined environment, as he had done earlier with ''Lifeboat''. The film appears as a very limited number of continuous shots, but it was actually shot in 10 ranging from {{frac|4|1|2}} to 10 minutes each; a 10-minute length of film was the most that a camera's film magazine could hold at the time. Some transitions between reels were hidden by having a dark object fill the entire screen for a moment. Hitchcock used those points to hide the cut, and began the next take with the camera in the same place. The film features [[James Stewart]] in the leading role, and was the first of four films that Stewart made with Hitchcock. It was inspired by the [[Leopold and Loeb]] case of the 1920s.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=421}} Critical response at the time was mixed.{{sfn|Evans|2004|p=}}

''[[Under Capricorn]]'' (1949), set in 19th-century Australia, also uses the short-lived technique of long takes, but to a more limited extent. He again used [[Technicolor]] in this production, then returned to [[black-and-white]] for several years. Transatlantic Pictures became inactive after the last two films.{{Sfn|Spoto|1999|p=138}}{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=179}} Hitchcock filmed ''[[Stage Fright (1950 film)|Stage Fright]]'' (1950) at [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree Studios]] in England, where he had worked during his British International Pictures contract many years before.<ref>{{harvnb|Warren|2001|pp=62, 72}}</ref> He paired one of [[Warner Bros.]]' most popular stars, [[Jane Wyman]], with the expatriate German actor [[Marlene Dietrich]] and used several prominent British actors, including [[Michael Wilding]], [[Richard Todd]] and [[Alastair Sim]].<ref>{{harvnb|Harris|Lasky|2002|p=150}}</ref> This was Hitchcock's first proper production for Warner Bros., which had distributed ''Rope'' and ''Under Capricorn'', because Transatlantic Pictures was experiencing financial difficulties.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp= 429, 774–775}}</ref>

<!--Mention that, after falling out with Raymond Chandler, Hitchcock hired Czenzi Ormonde to work with Barbara Keon and Alma Reville; say more about the film, "crisscross", and murder in spectacles scene-->His thriller ''[[Strangers on a Train (film)|Strangers on a Train]]'' (1951) was based on the [[Strangers on a Train (novel)|novel of the same name]] by [[Patricia Highsmith]]. Hitchcock combined many elements from his preceding films. He approached [[Dashiell Hammett]] to write the dialogue, but [[Raymond Chandler]] took over, then left over disagreements with the director. In the film, two men casually meet, one of whom speculates on a foolproof method to murder; he suggests that two people, each wishing to do away with someone, should each perform the other's murder. [[Farley Granger]]'s role was as the innocent victim of the scheme, while [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]], previously known for "boy-next-door" roles, played the villain.<ref>{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|pp=320, 322}}</ref> ''[[I Confess (film)|I Confess]]'' (1953) was set in [[Quebec City|Quebec]] with [[Montgomery Clift]] as a Catholic priest.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/78777/i-confess#notes |title=Notes: ''I Confess'' (1953) |publisher=TCM |access-date=15 December 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122032808/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/78777/I-Confess/notes.html | archive-date=22 November 2018 | url-status=live}}</ref>

===Peak years: 1954–1964===
====''Dial M for Murder'' and ''Rear Window''====
[[File:Rearwindow trailer 2.jpg|thumb|left|alt= Still image from the film Read Window featuring Stewart and Kelly|[[James Stewart]] and [[Grace Kelly]] in ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954)]]
''I Confess'' was followed by three colour films starring [[Grace Kelly]]: ''[[Dial M for Murder]]'' (1954), ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954) and ''[[To Catch a Thief]]'' (1955). In ''Dial M for Murder'', [[Ray Milland]] plays the villain who tries to murder his unfaithful wife (Kelly) for her money. She kills the hired assassin in self-defence, so Milland manipulates the evidence to make it look like murder. Her lover, Mark Halliday ([[Robert Cummings]]), and Police Inspector Hubbard ([[John Williams (actor)|John Williams]]) save her from execution.<ref name="Leitch 2002. p. 78-80">{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|p=78}}</ref> Hitchcock experimented with [[3-D film|3D cinematography]] for ''Dial M for Murder''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=French |first1=Philip |title=Dial M for Murder 3D – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/28/dial-m-for-murder-3d-review |work=The Observer |date=28 July 2013|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722232944/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/28/dial-m-for-murder-3d-review|archive-date=22 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

<!--when did he move to Paramount?{{snd}}Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960)-->Hitchcock moved to [[Paramount Pictures]] and filmed ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954), starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, as well as [[Thelma Ritter]] and [[Raymond Burr]]. Stewart's character is a photographer named Jeff (based on [[Robert Capa]]) who must temporarily use a wheelchair. Out of boredom, he begins observing his neighbours across the courtyard, then becomes convinced that one of them (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. Jeff eventually manages to convince his policeman buddy ([[Wendell Corey]]) and his girlfriend (Kelly). As with ''Lifeboat'' and ''Rope'', the principal characters are depicted in confined or cramped quarters, in this case Stewart's studio apartment. Hitchcock uses close-ups of Stewart's face to show his character's reactions, "from the comic voyeurism directed at his neighbours to his helpless terror watching Kelly and Burr in the villain's apartment".<ref>{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|p=269}}</ref>

====''Alfred Hitchcock Presents''====
[[File:Alfred Hitchcock and family circa 1955.JPG|thumb|upright|The Hitchcocks with their [[Pat Hitchcock|daughter]], son-in-law, and granddaughters, c.&nbsp;1955–1956]]

<!--CBS, 30 minutes weekly, $129,000 per episode; 1958, Golden Globe for best television series; see Evans-->From 1955 to 1965, Hitchcock was the host of the television series ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''.<ref name="Alfred Hitchcock Presents">{{cite web |title=Alfred Hitchcock Presents |publisher=TV.COM |url=http://www.tv.com/alfred-hitchcock-presents/show/238/summary.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125154314/http://www.tv.com/alfred-hitchcock-presents/show/238/summary.html |archive-date=25 January 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> With his droll delivery, gallows humour and iconic image, the series made Hitchcock a celebrity. The title-sequence of the show pictured a minimalist caricature of his profile (he drew it himself; it is composed of only nine strokes), which his real silhouette then filled.<ref>{{cite book |title=TV in the USA: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas |last=LoBrutto |first=Vincent |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4408-2972-7 |page=6}}</ref> The series theme tune was ''[[Funeral March of a Marionette]]'' by the French composer [[Charles Gounod]] (1818–1893).<ref>{{cite web |title=Alfred Hitchcock (suspense anthology) |publisher=Media Management Group |url=http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/alfredHitchcock.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221144330/http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/alfredHitchcock.html |archive-date=21 February 2008|url-status=dead |access-date=7 November 2008}}</ref>

His introductions always included some sort of wry humour, such as the description of a recent multi-person execution hampered by having only one [[electric chair]], while two are shown with a sign "Two chairs—no waiting!" He directed 18 episodes of the series, which aired from 1955 to 1965. It became ''[[The Alfred Hitchcock Hour]]'' in 1962, and NBC broadcast the final episode on 10 May 1965. In the 1980s, a [[Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985 TV series)|new version]] of ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' was produced for television, making use of Hitchcock's original introductions in a [[colourised]] form.<ref name="Alfred Hitchcock Presents"/>

Hitchcock's success in television spawned a set of short-story collections in his name; these included ''[[Alfred Hitchcock's Anthology]]'', ''Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV,'' and ''Tales My Mother Never Told Me''.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=202}} In 1956, HSD Publications also licensed the director's name to create ''[[Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine]]'', a monthly [[Digest size|digest]] specialising in crime and detective fiction.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=202}} Hitchcock's television series were very profitable, and his foreign-language versions of books were bringing revenues of up to $100,000 a year ({{Inflation|US|100,000|1960|fmt=eq|r=-4}}).{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=203}}<!--making this invisible for now; not sure where to place it: Hitchcock also appears as a character in the juvenile detective book series, ''[[Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators]]''. The long-running series was created by [[Robert Arthur (writer)|Robert Arthur]], who wrote the first few books. The Three Investigators—Jupiter Jones, Bob Andrews and Peter Crenshaw—were amateur detectives, slightly younger than the [[Hardy Boys]]. In the introduction to each book, "Alfred Hitchcock" introduces the mystery, and he sometimes refers a case to the boys to solve. At the end of each book, the boys report to Hitchcock, and sometimes give him a memento of their case.<ref name="Alfred Hitchcock Presents"/>-->

====From ''To Catch a Thief'' to ''Vertigo''====
In 1955, Hitchcock became a United States citizen.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p= 512}}</ref> In the same year, his third Grace Kelly film, ''[[To Catch a Thief]]'', was released; it is set in the [[French Riviera]], and stars Kelly and Cary Grant. Grant plays retired thief John Robie, who becomes the prime suspect for a spate of robberies in the Riviera. A thrill-seeking American heiress played by Kelly surmises his true identity and tries to seduce him. "Despite the obvious age disparity between Grant and Kelly and a lightweight plot, the witty script (loaded with double entendres) and the good-natured acting proved a commercial success."<ref name="Leitch 2002. p. 366">{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|p=366}}</ref> It was Hitchcock's last film with Kelly; she married [[Prince Rainier]] of Monaco in 1956, and ended her film career afterward. Hitchcock then remade his own [[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)|1934 film]] ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' [[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)|in 1956]]. This time, the film starred James Stewart and [[Doris Day]], who sang the theme song "[[Que Sera, Sera]]", which won the [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]] and became a big hit. They play a couple whose son is kidnapped to prevent them from interfering with an assassination. As in the 1934 film, the climax takes place at the [[Royal Albert Hall]].<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1994|p=75}}</ref>

''[[The Wrong Man]]'' (1956), Hitchcock's final film for Warner Bros., is a low-key black-and-white production based on a real-life case of [[mistaken identity]] reported in ''Life'' magazine in 1953. This was the only film of Hitchcock to star [[Henry Fonda]], playing a [[Stork Club]] musician mistaken for a liquor store thief, who is arrested and tried for robbery while his wife ([[Vera Miles]]) emotionally collapses under the strain. Hitchcock told Truffaut that his lifelong fear of the police attracted him to the subject and was embedded in many scenes.<ref name="Leitch 2002. p. 377">{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|p=377}}</ref><!--1957, [[Claude Chabrol]] and [[Éric Rohmer]], first book-length study of his work--><!--moved this from the "relationship with actors" section: In the late 1950s, [[French New Wave]] critics, especially Truffaut, [[Claude Chabrol]] and [[Éric Rohmer]], were among the first to see and promote Hitchcock's films as artistic works. Hitchcock was one of the first directors to whom they applied their [[auteur theory]], which stresses the artistic authority of the director in the filmmaking process.<ref name="Moerbeek2006">{{harvnb|Moerbeek|2006|loc=}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2017}}-->[[File:Vertigo 1958 trailer Kim Novak at Golden Gate Bridge Fort Point.jpg|thumb|alt=Still image from the film Vertigo|[[Kim Novak]] by the [[Golden Gate Bridge]] in ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'' (1958){{efn|A 2012 [[British Film Institute]] poll ranked ''Vertigo'' as the [[Sight & Sound#2012|greatest film ever made]].<ref name=Christie2012>{{cite news |last=Christie |first=Ian |title=The 50 Greatest Films of All Time |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time |work=Sight & Sound |date=September 2012 |access-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301135739/http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time|archive-date=1 March 2017}}; also see {{cite news |title=Critics' top 100 |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |publisher=British Film Institute |year=2012|access-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207035347/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics|archive-date=7 February 2016}}</ref>}}]]

While directing episodes for ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' during the summer of 1957, Hitchcock was admitted to hospital for [[hernia]] and [[gallstone]]s, and had to have his [[gallbladder]] removed. Following a successful surgery, he immediately returned to work to prepare for his next project.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=212}}{{Sfn|Evans|2004|p=}} ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'' (1958) again starred James Stewart, with [[Kim Novak]] and [[Barbara Bel Geddes]]. He had wanted [[Vera Miles]] to play the lead, but she was pregnant. He told [[Oriana Fallaci]]: "I was offering her a big part, the chance to become a beautiful sophisticated blonde, a real actress. We'd have spent a heap of dollars on it, and she has the bad taste to get pregnant. I hate pregnant women, because then they have children."{{sfn|Fallaci|1963}}

In ''Vertigo'', Stewart plays Scottie, a former police investigator suffering from [[acrophobia]], who becomes obsessed with a woman he has been hired to shadow (Novak). Scottie's obsession leads to tragedy, and this time Hitchcock did not opt for a happy ending. Some critics, including Donald Spoto and [[Roger Ebert]], agree that ''Vertigo'' is the director's most personal and revealing film, dealing with the ''[[Pygmalion (mythology)|Pygmalion]]''-like obsessions of a man who moulds a woman into the person he desires. ''Vertigo'' explores more frankly and at greater length his interest in the relation between sex and death, than any other work in his filmography.<ref>{{harvnb|Kehr|2011|p=259}}</ref>

''Vertigo'' contains a camera technique developed by Irmin Roberts, commonly referred to as a [[dolly zoom]], which has been copied by many filmmakers. The film premiered at the [[San Sebastián International Film Festival]], and Hitchcock won the Silver Seashell prize.<ref>{{cite web|title=San Sebastian Film Festival|url=https://www.sansebastianfestival.com:443/1958/awards_and_jury_members/awards/1/51/in|access-date=19 November 2020|website=San Sebastian Film Festival|archive-date=2 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002204434/https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/1958/awards_and_jury_members/awards/1/51/in}}</ref> ''Vertigo'' is considered a classic, but it attracted mixed reviews and poor box-office receipts at the time;<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ravetto-Biagioli|first1=Kriss|last2=Beugnet|first2=Martine|date=27 September 2019|title=Vertiginous Hauntings: The Ghosts of Vertigo|journal=Film-Philosophy|volume=23|issue=3|pages=227–246|doi=10.3366/film.2019.0114|doi-access=free|issn=1466-4615}}</ref> the critic from ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' opined that the film was "too slow and too long".<ref>{{cite web|date=14 May 1958|title=Vertigo|url=https://variety.com/1958/film/reviews/vertigo-2-1200419207/|access-date=19 November 2020|website=Variety|archive-date=28 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228012042/http://variety.com/1958/film/reviews/vertigo-2-1200419207/}}</ref> [[Bosley Crowther]] of the ''New York Times'' thought it was "devilishly far-fetched", but praised the cast performances and Hitchcock's direction.<ref>{{cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|date=29 May 1958|title=Vertigo,' Hitchcock's Latest; Melodrama Arrives at the Capitol (Published 1958)|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/05/29/archives/vertigo-hitchcocks-latest-melodrama-arrives-at-the-capitol.html|access-date=19 November 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=23 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823175858/https://www.nytimes.com/1958/05/29/archives/vertigo-hitchcocks-latest-melodrama-arrives-at-the-capitol.html}}</ref> The picture was also the last collaboration between Stewart and Hitchcock.<ref name="Leitch 2002. p. 376-77">{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|p=376}}</ref> In the 2002 ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' polls, it ranked just behind ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' (1941); ten years later, in the same magazine, critics chose it as the best film ever made.<ref name="Christie2012" />

====''North by Northwest'' and ''Psycho''====
{{see also|Psycho (franchise)}}
After ''Vertigo'', the rest of 1958 was a difficult year for Hitchcock. During [[pre-production]] of ''[[North by Northwest]]'' (1959), which was a "slow" and "agonising" process, his wife Alma was diagnosed with cancer.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=217}} While she was in hospital, Hitchcock kept himself occupied with his television work and would visit her every day. Alma underwent surgery and made a full recovery, but it caused Hitchcock to imagine, for the first time, life without her.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=217}}

[[File:Hitchcock Leigh Psycho.jpg|thumb|upright|alt= Photo of Alfred Hitchcock & Janet Leigh from the 1960 film ''Psycho''|Hitchcock shooting the shower scene of ''Psycho'' (1960)]]
Hitchcock followed up with three more successful films, which are also recognised as among his best: ''North by Northwest'', ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' (1960) and ''[[The Birds (film)|The Birds]]'' (1963). In ''North by Northwest'', Cary Grant portrays Roger Thornhill, a [[Madison Avenue]] advertising executive who is mistaken for a government secret agent. He is pursued across the United States by enemy agents, including Eve Kendall ([[Eva Marie Saint]]). At first, Thornhill believes Kendall is helping him, but then realises that she is an enemy agent; he later learns that she is working undercover for the [[CIA]]. During its opening two-week run at [[Radio City Music Hall]], the film grossed $404,056 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.404056|1959|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}), setting a non-holiday gross record for that theatre.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,864921,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530114819/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,864921,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 May 2012 |title=Box Office: For the Books |date=31 August 1959 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine called the film "smoothly troweled and thoroughly entertaining".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,937893,00.html |title=Cinema: The New Pictures |date=17 August 1959 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=21 August 2017 |archive-date=30 May 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530114820/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,937893,00.html |url-status=dead }}{{pb}}
{{cite news |title=Hitchcock Takes Suspenseful Cook's Tour: ''North by Northwest'' Opens at Music Hall |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9404E7D91631EE3BBC4F53DFBE668382649EDE |date=7 August 1959 |work=The New York Times |first=A.H. |last=Weiler |access-date=21 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929123524/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9404E7D91631EE3BBC4F53DFBE668382649EDE |archive-date=29 September 2013}}</ref>

''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' (1960) is arguably Hitchcock's best-known film.<ref name="Leitch 2002. p. 260">{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|p=260}}</ref> Based on [[Robert Bloch]]'s 1959 novel ''[[Psycho (novel)|Psycho]]'', which was inspired by the case of [[Ed Gein]],<ref>{{harvnb|Rebello|1990|pp=7–14}}</ref> the film was produced on a tight budget of $800,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.8|1960|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}) and shot in black-and-white on a spare set using crew members from ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|p=261}}</ref> The unprecedented violence of the shower scene,{{efn|A documentary on ''Psycho''{{'}}s shower scene, ''78/52'', was released in 2017, directed by [[Alexandre O. Philippe]]; the title refers to the scene's 78 camera setups and 52 cuts.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Owen |last=Gleiberman |title=Film Review: '78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene' |magazine=Variety |date=24 January 2017 |url=https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/7852-review-psycho-1201966555/|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213011034/https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/7852-review-psycho-1201966555/|archive-date=13 December 2017}}{{pb}}
{{cite news |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Peter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/13/7852-review-hitchcock-psycho-shower-scene |title=78/52 review – Hitchcock's Psycho shower scene gets an expert autopsy |work=The Guardian |date=13 October 2017|access-date=27 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227195616/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/13/7852-review-hitchcock-psycho-shower-scene|archive-date=27 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}} the early death of the heroine, and the innocent lives extinguished by a disturbed murderer became the hallmarks of a new horror-film genre.<ref>{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|p=262}}</ref> The film proved popular with audiences, with lines stretching outside theatres as viewers waited for the next showing. It broke box-office records in the United Kingdom, France, South America, the United States and Canada, and was a moderate success in Australia for a brief period.<ref name="Leigh 1995">{{harvnb|Leigh|Nickens|1995|p=99}}</ref>

''Psycho'' was the most profitable of Hitchcock's career, and he personally earned in excess of $15&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|15|1960|r=-1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}). He subsequently swapped his rights to ''Psycho'' and his TV anthology for 150,000 shares of [[MCA Inc.|MCA]], making him the third largest shareholder and his own boss at Universal, in theory at least, although that did not stop studio interference.{{Sfn|Rebello|1990|p=182}} Following the first film, ''Psycho'' became an American horror [[Media franchise|franchise]]: ''[[Psycho II (film)|Psycho II]]'', ''[[Psycho III]]'', ''[[Bates Motel (film)|Bates Motel]]'', ''[[Psycho IV: The Beginning]]'' and a colour [[Psycho (1998 film)|1998 remake]] of the original.{{sfn|Verevis|2006|p=22}}

====Truffaut interview====
{{further|Hitchcock/Truffaut|Hitchcock/Truffaut (film)}}
<!--expand-->On 13 August 1962, Hitchcock's 63rd birthday, the French director [[François Truffaut]] began a 50-hour interview of Hitchcock, filmed over eight days at Universal Studios, during which Hitchcock agreed to answer 500 questions. It took four years to transcribe the tapes and organise the images; it was published as a book in 1967, which Truffaut nicknamed the "Hitchbook". The audio tapes were used as the basis of a documentary in 2015.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=12}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jeffries |first1=Stuart |title='Actors are cattle': when Hitchcock met Truffaut |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/12/when-hitchcock-met-truffaut-hitchcock-truffaut-documentary-cannes |work=The Guardian |date=12 May 2015|access-date=16 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131315/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/12/when-hitchcock-met-truffaut-hitchcock-truffaut-documentary-cannes|archive-date=17 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Truffaut sought the interview because it was clear to him that Hitchcock was not simply the mass-market entertainer the American media made him out to be. It was obvious from his films, Truffaut wrote, that Hitchcock had "given more thought to the potential of his art than any of his colleagues". He compared the interview to "Oedipus' consultation of the oracle".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|pp=11–12}}

====''The Birds''====
{{further|The Girl (2012 TV film)|Tippi Hedren#Sexual harassment}}
[[File:The Birds trailer (1963).webm|thumb|left|Trailer for ''[[The Birds (film)|The Birds]]'' (1963), in which Hitchcock discusses humanity's treatment of "our feathered friends"]]
The film scholar Peter William Evans wrote that ''[[The Birds (film)|The Birds]]'' (1963) and ''[[Marnie (film)|Marnie]]'' (1964) are regarded as "undisputed masterpieces".{{sfn|Evans|2004|p=}} Hitchcock had intended to film ''Marnie'' first, and in March 1962 it was announced that Grace Kelly, Princess Grace of Monaco since 1956, would come out of retirement to star in it.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Alden |first1=Robert |title=Princess Grace Will Star in Hitchcock Movie |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/03/20/archives/princess-grace-will-star-in-hitchcock-movie-she-accepts-her-first.html |work=The New York Times |date=20 March 1962|access-date=11 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612213711/https://www.nytimes.com/1962/03/20/archives/princess-grace-will-star-in-hitchcock-movie-she-accepts-her-first.html|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> When Kelly asked Hitchcock to postpone ''Marnie'' until 1963 or 1964, he recruited [[Evan Hunter]], author of ''The Blackboard Jungle'' (1954), to develop a screenplay based on a [[Daphne du Maurier]] short story, "[[The Birds (story)|The Birds]]" (1952), which Hitchcock had republished in his ''My Favorites in Suspense'' (1959). He hired [[Tippi Hedren]] to play the lead role.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp=611–613}}; {{harvnb|MacDonald|2012|p=36}}</ref> It was her first role; she had been a model in New York when Hitchcock saw her, in October 1961, in an NBC television advert for [[Sego (diet drink)|Sego]], a diet drink:{{sfn|Moral|2013|p=15}} "I signed her because she is a classic beauty. Movies don't have them any more. Grace Kelly was the last." He insisted, without explanation, that her first name be written in single quotation marks: 'Tippi'.{{efn|Thomas McDonald (''The New York Times'', 1 April 1962): "Starring in the film are Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy and 'Tippi' Hedren. Hitchcock signed Miss Hedren, a New York model, to a contract after having seen her in a television commercial. He insisted that she enclose her first name in single quotation marks, but would not explain why."<ref name=McDonald1April1962>{{cite news |last1=McDonald |first1=Thomas |title=Watching 'Birds': Happy Hitchcock Films Terror-Ridden Tale |url=http://partners.nytimes.com/library/film/040162hitch-birds-making.html |work=The New York Times |date=1 April 1962|access-date=3 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204193415/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/film/040162hitch-birds-making.html|archive-date=4 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Spoto|2008|p=245}}}}

In ''The Birds'', Melanie Daniels, a young socialite, meets lawyer Mitch Brenner ([[Rod Taylor]]) in a bird shop; [[Jessica Tandy]] plays his possessive mother. Hedren visits him in [[Bodega Bay, California|Bodega Bay]] (where ''The Birds'' was filmed)<ref name=McDonald1April1962/> carrying a pair of [[lovebird]]s as a gift. Suddenly waves of birds start gathering, watching, and attacking. The question: "What do the birds want?" is left unanswered.{{sfn|Rothman|2014|p=203}} Hitchcock made the film with equipment from the Revue Studio, which made ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents''. He said it was his most technically challenging film, using a combination of trained and mechanical birds against a backdrop of wild ones. Every shot was sketched in advance.<ref name=McDonald1April1962/>

An [[HBO]]/[[BBC]] television film, ''[[The Girl (2012 TV film)|The Girl]]'' (2012), depicted Hedren's experiences on set; she said that Hitchcock [[Tippi Hedren#Allegations of sexual harassment|became obsessed with her]] and sexually harassed her. He reportedly isolated her from the rest of the crew, had her followed, whispered obscenities to her, had her handwriting analysed and had a ramp built from his private office directly into her trailer.<ref>{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|pp=451–452, 455–457, 467–468, 472–473}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|2008|pp=250–251, 264}}</ref><ref name=Goldman5October2012>{{cite news |last=Goldman |first=Andrew |title=The Revenge of Alfred Hitchcock's Muse |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/magazine/the-revenge-of-tippi-hedren-alfred-hitchcocks-muse.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=5 October 2012|access-date=5 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623181500/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/magazine/the-revenge-of-tippi-hedren-alfred-hitchcocks-muse.html|archive-date=23 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Diane Baker]], her co-star in ''Marnie'', said: "[N]othing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was."{{sfn|Spoto|2008|p=265}} While filming the attack scene in the attic{{snd}}which took a week to film{{snd}}she was placed in a caged room while two men wearing [[evening glove|elbow-length protective gloves]] threw live birds at her. Toward the end of the week, to stop the birds' flying away from her too soon, one leg of each bird was attached by nylon thread to elastic bands sewn inside her clothes. She broke down after a bird cut her lower eyelid, and filming was halted on doctor's orders.{{sfn|Spoto|1999|pp=457–459}}

====''Marnie''====
[[File:Marnie (1964) trailer.webm|thumb|Trailer for ''[[Marnie (film)|Marnie]]'' (1964)]]

In June 1962, Grace Kelly announced that she had decided against appearing in ''[[Marnie (film)|Marnie]]'' (1964).<!--explain why?--> Hedren had signed an exclusive seven-year, $500-a-week contract with Hitchcock in October 1961,<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1996|p=270}};
{{harvnb|Moral|2013|p=16}}</ref> and he decided to cast her in the lead role opposite [[Sean Connery]]. In 2016, describing Hedren's performance as "one of the greatest in the history of cinema", [[Richard Brody]] called the film a "story of sexual violence" inflicted on the character played by Hedren: "The film is, to put it simply, sick, and it's so because Hitchcock was sick. He suffered all his life from furious sexual desire, suffered from the lack of its gratification, suffered from the inability to transform fantasy into reality, and then went ahead and did so virtually, by way of his art."<ref name=Brody17Aug2016>{{cite magazine |last1=Brody |first1=Richard|author-link=Richard Brody |title="Marnie" Is the Cure for Hitchcock Mania |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/marnie-is-the-cure-for-hitchcock-mania |magazine=The New Yorker |date=17 August 2016|access-date=2 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103072926/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/marnie-is-the-cure-for-hitchcock-mania|archive-date=3 January 2018|url-status=live}}{{pb}}
{{cite magazine |last1=Brody |first1=Richard|author-link=Richard Brody |title=Tippi Hedren's Silence |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/tippi-hedrens-silence |magazine=The New Yorker |year=2012|access-date=5 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105180346/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/tippi-hedrens-silence|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> A 1964 ''New York Times'' review called it Hitchcock's "most disappointing film in years", citing Hedren's and Connery's lack of experience, an amateurish script and "glaringly fake cardboard backdrops".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Archer |first1=Eugene |title=Hitchcock's 'Marnie,' With Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery |url=http://partners.nytimes.com/library/film/072364hitch-marnie-review.html |work=The New York Times |date=23 July 1964|access-date=3 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511180850/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/film/072364hitch-marnie-review.html|archive-date=11 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the film, Marnie Edgar (Hedren) steals $10,000 from her employer and goes on the run. She applies for a job at Mark Rutland's (Connery) company in Philadelphia and steals from there too. Earlier, she is shown having a panic attack during a thunderstorm and fearing the colour red. Mark tracks her down and blackmails her into marrying him. She explains that she does not want to be touched, but during the "honeymoon", Mark rapes her. Marnie and Mark discover that Marnie's mother had been a prostitute when Marnie was a child, and that, while the mother was fighting with a client during a thunderstorm{{snd}}the mother believed the client had tried to molest Marnie{{snd}}Marnie had killed the client to save her mother. Cured of her fears when she remembers what happened, she decides to stay with Mark.<ref name=Brody17Aug2016/><ref name=Cleaver13Aug2012>{{cite news |last1=Cleaver |first1=Emily |title=My favourite Hitchcock: Marnie |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/aug/13/my-favourite-hitchcock-marnie |work=The Guardian |date=13 August 2012|access-date=27 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227122740/https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/aug/13/my-favourite-hitchcock-marnie|archive-date=27 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Pat Nixon Alfred Hitchcock 1411-15A.jpg|thumb|upright|The Hitchcocks with First Lady [[Pat Nixon]] and first daughter [[Julie Nixon Eisenhower]] in 1969]]

Hitchcock told cinematographer [[Robert Burks]] that the camera had to be placed as close as possible to Hedren when he filmed her face.{{sfn|Spoto|1999|p=471}} [[Evan Hunter]], the screenwriter of ''The Birds'' who was writing ''Marnie'' too, explained to Hitchcock that, if Mark loved Marnie, he would comfort her, not rape her. Hitchcock reportedly replied: "Evan, when he sticks it in her, I want that camera right on her face!"<ref>{{harvnb|Moral|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2WFCQednbTMC&pg=PA37 37]}}, citing Evan Hunter (1997). ''[[Me and Hitch]]''.</ref> When Hunter submitted two versions of the script, one without the rape scene, Hitchcock replaced him with [[Jay Presson Allen]].{{sfn|Moral|2013|pp=38–39}}

===Later years: 1966–1980===
====Final films====
Failing health reduced Hitchcock's output during the last two decades of his life. Biographer [[Stephen Rebello]] claimed Universal imposed two films on him, ''[[Torn Curtain]]'' (1966) and ''[[Topaz (1969 film)|Topaz]]'' (1969), the latter of which is based on a [[Leon Uris]] novel, partly set in Cuba.{{Sfn|Rebello|1990|p=188}} Both were spy thrillers with [[Cold War]]-related themes. ''Torn Curtain'', with [[Paul Newman]] and [[Julie Andrews]], precipitated the bitter end of the twelve-year collaboration between Hitchcock and composer [[Bernard Herrmann]].<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2002|pp=272–274}}; {{cite news |last=Stephens |first=Andrew |title=The sound of Hitchcock: How Bernard Herrmann's music brought his films to life |url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/the-sound-of-hitchcock-how-bernard-herrmanns-music-brought-his-films-to-life-20160104-glys29.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=9 January 2016|access-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319215055/http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/the-sound-of-hitchcock-how-bernard-herrmanns-music-brought-his-films-to-life-20160104-glys29.html|archive-date=19 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchcock was unhappy with Herrmann's score and replaced him with [[John Addison]], [[Jay Livingston]] and [[Ray Evans]].{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=273–274}} Upon release, ''Torn Curtain'' was a box office disappointment,{{Sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=328}} and ''Topaz'' was disliked by both critics and the studio.{{Sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=333}}

[[File:Alfred Hitchcock and Karen Black.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Hitchcock with [[Karen Black]] during a press junket for ''[[Family Plot]]'' (1976)]]

Hitchcock returned to Britain to make his penultimate film, ''[[Frenzy]]'' (1972), based on the novel ''[[Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square]]'' (1966). After two espionage films, the plot marked a return to the murder-thriller genre. Richard Blaney ([[Jon Finch]]), a volatile barman with a history of explosive anger, becomes the prime suspect in the investigation into the "Necktie Murders", which are actually committed by his friend Bob Rusk ([[Barry Foster (actor)|Barry Foster]]). This time, Hitchcock makes the victim and villain kindreds, rather than opposites, as in ''Strangers on a Train''.<ref>{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|pp=114–115}}</ref>

In ''Frenzy'', Hitchcock allowed nudity for the first time. Two scenes show naked women, one of whom is being raped and strangled;{{sfn|Evans|2004|p=}} Donald Spoto called the latter "one of the most repellent examples of a detailed murder in the history of film". Both actors, [[Barbara Leigh-Hunt]] and [[Anna Massey]], refused to do the scenes, so models were used instead.{{sfn|Spoto|1999|pp=513–514}} Biographers have noted that Hitchcock had always pushed the limits of film censorship, often managing to fool [[Joseph Breen]], the head of the [[Motion Picture Production Code]]. Hitchcock would add subtle hints of improprieties forbidden by censorship until the mid-1960s. Yet, Patrick McGilligan wrote that Breen and others often realised that Hitchcock was inserting such material and were actually amused, as well as alarmed by Hitchcock's "inescapable inferences".<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=249}}</ref>

''[[Family Plot]]'' (1976) was Hitchcock's last film. It relates the escapades of "Madam" Blanche Tyler, played by [[Barbara Harris (actress)|Barbara Harris]], a fraudulent spiritualist, and her taxi-driver lover [[Bruce Dern]], making a living from her phony powers. While ''Family Plot'' was based on the [[Victor Canning]] novel ''[[The Rainbird Pattern]]'' (1972), the novel's tone is more sinister. Screenwriter [[Ernest Lehman]] originally wrote the film, under the working title ''Deception'', with a dark tone but was pushed to a lighter, more comical tone by Hitchcock where it took the name ''Deceit'', then finally, ''Family Plot''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hollenback|first=Sharon Sue Rountree|title=Analysis Of Processes Involved In Screenwriting As Demonstrated In Screenplays By Ernest Lehman|publisher=Ann Arbor|year=1980|isbn=979-8644965205|location=United States|pages=64}}</ref>

====Knighthood and death====
<!--add American Film Institute Life Achievement Award and speech about his wife-->[[File:Alfred Hitchcock by Jack Mitchell.jpg|thumb|{{circa|1972}} by [[Jack Mitchell (photographer)|Jack Mitchell]]]] Toward the end of his life, Hitchcock was working on the script for a spy thriller, ''[[The Short Night]]'', collaborating with [[James Costigan]], [[Ernest Lehman]] and [[David Freeman (screenwriter)|David Freeman]]. Despite preliminary work, it was never filmed. Hitchcock's health was declining and he was worried about his wife, who had suffered a [[stroke]]. The screenplay was eventually published in Freeman's book ''The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock'' (1999).<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp= 731–734}}; {{harvnb|Freeman|1999}}</ref>

Having refused a [[CBE]] in 1962,<ref>{{cite news |title=Queen's honours: People who have turned them down named |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16736495 |work=BBC News |date=5 August 2015|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126094501/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16736495|archive-date=26 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchcock was appointed a [[Order of the British Empire|Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire]] (KBE) in the [[1980 New Year Honours]].<ref name=Todd30April1980>{{cite magazine |url=https://variety.com/1980/film/news/alfred-hitchcock-dies-of-natural-causes-at-bel-air-home-1201344342/ |title=Alfred Hitchcock Dies Of Natural Causes at Bel-Air Home |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |date=30 April 1980 |magazine=Variety|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213010210/https://variety.com/1980/film/news/alfred-hitchcock-dies-of-natural-causes-at-bel-air-home-1201344342/|archive-date=13 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48041 |supp=y |page=6|date=28 December 1979}}</ref> He was too ill to travel to London—he had a [[pacemaker]] and was being given [[cortisone]] injections for his arthritis—so on 3 January 1980 the British consul general presented him with the papers at Universal Studios. Asked by a reporter after the ceremony why it had taken the Queen so long, Hitchcock quipped, "I suppose it was a matter of carelessness." Cary Grant, Janet Leigh and others attended a luncheon afterwards.<ref name="Spoto 1999 553">{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=553}}</ref><ref name=Ebert2Jan1980>{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hitchcock-he-always-did-give-us-knightmares |title=Hitchcock: he always did give us knightmares |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=2 January 1980|access-date=12 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222085259/http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hitchcock-he-always-did-give-us-knightmares|archive-date=22 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

<!--add something about his estate-->His last public appearance was on 16 March 1980, when he introduced the next year's winner of the American Film Institute award.<ref name="Spoto 1999 553"/> He died of [[kidney failure]] the following month, on 29 April, in his [[Bel Air, Los Angeles|Bel Air]] home.<ref name="Variety obituary">{{cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |url=https://variety.com/1980/film/news/alfred-hitchcock-dies-of-natural-causes-at-bel-air-home-1201344342 |title=Alfred Hitchcock Dies Of Natural Causes at Bel-Air Home |work=Variety |date=7 May 1980|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213010210/https://variety.com/1980/film/news/alfred-hitchcock-dies-of-natural-causes-at-bel-air-home-1201344342/|archive-date=13 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p= 745}}</ref> [[Donald Spoto]], one of Hitchcock's biographers, wrote that Hitchcock had declined to see a priest,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/06/books/and-suddenly-evil-erupts.html |title=NY Times – 'And Suddenly Evil Erupts' biography review 1996 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 March 1983 |access-date=16 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716081110/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/06/books/and-suddenly-evil-erupts.html |archive-date=16 July 2019 |url-status=live|last1=Grenier |first1=Richard }}</ref> but according to Jesuit priest Mark Henninger, he and another priest, Tom Sullivan, celebrated Mass at the filmmaker's home, and Sullivan heard his [[Sacrament of Penance|confession]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Mark |last=Henninger |work=The Wall Street Journal |title=Alfred Hitchcock's Surprise Ending |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323401904578159573738040636 |date=6 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207190149/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323401904578159573738040636.html |archive-date=7 February 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchcock was survived by his wife and daughter. His funeral was held at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills on 30 April, after which his body was [[Cremation|cremated]]. His remains were scattered over the [[Pacific Ocean]] on 10 May 1980.<ref>{{cite book | last=Wydra | first=T. | title=Grace: A Biography | publisher=Skyhorse | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-62914-967-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_VfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT291 | access-date=12 September 2024 | page=291}}</ref><ref name="obit">{{cite news |last=Flint |first=Peter B. |title=Alfred Hitchcock Dies; A Master of Suspense |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/30/archives/alfred-hitchcock-dies-a-master-of-suspense-alfred-hitchcock-master.html |date=30 April 1980 |work=The New York Times|access-date=25 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725214925/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/30/archives/alfred-hitchcock-dies-a-master-of-suspense-alfred-hitchcock-master.html|archive-date=25 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>